NAMM Foundation Visits Best Communities for Music Education

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus hits the road this fall to help keep music education strong in six of NAMM Foundation’s Best Communities for Music Education.

The tour includes SupportMusic Forums and Lennon Bus residencies. During the residencies, students will have the unique opportunity to write, record, and produce original songs and music videos. The NAMM Foundation will host a SupportMusic Community Forum at each school inviting educators, NAMM members and community leaders to galvanize local support for music education.

The NAMM Foundation invited schools named as 2015 Best Communities for Music Education, and recipients of the SupportMusic Merit Award, to submit a one-minute video. For a shot at a Lennon Bus residency, students creatively highlighted the strength of their music programs through the theme ‘What Makes Music Education Great in My School’. The videos featured everything from clowns in bands, to a teen whose life was comically dependent on a small keyboard.

“The passion that students have for music resonates so clearly through these videos,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “The NAMM Foundation is honored to put a spotlight on these standout music programs and music teachers, and lend inspiration to these talented students as they continue to journey down their musical paths.”

Students will spend the first day of the residency creating a music video project in the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus’ mobile recording studio. On day two, the NAMM Foundation will host a national SupportMusic Community Forum webcast that will share the successes and challenges of each school’s music education program. The forum will also present strategies to shore up support for music education within a school or district’s core curriculum.

Inspiration from the Lennon Bus will play on after each stop thanks to generous donations by NAMM member companies. The instrument and equipment donations total more than $3,500 per school and include gear from Audio-Technica, Epiphone, Genelec, Mackie, Other World Computing (OWC), Neutrik, Yamaha and ZVEX Effects.

The SupportMusic Community Forums and Lennon Bus residencies kick off this month in McKeesport, PA, with stops in Waxhaw, NC and in Miami, FL. The Spring tour resumes in February 2016.

McKeesport, PA – Oct. 14 & 15 – McKeesport Area High School
Waxhaw, NC – Oct. 21 & 22 – Cuthbertson High School
Miami, FL – Oct. 28 & 29 – Miami-Dade County School Board Administration Building
San Diego, CA – Feb. 1 & 2 – Crown Point Junior Music Academy
Oklahoma City, OK – Mar. 28 & 29 – Santa Fe South Charter School
St. Croix Falls, WI – Apr. 7 & 8 -St. Croix Falls School District

The NAMM Foundation invites NAMM members to participate in local forums, to tour the Lennon Bus and to share the winning videos.