November 9, 2001

Welcome to the latest American Music Conference news update. Our goal is to inform you and your staff on the latest trends, research, education, and advocacy to help you in your music education activities. We will send additional updates from time to time. Please submit comments or questions to JoeL@amc-music.org. For more information visit the AMC web site at: www.amc-music.org. Please feel free to pass this along to others and help to spread the advocacy message!

Sincerely,
Joe Lamond
Executive Director

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Contents:

-Sesame Street Music Works Is Here!

Stay Tuned for National TV, Newspaper and Magazine Coverage on the Powerful Benefits of Music Making for Young Children!

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The national launch of Sesame Street Music Works is here! By this time next week, millions of children and their parents will be learning about Sesame Street Music Works and the many benefits of making music for young children.

This is the largest initiative in AMC's history -- spreading the word about the importance of music through local and national media with some very famous furry characters as spokespeople.

Sesame Street Music Works is a three-year initiative sponsored by NAMM-International Music Products Association and supported by the AMC that came about because of the mounting scientific evidence that active participation in music helps people perform better in a variety of academic and social areas. Music Works is a multi-tiered program whose components are available to parents, educators and caregivers in the form of a free bilingual (English and Spanish) toolkit distributed while supplies last by Sesame Workshop and NAMM. The toolkit is comprised of a Sesame Street musical home video, an activity guide with developmental notes and tips, a colorful Sesame Street poster and brochure about instruments and making music and a development chart about preschoolers and music. Toolkits will be available by logging onto the AMC site at www.amc-music.org on or after November 12th. The Sesame Street Music Works initiative also includes the launch of an all-new website, Sesame Music Zone, dedicated to music making at www.sesamestreet.com. In addition, the 32nd and 33rd broadcast seasons of Sesame Street feature a curriculum concentration on music and the arts which began in January 2001.

Here's a quick highlight of the events scheduled for next week:

Live in Concert: Sesame Street and Friends

What better way to launch the exciting Sesame Street Music Works program than with a live Muppet concert? Check out this America Online performance with music-making characters and special celebrity guests on Monday, November 12 at 6:00 p.m. EST. Log on to www.aol.com (keyword: live or keyword: KO Jr) to join in the fun with Big Bird, Bob McGrath and many other Sesame Street friends who will be on hand, spreading the joys of music making to children everywhere. This live event will reach millions of kids and parents with a powerful music-making message.

Extra!, US magazine and Entertainment Weekly will all be on hand to document the excitement along with celebrities, such as Martin Scorsese, Sandra Bernhard and The Soprano's Jamie Lynn Sigler.

Sesame Street's Bob McGrath and Elmo will also take to the airwaves to launch the Music Works initiative on Wednesday, November 14. From national morning news programs to local talk shows, Bob and Elmo will conduct dozens of live satellite interviews with TV stations across the country.