Talking Up Music Education Podcast at the NAMM Show

Talking Up Music Education is a podcast produced by The NAMM Foundation about music education.

Host Mary Luehrsen chats with teachers, parents, students and community leaders who share stories about what they are doing to create music learning opportunities. Download, share and subscribe to keep up with the stories that make a difference in music education advocacy here: http://nammfoundation.podomatic.com/ or find it on iTunes. 

Recorded live from the Music for All National Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana, episode ten includes interviews with Eric Martin, president and CEO of Music for All, as well as with band directors and students.

Sound bites from the podcast: 

“When you’re playing music, you have to problem solve through it. Like when I’m in a quartet and the music’s not going right, you have to look at each other and you have to -in the midst of the music- figure it out. You can’t stop the music and [say], ‘Hey, guys, slow down the tempo’. You have to look at each other and you have to just know.” – Maggie, band student

“In school community, the band hall is…safe. [At Music For All’s National Festival] students said, ‘We walked into this room and there were a ton of people that I didn’t know but I felt like we all knew each other because we were all the same.’ You don’t get that type of experience anywhere else. That type of exposure from a global perspective of excellence…is the one time in their life that they can do something like this.” – Richard, Band Director at Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas.

 “So this is a big event with a lot of people with amazing bands at a very high level. That’s something that people do aspire to and they want to be here. We need to continue to tell the story and that is advocacy is out there.” – John Wittmann, Director of Education and Artist Relations, Band & Orchestra Division, Yamaha

 “The more students we can get to pick up for the instrument the first time, then we can solve all of our political problems of proper funding, [and find] communities that support” – Eric Martin, CEO Music for All

 “My high school band director, one of the most influential people of my life, just really invested in me and taught me what it meant to serve, what it meant to serve people. I think that’s one of the best things about this profession is just service.” – Josh, band student