NAMM Update: Mid-September News Highlights

Imagine you’re a teenager in Beijing in the 1960s and ’70s, during the Cultural Revolution. Everything that’s deemed Western and bourgeois is banned — so listening to a 78 rpm recording of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, powerfully transformative as it might be, is off limits.

Commissioned by Canada’s National Music Centre as part of an ambitious vision to create a world-class exhibition of musical innovation and technology, Studio Bell is a new landmark building for Calgary that’s designed to resonate with its audiences – literally.

The women who screamed and swooned for the 19th Century piano virtuoso Franz Liszt set the pattern for fans in our own time – from The Beatles to Justin Bieber.

Music is a universal language and it is that common thread that connects the world. And the most vital part of creating music are the instruments. While these instruments help create mind-boggling tunes and rhythms, an artist from Sydney, Australia, Lauren Swan, has put them to a different use.

A mistake isn’t the end of the world. In fact, when it’s acknowledged, corrected and analyzed, a mistake can actually help improve performance and increase innovation. So why do so many managers expect perfection?

Children’s Hospital Patients Create Music Video | WSVN.com (Florida)

Kids at the Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami grabbed inflatable guitars and dressed up for their own music video. The hospital makes the music video every year in celebration of Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, which is September.

Jazz ‘Jam Session’ Provides Platform for Music Students | Golden Gate Xpress (California)

A couple of SF State jazz professors have put together a live jam session that provides an outlet for music students to showcase their talent and share the stage with their musical mentors.

South African Students Taught String Instruments Over Skype | The Voice (UK)

Tutors and students from Birmingham Conservatoire headed to Soweto, Johannesburg in South Africa last week to perform with a group of children they have been teaching virtually over the last 18 months.

Photographing a Steinway Piano Being Put Together | Hyperallergic.com

Photographer Christopher Payne captures this process of piano building, and contrasts his images with archival views of the factory in 1916.

How the Arts Create Smart Kids | KSL.com (Utah)

Classic or creative arts, music, drama, and dance all have been shown to increase a child’s cognitive abilities. Additional findings report those who are active in the arts also have higher GPAs.

5 Tiny PR Hacks to Boost Your Startup’s Exposure | Entrepreneur.com

These PR hacks will work for you because they’re not focused on you. They’re focused on the journalists you’re targeting. These hacks give them what they need. The way they need it.