Last day of the NAMM Show (January 17, 2009)
From Julie Hill ‘09…
Today was our final day of the trip and our second full day at the NAMM show. We had a very busy day with three meetings to attend. The first meeting was with Yamaha district manager Jonathon Breen, who talked to us as though we were one of his dealers. He showed us all of Yamaha’s new products, and we listened to one of Yamaha’s featured artists perform live in the exhibit hall. Mr. Breen then introduced us to Roger Eaton, the director of marketing for the band and orchestral division and also to David Suter, one of Yamaha’s regional managers.
Our next appointment was at the Jupiter booth, where Illinois district manager, Dan McCaffrey, welcomed us. We met several members of Jupiter’s marketing staff were given a tour of their products as well as insight into their methods for setting up and assembling their displays. Each had his own interesting path to making the music business a career choice.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat as we waited for our last meeting of the day. NAMM’s Workforce Development announced Cody Fiedler ‘10 and Carolyn Sauer ‘10 were this year’s Bradley recipients of the Workforce Development Scholarships. The program wrap-up session followed, and we had the opportunity to share our show experiences with the other students.
Our group gained so much from this trip. From our tour of Warner Brothers to meeting proud alums at the CFA Hollywood reception, to our variety of experiences at the NAMM Show, it was truly an educational five days. To wrap up the night and celebrate the end of our journey, we ate at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney and were joined by Dr. Kelly, Mr. Anderson, Dr. Zarvell, Kim Dunn, and Shawna Von Behren ‘02. Food, friends, and the great memories of our trip will carry us back to the cold Illinois weather.
It’s been fun! And we are very excited to see where our futures may lead.
Special note from Todd Kelly and Carl Anderson:
As our trip comes to an end, we would like to extend our thanks to many people who made this an unforgettable experience: to Doug Frank, Hon ‘06 Darren Higman, Debbie Streeter, Xavier Ramos, and all of the people at Warner Brothers who gave generously of their time to inform and enlighten our students. Many thanks go to Evan Beigel ‘95 for his hospitality and his wonderful presentation to our students at his recording studio. And a special thanks to Dr. Jeff Huberman, Dean of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts, without whom our Hollywood experience would not have been possible. We are exhausted, but thrilled about the past few days and looking forward to next January! We hope that you have enjoyed following our experiences on this blog, and we thank Shelley Epstein, Assistant Vice President of Communications, for the opportunity to share them with you.