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***For Immediate Release*** Media Contact: Kevin Philbin,  kphilbin@khs-america.com KHS America Gives Back by Donating to the Nashville Metro School System   Mt. Juliet, TN – January 15, 2012 – KHS America is giving back to the community today by donating 24 Mapex drum sets to the Nashville Metro School System, and Music Make ...

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Communicating the Value of School Music Experiences Steven N. Kelly New Data Overwhelming Although I have been previously asked to document music education’s relationship to the general curricula, previous data while interesting, did not address a more broad set of variables influencing academic success. However, new data have been presented to me t ...

Recruiting and Retention by Gary Gribble Instrumental music begins in our school system in sixth grade. It seems that more kids are getting "hooked" on multiple activities at earlier ages than ever before. We have summer sports and arts camps for kids as young as four years of age. The potential downside for our music program is that the kids be ...

COPLEY INSTRUMENTS KEEPS MUSIC IN SCHOOLS  Nashville, TN – Babs Simmons, Simba Products President, presented $10,000 worth of musical instruments to Northwest School District in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. “When I received an email from the Colerain Booster Club that the district was in desperate need of instruments for the local scho ...

Defining Performance Standards William L. Berz With the continued growth of NJMEA’s Concert Band Festival, the debate of what constitutes a high level performance seems to be on the rise in the state. While this is certainly not a new argument, the topic might benefit from continued thought and discussion given recent interest. This is the first yea ...

The Importance of Performing by Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser   The goals in performing can differ for many reasons Having always been a fan of words-of-wisdom, notable quotes, inspirational road signs, etc., it is interesting to observe how our mind reframes this-or-that worthy-saying so it is applicable for our own set of circumstances; i.e. the inner voi ...

California Governor Signs Budget with money to Help Rebuild Music/Arts Education Programs In his State of the State address this past January, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed $100 million to create a new Arts and Music initiative to support standards-aligned arts and music instruction in kindergarten and grades one through eight as part o ...

Accessing the Information Sources by Tim Lautzenheiser Music advocacy is not a complicated agenda requiring extensive research and the ability to quote lofty phrases or speak in platitudes. To the contrary, it is the chance to share the wonderful awareness; music makers enjoy a better life. While the message seems simplistic it is confirmed time and t ...

FOUNDATION OF CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP   By Tim Lautzenheiser     The entire realm of leadership training has taken a dramatic shift over the last three decades. The strong-armed approach to leadership success has given-way to the concept of allowing the follower to become an invested contributor to the overall mission. The ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Nine The Ninth and final Standard, understanding music in relation to history and culture, is crucial to a well-rounded musical education. This pseudo-introduction to musicology teaches students how to classify music by style, culture, and genre based on a set of distinguishing characteristics, and also to iden ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Eight Standard Eight, understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts, uses a broader and more general approach to learning the elements of music. Although little research has been done on the benefits of teaching music in conjunction with another subject, many educat ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Seven Part of being a musician involves developing a discerning ear and learning to explain and defend individual tastes in music, and constructively critiquing personal performances as well as performances of others. Standard Seven, evaluating music and music performances, aims to give students the necessary t ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Six Music is everywhere. We hear it on television, in the car, in the elevator, and as part of the general ambiance at stores and restaurants. In fact, our society has become so accustomed to having some sort of constant background noise– this is mostly music, but only some of it is good– that we ar ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Five The Fifth Standard, reading and notating music, is a crucial skill yet one that is fundamental to instrumentalists. Because of the way instrumental music classes are designed, the focus on reading music notation is more intensive in bands and orchestras than it is in general music classes or even in choirs ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Four Standard Four, composing and arranging music within specified guidelines, was designed to make teaching composition to primary- and secondary-school students easy. However, this nearly foolproof approach can still be difficult to implement in an instrumental music program, where the main focus is on learni ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Three   The Third Standard, “Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments”, is often overlooked in a concert band setting. The reasons for this are as wide and as varied as the technique itself. Classically trained musicians and teachers do not usually have much experience with improvi ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part One The first standard states that students should be capable of “singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.” This includes singing accurately and with good breath control throughout the vocal range, singing a varied repertoire of music with expression and technical accuracy, perf ...

The National Standards of Arts Education Part Two For band directors, meeting the requirements of the second National Standard– performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music– seems to be a given. However, a closer look at the breakdown of required activities outlined in the Standard’s description will al ...

How We Go About It Tim Lautzenheiser In discussing music advocacy we often look at the "big picture," that is, how we communicate and what we say about music and music education. In moving from the "macro" to the "micro", it's easy to miss a step in building our advocacy success blueprint. How do we go about the task of creating, implementing, and integr ...