In light of retail store closures due to COVID-19 precautions, the Percussion Marketing Council has revised the “Get Your Sticks Together” free drum lesson program to include online lessons. Currently, there are nearly 50 participating retailers across the country featured on the PlayDrums.com website. With schools and sporting activities being cancelled, more people are curbing their stay-at-home anxiety by trying new activities such as learning to play an instrument. Guitar, keyboard, and drum lessons are topping the list of instruments to learn during self-isolation.
As we know, making music is a great way to relieve stress during this unprecedented time when many stores and music venues are closed. If your store offers online or virtual lessons, please let the PMC know by visiting: www.playdrums.com/sticks-retailers so we can add your store to the “Get Your Sticks Together” partners page. Online lessons can help lesson program enrollment grow even after social distancing restrictions have passed.
“Now more than ever, it’s important for the PMC to support retailers and online drum-lesson programs. We want to help create more students by connecting wanna-be drummers with quality learning opportunities,” says PMC Co-Executive Director David Jewell. “Online teaching technology can be used to develop new drummers and help boost the music industry. Even with a simple video chat, the audio quality is good enough, and you can hear what someone is playing on an instrument. It’s not too different to a face-to-face lesson.”
Each month during the PMC’ 25th Anniversary year, a randomly selected student will receive 12 FREE drum lessons. These can be online or in-store lessons from their chosen local drum shop or music store — paid for by the PMC through the “Get Your Sticks Together” promotion. Winners will present a weekly drum lesson coupon which is redeemable for a half-hour long lesson as payment for their lesson. The retailer will then submit the coupon with an invoice for the lesson to the PMC for reimbursement at the half-hour lesson rate of $30.00. The total free lesson value for the student-winner is $360 for the 12 consecutive free drum lessons. (The giveaway is open to all U.S. residents age 10 years old and older.)
The “Get Your Sticks Together” entry form and details can be found on the Percussion Marketing Council’s PlayDrums.com website. The PMC will recognize all participating retailers who provided free-drum-lessons to the monthly winners at the PMC Annual Members Meeting in conjunction with the January 2021 NAMM Show.
For more tips on creating online lessons, visit: https://www.nammfoundation.org/projects/namm-foundation-covid-19-resources
