Taking notes: NAMM Foundation hosts Day of Service at Westmont Elementary in Anaheim
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In a classroom at Westmont Elementary School in Anaheim, students sat in a circle, cradling ukuleles. Other students were seated on the floor in front of xylophones.
“Now to do what I call the island strum, you make your hand relaxed … floppy like a fish,” said the instructor.
The children began strumming, and those with xylophones played along too. After a few minutes, the entire class was playing a rough but recognizable version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh).”
Classrooms throughout the Anaheim campus were filled with Westmont Wildcats making music on Jan. 21 for the NAMM Foundation’s Day of Service.
The National Assn. of Music Merchants is the largest not-for-profit music trade organization. Each year it comes to Anaheim to host the NAMM Show, which gathers music, sound and entertainment technology industries from over 120 countries.
Taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center from Jan. 21 until Jan. 25, NAMM kicked off the week using music to unite educators and industry professionals in supporting music education.
“Every year during the NAMM Show we host a day of service at Anaheim Elementary School District. This is an opportunity for folks in our industry to give back and to collaborate,” said Julia Rubio, executive director at NAMM. “It is an opportunity to inspire these kids.”
NAMM has worked with the Anaheim Elementary School District for many years, and the event provides support of the district’s music initiatives.
“We are honored to have NAMM here today because it is an opportunity for our students to get additional music instruction. Over the course of the school year, literacy is a huge focus in our district and music is a literacy in itself,” said Denise Victoria, principal at Westmont Elementary. “There is a lot of research around how music impacts problem solving, how it impacts reading, how it impacts creativity and providing our students with those types of opportunities provides them opportunities for the future.”
In 2014, the Anaheim Elementary School District Board of Education committed to including music instruction within every student’s school day. By 2018, all 24 campuses within the district had full-time general music teachers for TK through fourth grade and instrumental teachers for fifth and sixth graders.
Mark Anderson is the coordinator of the music and arts programs for the district, working with all grade levels at various schools.
“Our program is very student centered; it revolves around the input and feedback from students in our community,” said Anderson. “We are very excited to not just offer general music instruction during the day, but we are exploring ways to offer mariachi at many schools. We are offering drumming and modern band. We have an elementary drumline that marches in parades … We are really excited to continue finding ways to offer more opportunities, whether it is during the school day or through the community school programs or through the after-school Anaheim Elementary Succeeds program.”
This year, the NAMM Foundation donated $10,000 to the district to support its music programs. NAMM president and chief executive officer John Mlynczak attended the event and emphasized the donation is only part of the work the foundation does.
“We exist to serve music makers worldwide … the foundation work is more than writing big checks,” he said. “It is about showing up, organizing, building relationships, and you want to leave places stronger than they were when you got there.”
In a classroom just down the hall from the ukulele players, students got a lesson on the finer points of rapping.
Music educator Scott Burstein took suggestions from the kids on words that rhyme, jotting each one down a smart board. “It’s not nice to shove” was followed by the line, “I put on a glove.” When the beat dropped, a young student volunteered to rap the lines, but first he shyly requested the mic.
Although the NAMM Foundation visits Anaheim annually, this year the group had a particular goal to show students definitive career paths in music.
In a classroom off the school library, high school students sat down with music industry professionals in small groups. Musicians, D.J.s and a custom drum maker spoke with students about their jobs in the music industry.
“We brought the high schoolers in this year for a ‘Networking with the Pros’ opportunity,” said Mlynczak. “Professionals in our industry in a number of careers are mentoring and talking with students one on one, so they can have more of a dialogue.”
Other activities continued through out the day, including a drum circle and musical performances in the quad. Rubio said the connection the students make to the music, and to each other, is part of why community outreach is so important to the NAMM foundation.
“We believe very strongly at the NAMM Foundation that music brings people together,” said Rubio. “If you are starting that in the schools with children, they are going to take that into their communities, and they are going to build stronger and healthier communities as adults.”
