Press Release - “Notes from the Clef” Podcast Series Features News from the World of School Music

Notes from the Clef Podcast Series<br>Features News from the World of School Music
Occasional Series Produced by MENC: The National Association for<br>Music Education to Feature Interviews, Music Samples

RESTON, VA (October 4, 2006) -- MENC: The National Association for Music Education announced a new podcast series, Notes from the Clef, with the goal of providing an informative, entertaining new resource for the nation's music educators. The series will feature interviews with MENC members, MENC leaders, professional musicians, and individuals representing MENC's many partners in the world of music education and music advocacy.

The first podcast featured an interview with MENC president Lynn Brinckmeyer by John Mahlmann, MENC executive director. Brinckmeyer outlined her goals and plans for her two-year presidency, which began July 1, 2006, and discussed how she became a music educator and eventually the leader of the nation's largest arts education organization. In a podcast scheduled for November, Mahlmann will interview Gary Ingle, executive director of Music Teachers National Association, about the challenges facing both public school and studio teachers.

Other editions of Notes from the Clef this fall feature MENC national executive board members discussing plans for division conferences, how they became music educators, and what music they would perform on American Idol. Public service announcements from musicians including Kathy Mattea, Keith Lockhart, and Suzy Boggus are also featured.

Music teachers are always on the cutting edge of education technology, so it seems fitting that their professional organization would produce a podcast, said Mahlmann. We hope our series will provide our members with information that will help them do their jobs, and at the same time raise awareness of the need for strong public support of music education in our schools.

Notes from the Clef is available for download or streaming at www.menc.org/podcast.

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.

###