Baskin Robbins for Musicians: The NAMM Trade Show

I wrote this from Anaheim, California at the NAMM trade show which is four days of looking at over 1500 exhibits of musical products and being surrounded by thousands of people from the music industry. This show is not open to the general public.

I was sitting at a table in the Hilton Hotel drinking some cranberry juice (“less than 10% juice”) and chatting with an electronics engineer from Poland who was in the U.S for the first time. He is trying to help market a switch that won’t effect the life of any piano player that I know.  He’s talking about the size of the show (too big), the advantages of doing business in the U.S (unrestricted travel and no tariffs from state to state, and a few other things that I’ve obviously taken for granted).

I brought my granddaughter’s husband who has recently graduated as a recording engineer.  The whole experience has made him (according to one report) giddy.  I remember my first time attending the NAMM trade show in 2004.  Way too many interesting things to see.  If you stop to talk about a few of them, there are other things you’ll just never find.

If you’re a music teacher or publisher, attending NAMM gives you new insight into the music industry.  Pianos and piano teachers are not even close to being in the majority.

Why do I go?  First, I “believe in music” which is sort of like a NAMM motto.  I believe in the intrinsic (musical) benefits of learning to play a musical instrument and I believe in the extra-musical benefits (the cognitive contributions, the social benefits, the health and wellness benefits).

Secondly, I go because I see new things.  Some of those things I want to buy to resell to our organization of MusicMaster™ Insiders. I hope to find ideas that improve the musical experiences of the private music teacher and his/her students.  I’m always a little disappointed that the people from NAMM seem to be trying to solve the financial and logistical dilemmas in the school systems and overlooking the problems that are created for the music industry by the inadequate approaches and curriculum materials used on and by private students.

Watch for details about some of the new things, especially things that help those of us who teach and publish to be better at what we do.

“52 Chord in 90 Minutes”

We don’t know why but modern day chord theory and improvisation doesn’t seem to be part of many teacher’s curriculum. We teach a jazz improvisation seminar for players who can read music but have insufficient “theoretical” information and awareness of the process needed to become an improviser.

Players need to learn some chords that someone neglected while they were taking lessons. They also need access to some scales that they may have only thought of as finger exercises.  We decided that we needed to create a program that would allow people inside and outside of our studio to have access to this kind of skill.

We have created a presentation called “52 Chords in 90 Minutes”. As an improviser, “if you don’t know the chords, nothing else matters”.

We have been teaching chords (along with music reading) for nearly 20 years and we don’t think it can get any easier than this.  It’s a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation that enables a teacher or piano player or anyone with an interest, to learn 52 chords.

We are offering a free sample of our “52 Chords in 90 Minutes” presentation to those of our readers that are interested in developing this skill.  Whether you are a beginner, an experienced player who missed learning this skill, or you yourself are a teacher, this program will provide you will increased understanding and application of modern day chord theory.

If you are interested in this free sample please respond to this post with the following:

Name
Email address
Musical background
Whether or not you are a music teacher

A Few Things that a Traditional Piano Teacher Might Not Know or Want You to Know.

On days that we’re feeling confrontational and wondering why there aren’t millions of teachers and piano students visiting our websites, we try to cause trouble.  Well, at least we try to cause dissatisfaction.  Why?  Because we believe, along with one of the James boys (William, Henry or Jesse), that “every good thing results from a dissatisfaction.”  If you really think about it, isn’t it true?  Those that are satisfied don’t seem to be interested in fixing or correcting or improving anything.  Remember the milk ad?  “Our milk comes from contented cows”.  A competitor responded: “Our cows are never contented.  They’re always anxious to do better”.

That’s how we feel about the products and processes that are used to teach piano.  We’ve often said, if anyone is going to make our products and processes obsolete, we want to be the ones to do it.

We hope to make some teachers and some parents of music students dissatisfied or at least “anxious to do better!”

So here are a few things that a traditional piano teacher might not know or want you to know.

That you can learn to improvise and play by ear while you’re learning to read music…

That you can start lessons as young as 4 years old…

That in the first few weeks you can play big-sounding  pieces that are two or three years earlier than expected…

That you can learn useful chords and improvisational theory in a few lessons – 52 relevant chords in a very short period of time . . .

That a 1/2 hour private, living room lesson might not be the most effective or efficient…

To learn more about our method and the way we teach and operate our studio, visit our website: www.themusicmastergroup.com

Public School Music – Looking for Investors/Best 100 Communities for Music Ed.

  In our State music is underfunded.  At least that’s the excuse.  The argument always seems to be:  give us more money and we will produce better outcomes.

Do you ever wonder if a business model might be more compelling; i.e.  produce a better outcome or product and we will be more than willing to pay you more money.

