Press Release - "The World's Largest Concert® for Feed The Children®" to Air on i : Independent Television / PAX Network on March 9, 2006
"The World's Largest Concert® for Feed The Children®" to Air on i : Independent Television / PAX Network on March 9, 2006
Oak Ridge Boys to Host Annual Sing-a-long Program Featuring the Music of America, Produced by MENC: The National Association for Music Education in Collaboration with One of the World's Largest Organizations Dedicated to Feeding Hungry People
RESTON, VA (February 28, 2006) — The 22nd annual World's Largest Concert (WLC®) will be broadcast Thursday, March 9, 2006, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the i : Independent Television / PAX Network as well as selected PBS stations and the Armed Forces Television and Radio Network. The WLC, produced by MENC: The National Association for Music Education to focus attention on music in our nation's schools, is broadcast to an estimated 6 million actively participating students, teachers, and community members around the world. It is a highlight of the nationally celebrated Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®), sponsored annually by MENC. The concert will be hosted by the Oak Ridge Boys and will feature the Choristers of The St. Louis Children's Choirs, directed by Kathleen Pottinger and the Missouri State University Symphony Orchestra, from Springfield, MO, under the direction of Dr. Robert Quebbeman. The theme of this year's concert is "Music: The Heart in Education." (Check local listings to verify broadcast information. Listings for i : Independent Television, formerly the PAX network, can be viewed at www.ionline.tv)
MENC encourages 2006 WLC participants to raise money for Feed The Children (FTC), an international non-profit relief organization that delivers food, medicine, clothing, and other necessities to children and families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty, or natural disaster. As children feature prominently in the missions of both FTC and MENC, the two organizations felt there was a natural relationship to focus efforts on helping children in need.
"Teachers give to their students and communities every day," says David E. Circle, president of MENC. "Students need to learn from their example and this is a real life opportunity for them to show their commitment to help others. Together we can demonstrate music education's importance and influence in society ... America is a country that is blessed with so much. We take prosperity for granted and it seems that only when we see tragedy do we pause and think more deeply about what our personal commitments should be. Music education's role in society features inclusiveness and is a logical extension to embrace those in need ... This is what our collaboration with Feed The Children is all about."
The 2006 WLC features the Oak Ridge Boys as hosts of the concert performance emanating from the Grand Palace in Branson, Missouri. MENC provides the vocal, piano accompaniment, and orchestral arrangements for the concert selections free online. The full program for the 2006 WLC is:
"America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" (Traditional)
"I Got The Music (and The Music's in Me)" (Words and music by Kirby Shaw)
"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (Words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger)
"Reach out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" (Words and music by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson)
"The Star-Spangled Banner" (Words by Francis Scott Key, music attributed to John Stafford Smith)
"You Raise Me Up" (Words and music by Brendan Graham and Rolf Lovland)
A free 2006 Teacher's Guide, including the WLC vocal, piano, and orchestral music, lesson plans, activities, and more is available in its entirety online at www.menc.org/wlc. The guide includes fundraising ideas and information on how to donate funds to support Feed the Children. Sibelius Music, USA is assisting MENC by providing the music free of charge at www.sibeliusmusic.com/menc. Rehearsal CDs are available and can be ordered at www.readingkeyboardmusic.com or by calling (801) 262-2546.
Donations to the World's Largest Concert for Feed The Children are welcome. For more information, call 1-800-336-3768, or visit www.menc.org/wlc.
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 120,000 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.
Feed The Children, founded in 1979 by Larry and Frances Jones, is the 3rd largest international charity in the U.S., based on private, non-government support. The mission of Feed The Children is to deliver food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty or natural disaster. In FY 2004, Feed The Children shipped more than 143 million pounds of food and other essentials to children and their families in all 50 states and internationally, supplementing more than 1,040,700 meals each day. Since its founding, the organization has reached out to help those in need in more than 115 countries around the globe. For more information, please visit www.feedthechildren.org.
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