Notes Newsletter

“Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”

Do you remember? Back in the late 1960s, singer and songwriter Sandy Denny wrote the song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" Both she and Judy Collins released versions of the tune to wide acclaim making it a classic component of the folk-rock repertoire. Well, that is the song that came to mind when I realized that our last news letter came out over a year and a half ago! We had just finished the renovation, were navigating our way out of the pandemic, and had just hosted the inimitable Emmylou Harris at our annual gala fundraiser. “Time it was and what a time it was,” is another lyric that pops into my mind (Simon and Garfunkel).

The months between then and now have been filled with activity, change, and growth. We have witnessed a steady increase in walk-in visitors, an energetic return of school tours, and the continuation of our adult amateur band and orchestra programs. Further, thanks to generous donors, grant funding, and a new partnership with Belly Up Entertainment, we have brought back our live performance series-albeit somewhat pared down. And of course, our special exhibitions are back with an exciting one scheduled to open this April. Not only have we reinstated such longstanding activities, but we have also introduced a few new programmatic elements to our mix including quarterly Community Music Days.

Behind-the-scenes there have been some shifts the most significant of which is a closer align ment at the staff level between the Museum and the NAMM Foundation, the 501(c)3 nonprofit branch of NAMM. The Museum, a signature program of the Foundation, will benefit from this closer relationship in that it can reach a broader national audience through its communications, and also bring important information about music making and music education to all of you. Further on in this newsletter I will share the work of the Foundation in some detail. Additionally, we have experienced some staffing shifts. We recently welcomed two new Museum Educators, Andrew and Chuck (see page 6), and sadly, we have just said farewell to our curator, Dr. Jonathan Piper. We will miss him terribly, but he certainly leaves behind a lasting legacy. A key contributor to our complete museum renovation, he researched and wrote the new storyline, designed the dis plays, selected the artifacts, and basically poured his heart and soul into the project. He also curat ed a number of groundbreaking special exhibitions and masterfully trained our volunteers. We wish him the very best in his future. We are grateful to welcome Elizabeth Dale as our new Manager of Collections and Exhibitions and look forward to introducing her in more depth in the coming months.

As you can see, we have navigated much change. Moving through calm waters, deep waters, choppy waters, and even through some seemingly all-consuming wa ters, made us all stronger. I am very grateful that we all kept our eyes fixed on the same point on the horizon, stayed the course, and reached this new shore together. Thank you for your support and for your belief in the power of music to make our lives the best they can be.

carolyn grant, executive director

A special thank you to the hun members who have renewed their membership level durin pandemic times and to those been part of our membershi for years.

membership

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Our goal is for the Museum of Making Music to be an inviting and engaging place for families and individuals of all ages. We want it to be a destination, we want it to create community, and we want it to serve as a resource. And ultimately, we strive for it to be a place of inquiry and discovery where visitors can find or recognize their own place in the world of music. We all play a part whether it’s listening, playing, appreciating, or encouraging others.

As a member of the Museum, you play an active role in supporting our vision of a world in which the joy of making music is a precious element of daily living for everyone, and available to all regardless of age, income level, or ethnic background. A special thank you to the hundreds of members who have renewed or upgraded their membership level during tough pandemic times and to those who have been part of our membership family for years. Your support gives us institutional strength and motivates us to have creative, engaging exhibitions and programs.

For those of you who value music and the Museum but have not yet taken the step to become a member, we hope you will consider joining us. All membership packages and benefits can be found on our website by clicking on the “Support” tab.

Did you know?

We now have a booming “Grandparent” level membership package and it’s a hit!

Drum roll, please…members get advance notice for concerts and an exclusive time window during which tickets can be purchased prior to public announcement!

Programs such as Community Music Days and Special Exhibition Openings are free for Museum members!

All these benefits are great, but what’s even more wonderful is knowing that with your membership you are helping young students—many of whom have never seen or touched an instrument—discover the musical journey of their lives. Your membership dollars help enrich others in the community. What can be more rewarding than that?

Experience the satisfaction of supporting future generations with your membership!

Remembering Don Lewis and LEO

Thanks to the groundbreaking innovation of MIDI (more on that on the next page!), connecting two electronic instruments together has been a relatively easy affair since 1983. Before 1983, well, that’s another story. Suppose you wanted to play a note on a synthesizer and have the same note play simultaneously on another synthesizer, perhaps to combine two sounds. Pre-1983, your best bet was to use a control voltage (CV). With CV, one device outputs a specific voltage representing something that it’s doing, such as the note it’s playing, and other device receives that voltage and does something with it, like play a note. But there were multiple “standards” for turning notes into voltages, making it hard to combine devices from different manufacturers. Now imagine you wanted to do this with lots of notes and lots of sounds, even changing sounds, all in a live setting. This would have been, in a word, difficult, but it’s precisely what Don Lewis did with the Live Electronic Orchestra.

