Music Educators Vital to Nashville 2010 Summer NAMM Show

 The NAMM Foundation today announced that it will be moving ahead full force with its inspirational and educational event for music educators and invites school music teachers and administrators from across the United States to come to Nashville to experience “Music Education Days,” being held during the 2010 Summer NAMM Show June 18-20 at the Nashville Convention Center.

With recent school budget cuts happening across the nation, the NAMM Foundation has expanded its Music Education Days offerings at Summer NAMM Show so that concerned educators and school administrators can explore current issues in school music education, and existing resources to assure music as part of the core curriculum.   As VIP guests of Summer NAMM, music educators and school administrators have access to NAMM’s premier trade-only summer music products trade show, where children-specific instruments and musical teaching techniques can be explored.

Music educators will be encouraged to see and try the many instruments and products on display and to participate in the “Best Tools for Schools” recognition program, nominating those products most relevant and useful to today’s music classrooms.  Symphony Publishing, developers of the program, will announce these selected products on Sunday in the Idea Center on the trade show floor.

 Highlights of “Music Education Days” include:

• A daily morning orientation reception in the “Music Educators Learning Lounge”
• Hour-long workshops on Saturday with NAMM Foundation grantee programs including Guitars in the Classroom, Raising the Blues, New Horizons Music, Little Kids Rock, and partner organization VH1 Save the Music Foundation
• Special sessions Sunday that feature teacher materials to accompany the PBS series “The Music Instinct: Science and Song,” and innovative programs that introduce percussion and bluegrass music into classrooms
• Meet and greet opportunities with Mike Huckabee, staunch advocate for music education, player of the electric bass guitar, former governor of Arkansas and host of The Huckabee Show on Fox News.

Additional sessions and events can be viewed online: http://www.nammfoundation.org/content/scholarships-initiatives-application-deadline

“Despite the heartbreaking devastation caused by the recent floods in Nashville, we join with community leaders and educators to keep music education strong in the city, the state and across the nation,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “We welcome the opportunity to unite around the values and importance of music education for all children at this important gathering in Nashville.”

Music educators can register online at:

http://www.namm.org/summer/2010/med

To secure your hotel room during your stay in Nashville, please visit this site: http://www.namm.org/summer/2010/hotels

About the NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs from the international music products industry. For more information, interested parties can visit www.nammfoundation.org.