-Guitar Hero is all the rage for consumers.

-Need to take a break from searching for the latest gear during The NAMM Show? Here are some celebrity appearances and parties to check out.

-Attendance increased at Music China and Prolight + Sound, and Kenny G made a big splash.

-Improving next month's NAMM Show is like making the 1972 Miami Dolphins better. But NAMM is certainly not resting on its laurels.

-We reveal all of the manufacturer nominees for Music & Sound Awards to be handed out next month at The NAMM Show.

-Counterfeiting on MI products, particularly guitars, may have received minimal national press, but the problem is real and not going away.

-Find out how to sell products your customers are probably not looking to buy.

-M&SR features its second annual independent retailer roundtable. What's on dealer's mind's this year. Are things better than last year?

-Females playing musical instruments now outnumber males, according to a NAMM/Gallup survey.

-Industry leaders paved the way for the next 10 years.

You’ve certainly seen information about non-profit groups sprinkled throughout trade magazine pages. But this month, we wanted to bring all of that information together into one story. We invited six non-profit organizations to update us on what’s happening at their groups and what we can look for in the future. We provide information in alphabetical order based on the organization name.

Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA),
www.discoverguitar.com
GAMA has expanded its guitar workshops to include a “Level II” class. than 200 teachers will instruct GAMA workshops this summer throughout the country. “Our goal is to one day have four years of instruction available to any student who wants to play guitar in school,” said Rob Sulkow, GAMA’s executive director. “GAMA plans to conduct further studies and research in an effort to both quantify and streamline the project’s success.”
Sulkow added future goals for GAMA include getting manufacturers and MI dealers more involved and to expand outside of the United States. “We are also taking aggressive steps to train new workshop instructors to ensure the longevity of the program,” he said.

Guitars in the Classroom (GITC), www.guitarsintheclassroom.com
Jessica Baron, GITC’s executive director, said she is really looking forward to getting programs in local communities. GITC will soon enter its ninth year in existence, and, “We’re in a new phase of helping people who have already started programs and are doing well,” said Baron. “So we can devote our resources to helping spread the program to new regions. An important goal for us has been helping people become good at teaching the program and creating a strong presence in communities.”

Baron also added several manufacturers are contributing guitars for the cause, including Kaman, Martin, Godin, and The Eastman Music Company. GITC has been working on getting entire school districts, not just individual schools, to support its program. That effort has already paid off in several locations.

Getting you, the retailer, involved in GITC has also been a major focus. “We want to see our programs work creatively with retailers to help feed the whole community music-making efforts,” said Baron. She called every relationship with retailers a friendship. “We give every teacher or instructor a packet containing step-by-step instructions on how to work with local retailers,” she said. “They need to respect a retailers’ schedule and needs. They need to understand what it costs for a retailer to keep their doors open, and what part their program can play to assist with that, and they need to understand the limitations of a retailers’ time so they don’t ask for too much. GITC instructors also offer ways for retailers to attract music teachers in the store by possibly offering discounts or combining our logo with theirs on fliers and handing them out at schools.”

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