We often wonder, with the way music programs are conceived and organized, if they deserve any attention or money at all.

For example, there is a public elementary school in our neighborhood.  Because we know students who go there, we know a little bit about what happens.  Here’s the schedule for their school orchestra and band:

Band/Orchestra Monday 5th Grade 11:15 – 11:50  ( 35 minutes)
Band/Orchestra Monday 6th Grade 11:50 – 12:25  ( 35 minutes)

Band/Orchestra Wednesday 5th Grade 11:15 – 11:50 ( 35 minutes)
Band/Orchestra Wednesday 6th Grade 11:50 – 12:25 ( 35 minutes)

Two days a week, 35 minutes each day.  Let’s see.  Let’s assume that everyone arrives on time (?).  There are string players and woodwind players and some brass players and a percussionist or two.  All instruments have to be taken out of their cases, some need to be assembled. The students will apply a little cork grease or valve oil or resin. Most will need to be tuned.  How much of the 35 minutes does that take?

Now it’s time to rehearse.  It’s possible that every student will need to be taught how to play their part.  The teacher hopefully is able to play their principal instrument but may have only had a semester learning other instruments.  If their principal instrument is violin, they still have to teach the horn players and the woodwind players how to play their part.

Let’s suppose someone came to you with this idea:  Let’s get some elementary aged kids together for 35 minutes, two times a week. Make sure that most are beginning players but if we need to we’ll put more experience players with the beginners.  Put them with a teacher who has a degree in music ed. and teach them to play and love and appreciate music.

How much money will you invest in that idea? If you’re a taxpayer, you already have.

This Spring, The NAMM Foundation (National Association of Music Merchants) published the results of an annual survey to search for communities “whose programs exemplify a strong commitment to music education.” This survey is known as the the Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) Survey.

The NAMM Foundation teamed up with the following advisory organizations: Americans for the Arts, League of American Orchestras, The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, Music for All, Music Teachers National Association, National Guild For Community Arts Education, Yamaha Corporation of America, Young Audiences, National PTA and VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

You can see the list of communities that made the list here: http://www.namm.org/news/press-releases/namm-foundation-record-number-programs-earn-distin

There was not any town or school district in Utah that made it onto this list and there never has been for eight years…

Moms and private music teachers – it’s up to you!

Let us know if we can help.  Check out: www.themusicmastergroup.com

30 Lines and Spaces in 60 Minutes, Our Free Gift To Our Readers!

We are so confident in our Landmark system that we are are offering a free Landmark system learning package to our readers.  This package includes a set of Landmark flashcards and an instruction booklet containing drills and exercises that will allow you to learn 30 lines and spaces in 60 minutes!!

Our Landmark system provides an easy way for students, teachers and parents to learn or increase their ability to identify the lines and spaces in such a way that does not cause any negative side like the most often used system that refers to “Good Boys”, “Cows that eat Grass”, that part of your body that houses your nose, eyes, rosy cheeks, etc. (see blog: Musical Iatrogenics).

Let us prove it you! Just send an email to us at info@musicmasterinsider.com indicating that you have read our blog and we will send you this gift for free!  Please include your name and mailing address. Also, if you have any questions about this or any of our other materials let us know or check out our website: musicmasterinsider.com

Looking back

Looking back, we should have kept track of the number of students we have interviewed who came to our program from other teachers.  They all brought some similarities:  no improvisational experience, some cadences or music theory from the 17th century ( if they had any music reading problems they all  stemmed from a well meaning teacher who had nothing more to share about the identification of the lines and spaces on a staff than the silliness regarding “good boys”, “dogs that fight animals”, “elephants with dirty feet”, “cows that eat grass” and “cars that eat gas”, etc.

The list of negative side effects is long and range from the “e” in elephant not describing which “e” is being located to a strong impression regarding the uniqueness of the Treble Staff vs. the Bass Staff to a feeling of comfort and safety around Middle C and the comfort and safety disappearing the further you get away from Middle C.

There is a solution – a much better solution and its called the MusicMaster Landmark System.  For more information email us at clinician@mmgroups.com

Landmarks: A Better Prescription

If you want to see a quick, effective way to learn 20-30 Lines and Spaces in about an hour, check out our newest product:  20 Lines & Spaces in 60 Minutes.  It’s a slide presentation that teaches the MusicMaster™ Landmark System.

The “landmarks” are notes on the staff that are memorable that aid in locating other notes.  And they’re tied directly to the corresponding keys on a keyboard.

It completely eliminates the problems (serious side effects) caused by the most often used system that refers to “Good Boys”, “Cows that eat Grass”, that part of your body that houses your nose, eyes, rosy cheeks, etc.

Email us at info@musicmasterinsider.com for more information