Million More Music Makers Initiative!

Back in 1901, the association that eventually became known as NAMM began the tradition of an annual gathering—a trade show. And each year since 1901 (except for a brief hiatus during the Depression and World War II, and one more recent due to the pandemic) NAMM has continued that tradition. This year’s show will take place April 13-15, 2023, at the Anaheim Convention Center. This gathering represents the crossroads of the music products, professional audio, and entertainment technology communities, and offers a vibrant exhibition of innovative new products and services along with networking, events, and professional development opportunities.

All of us in The NAMM Foundation will be busy at this year’s NAMM Show! In addition to our robust regular programming, we will launch a new initiative called Million More Music Makers. This initiative offers hands-on training to expand guitar, ukulele, and bass learning opportunities in schools and communities. Million More Music Makers welcomes professional and amateur musicians, teachers, college students and faculty, school administrators and curriculum specialists, as well as community music organization leaders and participants, to take part in focused programming designed to build and encourage music makers at all stages of life.

Specialized Million More programming will include:

• teacher training for classroom and group instruction in schools and community organizations,

• review of school curriculum planning and alignment with education standards,

• workshops and hands-on learning experiences,

• an exploration of passionate community music-making groups,

• a celebration of luthiers and technicians,

• and performances galore!

We are very excited to have the support of many partners to help in this endeavor. These partner organizations include the American String Teachers Association (ASTA); California Music Educators Association (CMEA); College Music Society (CMS); Guitars 4 Vets; Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA); Guitars in the Classroom (GITC); Langley Ukulele Association; Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock); National Association for Music Education (NAfME); Save the Music Foundation; Teaching Guitar Workshop; Technology in Music Education (TI:ME); Young Audiences/Arts for Learning, and more.