Don grew up with big musical dreams, wanting to play his church’s organ and to conduct an orchestra. He also had a passion for electrical engineering, studying at Tuskegee Institute before becoming a nuclear weapons specialist with the Air Force and later working for Honeywell in Denver. He remained involved in music, running a church music program, working part-time in a music store, and playing in local nightclubs. He soon became a demonstrator for Hammond organs, performing at conventions and trade shows—often with rhythm units to add a percussive element to his playing. Don couldn’t find quite the right settings on his rhythm unit, an Ace Tone FR-2L Rhythm Ace, so he opened it up and modified it until it sounded the way he wanted. It wasn’t long before Don applied this logic—modify something until it makes the music you’re driven to make—to the rest of his instruments. In 1974, Don began planning the Live Electronic Orchestra (LEO, for short), a collection of electronic instruments—heavily modified, of course—that he would perform with in real time.

Over the next three years, Don and engineer Richard Bates overcame immense technical challenges, and by 1977, LEO was built and active. LEO’s list of components is dizzying: a Hammond Concorde console including two manuals and pedalboard, a Pascetta four-voice polyphonic keyboard, an aftertouch sensor from an

ARP Pro Soloist, four Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Modules, two ARP 2600 synthesizers, Roland ProMars and Jupiter 4 synthesizers, a Roland TR-808 drum machine (a later addition), a Roland VP-330 vocoder into which Don sang, Roland Space Echo and Digital Chorus effects units, the controller for a Roland Revo rotating speaker, a Hammond volume pedal controlling eight channels of audio, a mixer, numerous custom controls for modifying settings on the fly, all built into custom plexiglass enclosures and the pedestal from a Hammond X-66 organ. That Don and Richard were able to put all of this together into a functional system before MIDI is incredible; that Don was able to play it all live is simply awe-inspiring.

LEO has been on display at the Museum of Making Music since 2001 with two short trips away: in 2013 so Don could perform with it at the NAMM Show and again in 2020 for repairs while we renovated. Before our public reopening in 2021, Don and his wife Julie spent two days in Carlsbad to ensure LEO could still make music. We planned for Don to be able to drop in and perform when he was in the area again. Sadly, Don passed away on November 6, 2022 at the age of 81. We are honored to share Don’s legacy with our visitors and to display LEO, a clear expression of personal passion and sheer will, overcoming tremendous obstacles to realize a dream.

2023 marks the 40th anniversary of MIDI’s introduction, and we’re celebrating with a new special exhibition exploring the human side of this influential technology: how MIDI has aided musicians in becoming composers, how it’s helped engineers create incredible theatrical productions, enabled people with disabilities to make music, and much more.

Special Exhibition Opens April 7, 2023

The work of Don Lewis and Richard Bates in the creation of the Live Electronic Orchestra was seen firsthand by Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder of Roland Corporation. Kakehashi was coming to understand that synthesizer manufacturers would need to agree on a standard interconnect if they wanted to grow their market. Along with Dave Smith, founder of Sequential Circuits, he led the charge to develop what became known as the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI. The impact of MIDI is hard to overstate: electronic musical instruments and other devices, including sequencers, recorders, and more, could send accurate and predictable information to each other in real time. Since MIDI’s introduction in 1983, it has been implemented in over 2.5 billion instruments and devices and, most importantly, has enabled innumerable musicians to do things that otherwise may have been impossible.

With our latest special exhibition, MIDI@40: Artistry, Inclusivity, Connectivity, we’ll be exploring the human side of this influential technology: how MIDI has aided musicians in becoming composers, how it’s helped engineers to create incredible theatrical productions, how it’s enabled people with disabilities to make music, and much more. The exhibition will present a timeline of MIDI’s development and will also look forward to the future of MIDI, with a focus on the emerging technologies of MIDI 2.0. Museum visitors will get first-hand experience of the kinds of creative connectivity enabled by MIDI in a unique interactive experience.

At the NAMM Show in January 1983, Dave Smith leads the first public demonstration of MIDI by connecting his Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 to a Roland Jupiter 6.

