But recently, the cause has enjoyed corporate support from companies new to the game.

“Corporate America has found that this is a perfect opportunity for them to align themselves with a good cause,” says AMC Executive Director Joe Lamond. “Many of the corporate leaders of these companies grew up in an era of strong music education. These are the people who were playing in garage bands in the 60s. They have a strong affinity for it.”

Lamond says this infusion of support has two principal benefits. In many cases, it puts musical instruments directly into kid’s hands, as with the VH1 Save the Music Foundation or the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (with which Popeye’s Chicken partnered in February 2000 for an instrument collection drive). Corporate backing also lends a powerful bully pulpit to the cause of music helping shape the attitudes of decision makers, all the way from parents to the halls of Congress.

“I think it is all good news for our industry,” says Tom Schmitt, president of Schmitt Music in Minneapolis, a dealership with its own long history of local music activism. “The more places that message is appearing, the more times it’s heard, the clearer it becomes in everyone’s mind. I definitely think that turns into more business for us.”

Recently, Disney and Carnation teamed with AMC to produce and distribute a Lullaby Album CD of gentle instrumental favorites for new parents, accompanied by useful information on how making music can brighten a home and enrich the lives of growing children. Carnation underwrote the CD’s production, Disney provided the music and promotional campaign, and AMC added the information for parents. In addition to the CD packages, 750,000 brochures containing the information went to hospitals in new mother’s kits and to OB/GYN doctor’s offices around the country.

“One of the keys that has turned corporate America toward music advocacy is the work of AMC and NAMM, and NAMM members like Yamaha over the last decade in promoting what we do,” Lamond says. “More importantly, it’s the scientific research that links music making with increased intelligence, increased student success and, more recently, increased health in seniors.”

Earlier, AMC had partnered with Disney for a similar promotion based on Phil Collins’ music for the animated 1999 feature Tarzan, an effort that led to the creation of an interactive Music Room on the Disney website. Coming up in 2001, AMC has joined forces with toy maker Mattel to place music education advocacy information on the packaging for a children’s drum set and trumpet, with a booklet inside.

In 1999, AMC worked with Miramax Films to produce the music-boosting film Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep, just as it had worked with Hollywood Pictures to bring about Mr. Holland’s Opus in 1996. Procter & Gamble hosted gala premiere nights for Music of the Heart in more than 40 cities around the nation. When the film was released on video in October 2000, an eight-page booklet on music education went into each box. “Without the corporate support,” Lamond says, “Our budget wouldn’t have even paid for the printing.”

Gymboree, the nationwide clothing and toy retailer for babies and young children, used AMC materials to institute Play and Music classes in its stores. Lamond notes the program reaches hundreds of thousands of children nationwide.

Amid the wave of corporations coming to the support of music, Texaco might not qualify as a newcomer: the company has sponsored the Texaco Metropolitan International Opera Broadcast since 1940. It, too, has supported and been motivated by the new wave of music research and advocacy. In addition to its opera broadcasts, Texaco has inaugurated a variety of music initiatives including the online Texaco Metropolitan Opera Learning Center, which features the Texaco Study Guide for Opera; Early Notes, a music education funding initiative focusing on young children; and Musical Roots, which supports non-profit organizations and music programs that exemplify and explore the traditions and heritage of diverse cultures in the worldwide communities Texaco serves.

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