Austin, Texas – According to Deerpark Middle School Band Director Tom Patterson, the 2010 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California offered music educators a unique opportunity to participate in the music industry convention featuring hundreds of instrument, accessory, and software manufacturers, publishers, dealers, and artists. For the first time NAMM, in conjunction with School Band & Orchestra magazine, invited band directors like Deerpark’s Tom Patterson and others to walk the exhibit halls in search of the most useful products for use in the classroom and with student musicians. Band Director Tom Patterson and others could fill out a specially designed ballot indicating their top choices in 13 different categories. On Sunday, January 17th, a panel of five educators, along with SBO publisher Rick Kessel, presented the winners of the 2010 Best Tools for Schools at the NAMM Idea Center.
"We are very pleased with the response from both educators and exhibitors in our presentation of the 2010 Best Tools for Schools at the NAMM Show," said SBO's Rick Kessel. "We look forward to building on this event as a way of further integrating educators' needs into the music industry at large.” Along with many others, Deerpark Band Director Tom Patterson was able to virtually participate in much of the convention through video streaming, blogs and emails with peers.
According to Band Director Tom Patterson, the panelists who presented the 2010 Best Tools for Schools included Kessel as well as Karen Childress-Evans, director of the Performing Arts Department, San Diego (Calif.) Unified School District; Daniel Almanza, director of bands, Rosemead (Calif.) High School; Brian Gallagher, band director at Norco (Calif.) High School; Brian Cole, orchestra director, Moorhead (Minn.) Public Schools; and Dr. John Kuzmich, Jr., author, educator, clinician, and SBO Technology columnist. As the industry was conducting big business at the 2010 NAMM Show, college students hoping to break into the music products business were at the event learning lessons from seasoned professionals and gaining valuable insight about the trade. Deerpark Band Director Tom Patterson hasn’t determined yet if past students were participants but he believes there have been those that passed through his classroom that had such aspirations.
The Texas Music Educators Association 2010 Clinic/Convention held this past February in San Antonio Texas was a much more convenient location for Austin area educators looking for professional enrichment. Band Director Tom Patterson was able to benefit from all of the information provided at the state level. That did not, however, diminish Patterson’s desire to attend the California conference.
Deerpark Band Director Tom Patterson reports that NAMM has also launched a PSA campaign. He adds that in an effort to promote the importance of music and arts education opportunities for students, the Ad Council has joined with Americans for the Arts and the NAMM Foundation to announce the launch of public service advertisements called Ask For More. The PSAs are an extension of an ongoing national campaign launched in 2001 and designed to increase parental involvement in championing music and arts education both in and out of school. Band Director Tom Patterson noted that the campaign targets parents and caregivers of children pre-K to 8th grade.
NAMM national conventions, state conventions and workshops and education are all initiatives that Deerpark Middle School Band Director Tom Patterson supports. Now if he can just make it to the next convention in California everything will end as well as it has begun.