Education Enthusiasm

There is a lot going on in the Education department at the Museum of Making Music! First, we are excited to introduce our two new Museum Educators, Andrew Specht (left) and Chuck Patton (right). Andrew is an accomplished trumpeter who has performed at our volunteer holiday party as well as Carnegie Hall! He has a wealth of teaching experience with students of all ages in a variety of musical settings. Chuck is a guitarist with a passion for music who has taught English and special education to students from elementary to college. He was also the owner and founder of a successful local coffee business and brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to the Museum education team. Andrew and Chuck, along with a pool of wonderful volunteers, are taking the school field trip program to a new level.

We are also feeling charged with energy and enthusiasm thanks to the vibrant return of in-person school groups! Thanks to our recent outreach to Southern California schools designated as “Title 1” (schools with a large concentrations of low-income students) we will be welcoming record numbers of students from underserved populations all over San Diego. Thanks to many generous Museum donors, all transportation costs and admission fees for these schools are provided for free. And, every child who participates in a school field trip receives a Come Back Coupon, enabling them to bring their family back for a visit, free of charge. One of our favorite things is seeing a field trip participant acting as tour guide for their parents and siblings.

Similar energy and enthusiasm can be felt on the other end of the age spectrum through our adult band and orchestra programs! The North Coast Strings Orchestra just concluded its fall/winter session with a performance at Grossmont College. The concert

included Beethoven’s First Symphony, in which the orchestra was joined by professional wind musicians from Grossmont College. The performance of this piece was meaningful on many levels as the orchestra had been learning it when the pandemic hit. Its performance, these years later, signified perseverance, hard work, and triumph over adversity. The North Coastal New Horizons Band has also persevered, playing and performing outdoors for many months. Just recently, the band held their first indoor concert in three years. It was a joyful occasion for all, and a reminder of how special it is to make music together.

Beginning in the fall, both the band and the orchestra will be reinstating classes for beginners. If you or someone you know has always wanted to learn an orchestral string or a band instrument, or if you used to play but haven’t in years, please contact us at 760-304-5817 for information about our groups. The Museum of Making Music is proud to live up to its name by providing entry points for the adult musician in a noncompetitive, fun, yet focused environment. Don’t miss out on the chance to become part of one of these very special musical families.

Volunteers at the Heart of Our Work

Our volunteer community showed amazing resilience throughout the last few challenging years. During the pandemic shutdown, and while the Museum was undergoing its complete renovation, our volunteers met weekly online via Zoom to learn the content for the newly-designed galleries and visitor experiences. Following the completion of their online training, these volunteers have put their knowledge to work every day with visitors of all ages. In addition, we recently completed our first in-person volunteer training since the pandemic. Twenty new volunteers spent their summer here at the Museum, rigorously learning everything about the Museum’s artifacts and storylines in order to share information with visitors and ensure they have an enjoyable and informative visit. We are thrilled that the Museum is overflowing with happy, friendly, and knowledgeable volunteers. We hope you’ll come by often and get to know them!

Such dedication from our volunteers deserves recognition. Recently, we selected our Volunteer of the Year, Helena Armandula, and joined her as she was recognized along with fellow San Diego County volunteers at the annual North County Philanthropy Council luncheon. At our annual Volunteer Holiday Party, we presented what we call our “Above and Beyond” awards to volunteers Brian Donaldson and Diane Scholfield who have gone way above the call of duty to support the Museum. We also recognized volunteers for their daily instrument tunings and willingness to help out in a pinch. And our dear Charter Volunteer Jerry Carp (with us since 1999) reached a landmark milestone of 4,000 hours of service.

“By volunteering, I figured I could meet some new people, and have a reason to get out of the house. What I found was that I’ve met lots of great people and learned so much more about musical instruments than I ever expected. I happily look forward to going to “work” at the museum every time I can.”

GAYLE CADWALLADER

“As a newly-trained volunteer, I support the admissions desk as well as the Museum Store. It’s always great fun talking with and learning about people and their families from all over the country!” COLLEEN FOSTER

These volunteers truly exemplify what it means to give the gift of service. We are supremely grateful.

Bringing Our Mission to Life

The storyline within the Museum galleries is organized into three pillars: “Making the Instruments,” “Providing the Instruments,” and “Using the Instruments.” Our displays reveal the inner workings of these themes, and our programming brings them to life as well. For example, in a recent Community Music Day, we invited families and members of the community to explore the world of instruments through diverse activities such as an instrument petting zoo, a lecture on the art of guitar building, a Family Jam, and an instrument art project for kids.

