VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine

with complete sincerity that this experience
of advocating on behalf of music education
might very well have been his most meaningful
life experience of all.”
RETURN ADVOCATES
Menzie Pittman, founder of Contemporary
Music Center in Haymarket, Va., was
one of many music industry members who
returned after previous NAMM lobbying
trips. (It was his fifth Fly-In.) “The Fly-In this
year had a newly charged energy,” Pittman
said. “Piracy issues brought an expanded
NAMM team. Federal education policy and
piracy affect everyone in the music industry,
and the NAMM members addressed both
issues head on. You have to feel good when
40 music industry leaders dedicate time and
energy to protecting our industry and its
heartbeat: music education.”
This expanded team included Rick Carlson,
Kala’s director of sales and marketing.
“Being a first-timer, it was not only educational,
but it was a pleasure to be part of a
merging of retailers and manufacturers in
From left: Writer
Greg Billings and his
wife, Sara, with jazz
legend Tony Bennett
a team effort for causes that are critical to
our industry,” he said.
“After engaging in the process of lobbying
individual House and Senate representatives,
it is clear that these trips can have a significant
impact on actual legislation that affects
us all,” said David Slan, owner of Steinway
Piano Gallery in Washington, D.C., and St.
Louis. “Our NAMM staff and legal representation
in Washington are very effective.”
“It is really encouraging to realize that
our elected officials are on the same page
as NAMM,” said Judy Drengwitz, school
and government contract administrator for
Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in
Wheaton, Md. “They are very much aware
of the funding issues in education, obviously,
but they also know how important music is
for the student and for their complete educational
experience. One of the congressmen
brought his family to the reception. His son,
a graduating senior, will be continuing his
jazz trumpet studies in college. They just
had the jazz studies program cut from the
class schedule at his high school for next
year. The family is very upset by the cut but
grateful that their son was able to complete
his studies.” MI
Greg and Grant Billings run Steinway Piano Gallery in
Naples, Fla., and Madison, Wis., respectively. They are
regular contributors to Music Inc. magazine and participated
in the NAMM Advocacy Fly-In event.
JULY 2011 I MUSIC INC. I 27