2013 SM LOGO
                 Community Forums For Music Education

 

A Note from Mary...

MaryL SupportMusic Coalition school year kick off - On the roadwith the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus 


For us at NAMM, back to school means a chance to rev the engines again for targeted and increased action as music education advocates.  And this year, the term “rev the engines” takes on new meaning as we converge with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus in five communities across the U.S. for the presentation of SupportMusic Community Forums.  Thank you Brian Rothschild and the whole team with the Lennon Bus for bringing their “foot print” – or is that “tire print” - to this cause and for the web-based technology they have on board the bus that allows these events and messages to reach a wide audience.

 We had our first Forum at NAMM headquarters on Sept. 10.  The Museum of Making Music, located on the first floor at NAMM’s Carlsbad building, hosted the event in one of the galleries and the audience included school administrators, teachers, parents, music students and members of the community who care about music and arts in schools.  It was a GREAT event; the information and messages about the importance of music education were shared by school and community leaders in southern California and I urge you to watch and share HERE. We had about 40 people in attendance , and with the ability to broadcast as a live web event ,  we had close to 300 web log-ins participating from all over the country, and a few internationally.  The highlight of the “show” was by far the five sixth grade students from Chula Vista who performed as a string quintet.  I chatted with them, and they are included in the webcast, and we can never forget what we are working for – the chance of all children to learn music – it touches my heart just to think about them.

Best Regards,

Mary Luehrsen
Executive Director, NAMM Foundation