Press Release - Spotlight to Shine on School Music Programs in March 2007 "Music In Our Schools Showcase"
Spotlight to Shine on School Music Programs in March 2007 "Music In Our Schools Showcase"
MENC: The National Association for Music Education Announces New Initiative to Highlight Music In Our Schools Month® 2007
RESTON, VA (September 1, 2006) -- MENC: The National Association for Music Education announced a new direction for Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®) to coincide with the association's 100th anniversary in 2007. The "Music In Our Schools Showcase" is a program designed to spotlight school music programs, recognize superior performances, and promote the importance of music education.
MENC K-12 members are invited to submit video recordings of their school choral or instrumental groups performing one song from a list selected from past World's Largest Concerts®. Each video must include an introduction featuring a principal, superintendent, or local decision maker stressing the importance of music education and pride in the local program. An MENC panel will choose finalists in several categories, and their videos will be posted on the MENC Web site during MIOSM. All will be invited to vote online to choose the winners in each category, to be announced later in March.
"The Music In Our Schools Showcase is a new advocacy tool we've created to recognize music in our schools for MENC's next century," said MENC President Lynn Brinckmeyer. "We're referencing our past with songs and curriculum from the World's Largest Concert, but looking ahead to the use of new technology to raise awareness of the importance of strong school music programs."
The Music In Our Schools Showcase as the centerpiece for MIOSM is a change from the World's Largest Concert (WLC), long a project under the MIOSM banner, which will not be broadcast in 2007. "We so appreciate the teachers and students around the world who have participated in the WLC over the last two decades," said Brinckmeyer. "We hope the teachers who made the WLC a success will embrace our new format for interaction with as much excitement as they brought to the previous program." Member concerns about scheduling, rising costs, and other factors led to the National Executive Board decision to change direction. "Although is it not easy to see such a tradition come to an end, we are very excited to offer our members the new opportunities presented by the Music In Our Schools Showcase," she said.
For more information, visit www.menc.org/miosm.
MENC: The National Association for Music Education, the world's largest arts education organization, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. More than 130,000 members represent all levels of teaching from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC's activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education.
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