To drive home the importance and hard-to-put-into-words magic of the third pillar, “Using the Instruments,” we host a variety of live performances. Following the long hiatus during the pandemic, our offerings are slowly coming back and reaching a balance of approximately one concert per month. Thanks to funding from the Conrad Prebys Foundation, and a new booking partnership with Belly Up Entertainment, over the past few months we have presented artists such as Kanekoa, Karl Denson, Brockett Parsons, and Jaime Wyatt.

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Concerts that Keep On Giving

Over the years, we have been very fortunate to have hosted Play It Forward galas with absolutely mind-blowing artists including Mavis Staples; Joan Osborne; Emmylou Harris; Herb Alpert and Lani Hall; and Graham Nash. Adding to that roster, just a few months ago we welcomed generous arts, civic, and music patrons to an evening of music by GRAMMY® award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. A highlight of the evening was when Mraz closed a set with “Have it All,” a song to inspire life’s limitless possibilities of hope, togetherness, affection, friendship, and more. This benefit concert, held at the Belly Up Tavern, raised over $150,000 and will help support efforts to advance music-making opportunities year-round. The evening was made possible by generous contributions from the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, Aaron Chang Ocean Art Galleries, Alesmith Brewing Company, Burger Construction, Deering Banjos, Henry Diltz, Exclusive Networks, Hilton San Diego Bayfront,

Morrison Hotel Gallery, San Diego Firefighters Association, Taylor Guitars, ZUZA Print, and over 500 selfless individual donors.

Just a few weeks later, we were back at the Belly Up Tavern to host Concert for a Cause, featuring Pine Mountain Logs (aka Venice). With their pitch-perfect harmonies, brilliant musicianship, and remarkable vocal stylings, the group performed with ferocious energy. It was SO much FUN! The evening was sponsored and made possible by a Museum supporter and netted over $16,000 which will support the Museum's educational music programming.

Back in the Museum’s performance space, we brought back a crowd favorite, the inimitable Albert Lee, for a benefit concert to support future live music programming, and in March, Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar will join us to also raise funds to keep live music thriving at the Museum…truly playing in forward.

Introducing THE

You have probably noticed The NAMM Foundation logo on our Museum letterhead, our website, as well as in our eblasts, mailings, and various other communications. So, you likely know that the Museum of Making Music is a signature program of The NAMM Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. What you may not know is that the foundation, in addition to the Museum, is involved in a wide variety of additional activities. The broad mission of the foundation is to advance active participation in music making across the lifespan through supporting scientific research, offering awards for excellence and innovation, providing scholarships for career development, and developing and supporting programs to encourage involvement in music and music education. That’s a lot! We’d like to introduce you to just a few of the many foundation activities:

MUSIC RESEARCH about the effects of music and music making is constantly expanding. The foundation supports projects such as the work by Dr. Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, which offers insight into how musical experience affects brain function across the lifespan. For example, she found that individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers.

BEST COMMUNITIES FOR MUSIC EDUCATION is an award The NAMM Foundation bestows upon schools and school districts that demonstrate excellence in their support and commitment to music education. Last year, 738 school districts and 80 schools across the U.S., including San Marcos Unified School District and Chula Vista Elementary School District right here in our own backyard, received the award. This year's application cycle recently closed and the winners will be announced soon!

Do you know of a school or school district that should apply for this recognition?

If so, please have them contact sharonb@namm.org

PROFESSIONAL AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT for K-12 Teachers, College Faculty, and College Students is at the core of Foundation programming at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. This April 13–15, NAMM Show programming will include over 90 sessions such as Exploring the Benefits of The Ukulele as a Melody Instrument, From College to Colleague: Profs and Pros Discuss the Transposition of Student Skills Sets into Successful Music Industry Careers, and Teach Guitar? Why Me?!

Do you know a classroom teacher, college faculty member, or college student that would benefit from this programming? Please have them visit registration.namm.org or contact carolyng@namm.org for more information.

The broad mission of the Foundation is to advance active participation in music making across the lifespan through supporting scientific research, offering awards for excellence and innovation, providing scholarships for career development, and developing and supporting programs to encourage involvement in music and music education. That’s a lot!

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.

Cover : Caroline Stephens, ImageQwest Photography Page 2–3 : Caroline Stephens, ImageQwest Photography

Page 8–9: Caroline Stephens, ImageQwest Photography; Jason Mraz photo by Timothy Whitehouse; Pine Mountain Logs photos by Leah Roschke design : Leah Roschke, StudioGrafik