Popular Event Sponsored by National Association for Music Education Raises Awareness of the Importance of Music in School, Features School Ensembles and Special Guest Hosts
RESTON, VA (February 15, 2012) – The National Association for Music Education presents The Concert for Music In Our Schools Month (formerly the World’s Largest Concert® or WLC®) in March 2012. The World’s Largest Concert has been a highlight of Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®) since 1985. A sing-along concert linking students around the world through music, the World’s Largest Concert reached an estimated 6 million students, teachers, and music supporters in recent years.
A DVD and mp4 download of the program, featuring special guest hosts and video appearances of school ensembles from around the nation, is available for purchase from NAfME at www.nafme.org/concert. (The school ensembles are listed at the end of this release.) Teachers are encouraged to show the concert video throughout the month of March, and to invite the rest of their school and members of their communities to attend and sing along in this important advocacy event in support of school music programs. Local public access channels are also encouraged to request the DVD and broadcast the show throughout the month of March. (Check local listings.)
For the first time, the video program features special guest hosts who illustrate the concert theme of “Music Lasts a Lifetime.” From a high school percussionist and choir member, to a U.S. Army Band member and an American Idol participant turned math teacher, all of the hosts represent the fact that active participation in music takes place throughout life.
The 2012 concert program includes “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Discussin’ Percussion,” “Rock Island Line,” “Feel the Beat,” “El Vito,” “Dona Nobis Pacem,” and “Everlasting Melody.”
Once again, the Hal Leonard Corporation of Milwaukee, WI, provides the vocal and piano accompaniment scores, full performance and rehearsal tracks, and lesson plans for use in preparation for the concert. The recording of “The Star Spangled Banner” was generously provided by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
The NAfME members whose school ensembles are featured in the concert are (in state order):
| Debra Hutson | Legacy Elementary School | Madison, AL |
| Elaine Bartee | Jonesboro Visual and Performing Arts School | Jonesboro, AR |
| Tina McGrew | Langston Aerospace and Environmental Magnet School | Hot Springs, AR |
| Shelly O’Dell | Benton County School of the Arts | Rogers, AR |
| Teddi English | Westwind Intermediate School | Phoenix, AZ |
| Ellen Collord | Martin Luther King and Highland Elementary School | Seaside, CA |
| Kerri Epps | Providencia Elementary School | Burbank, CA |
| Victoria Lanier | Providencia Elementary School | Burbank, CA |
| Sarah Gleason | Saxe Middle School | New Canaan, CT |
| Heather Meachen | J. Milton Jeffrey School | Madison, CT |
| Kristen Franzen | Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts | Tampa, FL |
| Rhonda Lane | Battlefield Elementary School | Fort Oglethorpe, GA |
| Mary Moore-Breeding | Eastside Elementary School | Douglasville, GA |
| Gina Royal | Ben Hill Primary School | Fitzgerald, GA |
| JeNene Anderson | Idaho Science and Technology Charter Middle School | Blackfoot, ID |
| Elizabeth Kelch | Rockdale School | Rockdale, IL |
| Shequez Morman | North Side Intermediate School | Anderson, IN |
| Fred Zimmerman | Frank Rushton Elementary School | Kansas City, KS |
| Nancy Bacon | Newport Primary School | Newport, KY |
| Janet Barkley | Holy Name School | Henderson, KY |
| Debby Duda | G. C. Burkhead Elementary School | Elizabethtown, KY |
| Carol Cline | Cypress Cove Elementary School | Slidell, LA |
| Robin Kelley | Esten School | Rockland, MA |
| Christina Whittlesey | Parker Middle School | Chelmsford, MA |
| Linda Louisell | Vowles Elementary School | Mt. Pleasant, MI |
| Torris Bell | Baker Elementary School | Jackson, MS |
| Mynette Minshew | Pearl Upper Elementary School | Pearl, MS |
| Cheryl Burford | Clyde Erwin Elementary Magnet School | Jacksonville, NC |
| Jessica Ferguson | Mulberry Elementary School | North Wilkesboro, NC |
| Monica Jones | Fox Road Elementary School | Raleigh, NC |
| Eleanor Nesbitt | Alamance Elementary School | Greensboro, NC |
| Rachel Sawyer | Patton High School | Morganton, NC |
| Lori Mirabal | Kent Place School | Summit, NJ |
| Susan Oliveto | Island Trees Memorial Middle School | Levittown, NY |
| Valerie Ransbottom | Cornwall Central Middle School | Cornwall, NY |
| Elise Sobol | Rosemary Kennedy School | Wantagh, NY |
| Rose Mary Warnecke | Fort Jennings Elementary School | Ft. Jennings, OH |
| Angela Rose | Territorial Elementary School | Junction City, OR |
| Barbara Burns | Carolina Springs Elementary School | Lexington, SC |
| James McClary | Hardy Elementary School | Chattanooga, TN |
| Marsha Barley | Daniel Morgan Middle School | Winchester, VA |
| Melinda Bauers | Waples Mill Elementary School | Oakton, VA |
| Cathy Foster | Waples Mill Elementary School | Oakton, VA |
| Debra Lindsay | Crestwood Elementary School | Springfield, VA |
| Alice Real | Crestwood Elementary School | Springfield, VA |
| Maritza Sadowsky | Jamestown Elementary School | Arlington, VA |
| Pat Deming | Grass Lake Elementary School | Kent, WA |
| Sharon Johnson | Grass Lake Elementary School | Kent, WA |
| Leslie Schneider | Valley View Elementary School | Ellensburg, WA |
| Anne Uimonen | Neely-O’Brien Elementary School | Kent, WA |
| Patrick Stolz | St. Mary’s Catholic School | Cheyenne, WY |
For more information, visit www.nafme.org.
National Association for Music Education, among the world’s largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 active, retired, and pre-service music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, NAfME serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school. NAfME’s mission is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. Since 1907, NAfME 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. NAfME 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.
Hal Leonard is the world leader in the music print industry. The company produces sheet music, songbooks and method books for piano, voice and all instruments, as well as band, orchestra and choral arrangements, music reference publications, children’s music products, accompaniment audio CDs and instructional and performance DVDs, all totaling over 85,000 distributed titles. With music education as a major focus, Hal Leonard remains dedicated to providing outstanding educational products for music classrooms everywhere.
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