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