NAMM Foundation Articles & News

  • FOCUS ON ADVOCACY: Building and Maintaining the Arts Advocacy Safety Net

    I am a proactive parent who has been committed to arts education for over two decades. And,I marvel at how our school district, the fifth largest in the nation, has been able to keep the arts alive for our students despite an economic recession and many other pressures.
  • Best Communities for Music Education logo

    FOCUS ON ADVOCACY: “Best Communities for Music Education” Designees Discuss How the BCME Survey Helps Assess and Strengthen Music Education Programs

    For the past 13 years, The NAMM Foundation has recognized the “Best Communities for Music Education” (BCME) via an annual survey that celebrates music education as part of the core curriculum in US public schools. In addition to acknowledging community support for music education, the survey provides a tool for schools to assess program elements that are necessary for children to receive an exemplary education in music.

  • Grantee Spotlight: Music Haven, Inc.

    Music Haven's mission is to imbed as a professional string quartet in an urban community and contribute to community development goals through performance and music education, empowering young people, their families, and professional musicians. NAMM Foundation funding supports its After-School Lesson program, providing a creative outlet for youth and families who have little or no access to high-quality music education, mostly due to economic circumstances, time and transportation limitations.

  • Grantee Spotlight: Adams County Arts Council

    Adams County Arts Council recieved a 2011 Wanna Play Fund grant to support their piano and piano keyboard instruction program. Incorporated in 1993, the Adams County Arts Council has evolved from a small group of optimistic organizers into a 500-member nonprofit agency supporting artistic efforts throughout the county’s schools and communities.

  • FOCUS ON ISSUES & DECISIONMAKING: An Overview of “Tips for Success: A HELPFUL Guide for Instrumental Music Teachers”

    Tips for Success: A Guide for Instrumental Music Teachers (newly revised by the Music Achievement Council) collects invaluable secrets and advice from leading music educators. It helps make music teachers’ jobs easier because it covers many topics neglected in formal teacher education programs.

  • Music Lessons as Child May Keep Aging Minds Sharp

    Learning to play a musical instrument as a child may help keep the mind sharp for years after the last note is played.

  • Childhood Music Lessons Keep Aging Brain In Tune

    A new study finds that older adults with musical experience perform better on some cognitive tests than those who had never studied music. With only 70 participants, the study was small, but the results match those from other studies of challenging tasks, including findings that learning a second language protects against dementia.

  • 2010-2011 Program Grant Recipients

    NAMM Foundation supports innovative community-based music learning programs that allow more people the opportunity to experience the proven benefits of active music making.

  • FOCUS ON ADVOCACY: The Power of Persistence – Building Community Support for Music Education

    For the past 11 years, I have been the music supervisor for Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia. I also serve as the Stonewall District representative to the Frederick County, Virginia school board, a position I have held for four years.

  • FOCUS ON STUDENTS: Student Essay Contest Winners Pay Tribute to Influential Music Teachers

    We will do well to listen to what teens tell us about music as a common need and a constant presence in their lives. Music is their social glue – a bridge for building acceptance and tolerance for people of different ages and cultural circumstances. –- Patricia Shehan Campbell, Ph.D., NAMM Foundation “Sounds of Learning” research study, 2008

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