NAMM Joins Canadian Tradition of 'Music Monday' to Inspire Appreciation of Music Making in U.S. Schools and Communities

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, announced today that it will again join the Coalition for Music Education in Canada in its fifth annual Music Monday event May 4, 2009, to demonstrate the galvanizing power of making music and kick off its annual Wanna Play Music Week.

NAMM joined the event for the first time last year, which inspired more than 700,000 students across North America to participate in a simultaneous concert and celebrate music education in schools. In addition, many community and professional organizations participated in the event to show their support for music education. Also, Australia recently held a Music Monday event of its own in the fall.

This year, NAMM is encouraging more U.S. schools and organizations to sing and play together and heighten the public’s awareness about how music education empowers children with important tools such as creativity, achievement and social engagement. Many schools across the country have cut music programs because of lack of funding and cannot offer students the proven benefits associated with hands-on musical training. 

As a not-for-profit association, NAMM has supported research to examine the effects of music on children and adolescents. The studies have shown that playing music positively affects the development of cognitive skills in children and teens. The activity also builds confidence, instills self-discipline, increases productivity and helps kids and teens connect socially with their peers.

Studies specifically show that playing music:

• Develops skills needed by an innovative 21st century workforce: critical thinking, imagination, creative problem solving, effective communication and teamwork
• Keeps students engaged in school and less likely to drop out
• Improves the atmosphere for learning and is correlated with better grades and test scores in other academic areas
• Helps communities share ideas and values among cultures and generations
• Provides a sense of both individuality and belonging for teens
• Helps adolescents release or control emotions and cope with life’s more difficult situations

The 2009 Music Monday song will be “Sing Sing” by Serena Ryder, whose album If Your Memory Serves you Well recently went Gold. The song will be sung and played by all schools and participants across North America at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 11 a.m. Mountain time, 12 p.m. Central time, 1 p.m. Eastern time and 2 p.m. Atlantic time, and 2:30 in Newfoundland, uniting them symbolically through one piece of music. Many arrangements will be added to the Music Monday Web site by the end of the year, in addition to an arrangement and support kit specifically created for elementary teachers to work with very young children.

To register your school or organization as a participant in “Music Monday,” and to receive your Music Monday materials and a copy of the song “Sing Sing,” please e-mail musicmonday@namm.org.

To further support music in schools, the NAMM Foundation and MENC, the National Association for Music Education, lead the SupportMusic Coalition, of which the Coalition for Music Education in Canada is a part. The SupportMusic Coalition comprises more than 200 organizations that represent more than seven million concerned citizens worldwide looking for ways to provide a complete education that includes music and arts instruction for all children.

For more information and links to national, state and local organizations working together to keep music education strong, go to www.supportmusic.com. Organizations interested in participating in the SupportMusic Coalition, write to info@namm.org.