Holiday Sale

In effort to make The Fender Music Foundation a part of your holiday season, we are dramatically cutting prices! Our music memorabilia, which includes major rock, R & B, blues, country, jazz, and various other artists, is now available to you at up to 50% off! This holiday season, you can wow your loved ones with a truly personalized gift. Whether it’s metal, classical, or any other genre, The Fender Music Foundation can help you bring the perfect gift to a loved one. In addition, every dollar spent at our online store allows us to continue our good work. Visit us at www.fendermusicfoundation.org/store and see for yourself the amazing discounts we are offering.

The Fender Music Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that helps raise money for music education across the country

System of a Down drummer, John Dolmayan, donates tom drum used during 2011 World Tour rehearsals

Upon the announcement about the return of System of a Down earlier this year for their 2011 World Tour after a 5-year hiatus, Fender Music Foundation intern and avid SOAD fan RoseMary approached the band to see if they were interested in donating memorabilia to proceed music education. With much excitement surrounding their highly anticipated return, drummer John Dolmayan took advantage of this opportunity by not only responding with enthusiasm to promoting the cause but also by donating his personal used tom drum from the actual drum set used during rehearsals for their then upcoming tour.

Arriving at their rehearsal location in Burbank, CA, RoseMary was thrilled to visit the studio where the band conjures up their heavy metal magic. RoseMary remembers, “It was so exciting just to be at the studio, let alone being able to take one of John’s drums home with me.” There she thanked the SOAD camp for their contribution and being an eager fan herself, chatted in excitement about seeing her first SOAD show in years. Upon departing the studio, drum tech Sako grabbed some used drumsticks right off the drum set to further increase the item’s value.

The drum itself was personally selected for the cause and is in great condition. “It’s a beautiful tom drum, with its drumhead worn from some heavy hitting drumming. The pearl white Tama drum set that it was once apart of is so massive it was intimidating.” John made sure to sign the interior of the drum in black sharpie so that his large signature would be better preserved and the drum playable for one lucky musician. He also signed “SOAD 2011” under his signature to commemorate its significance in being a token of a new beginning for the band, as it was apart of the rehearsal drum set for their first tour since 2006.

Being a used item by the musician itself, the item is one of the more unique additions to The FMF store, and with a little reluctance, RoseMary passed the drum along knowing it will one day find a happy home to someone with a big heart who helped The FMF provide resources for needy music programs.

Click here to view the item in our FMF store: https://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/store/index.cfm?view=item&prodId=477&cat=8

Tom Morello Supports Music Education by Signing Two Guitars for The Fender Music Foundation

 

On October 25, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, formerly Audioslave, and the Street Sweeper Social Club, played at West Hollywood’s legendary Troubadour venue to a sold out crowd. Performing as The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello captivated the audience for over two hours with acoustic folk and protest music. Keeping true to his activism, he had just returned from protesting and performing at the Occupy LA protests earlier in the day (Rolling Stone article.)

Before the night was over Morello did not fail to wow the audience with some face melting guitar shredding during “The Ghost of Tom Joad” that left the crowd in awe. The show ended with Morello inviting the audience to come on stage with him as he sang Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” a folk standard and a staple of The Nightwatchmen’s set.

After the show, Morello continued to support charity by signing two guitars for The Fender Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization that awards instruments to music education programs across the country. Along with his signature, Morello added the slogan “Let Freedom Ring” to a Fender Kingmen Acoustic and “Take it easy, but make it” to a special edition black and chrome Squire Strat, which are now embedded with the heart and soul of what makes him such a great musician, passion!

Tom Morello added his name to a large list of artists who have contributed to The

Fender Music Foundation’s inventory of signed musical memorabilia. Other artists who have contributed to The Fender Music Foundation include Megadeath’s Dave Mustaine, guitarist Zakk Wylde, Guns n’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Pantera legend Dimebag Darrell, and metal gods Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio! These items and more can be found at https://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/store/. For more information about The Fender Music Foundation, visit us at www.fendermusicfoundation.org.

Guitars in the Classroom Helps Students Discover Their Inner Lennon/McCartney

Skeptics and musical Scrooges might find incorporating music into the classroom beyond the allotted time for band and choir useless and counterproductive to a child’s education. Fortunately for the rest of us there is an organization that begs to differ. Guitars in the Classroom (GITC), a non-profit organization geared at bringing music back into the classroom, is attempting to make music one of the key building blocks to a child’s education. What GITC does is educate teachers with basic competencies on musical knowledge and even provide them with the skill-set to lead a song service on the guitar.  These song services vary from interactive song writing lessons, singing standards ranging from Bach to Old MacDonald, but most importantly these songs are picked apart and rearranged to teach grammar, math, and other academic fields. Recently the GITC, in collaboration with Alfred Music Publishing, released The Green Songbook geared at spreading environmental education amongst grade school kids. The songbook includes songs by Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Ziggy Marley, and Michael Jackson, to name a few, and even comes with a sing-along CD.

On top of this, Guitars in the Classroom has started songwriting sessions in the classroom. One classroom wrote a song entitled: “The Honey Dew Blues” in a collaborative effort that incorporated all of the students.

The exercise of writing music not only positively stimulates the brain by strengthening memory and creativity, but it also provides kids with the tools they will need if they one day aspire to be songwriters. Did I also mention that it is just plain fun? With educators often finding it difficult to retain their students’ attention for more than a few minutes at a time, Guitars in the Classroom is doing a fantastic job of giving teachers alternate, fun, and most importantly, effective methods of reaching their students.

Teen Finds Unique Way to Contribute to Music Education

The word “philanthropy” can conjure images of a humble and meek Mother Teresa helping the poor, rich business tycoons like Bill Gates writing out multi-million-dollar-checks, or perhaps “philanthropy” can ignite memories of a friend or family member who spent their life in pursuit of service to those in need. Regardless of your precise definition, the world of philanthropy is beginning to usher in a new category of benefactors–kids. Crazy as it may sound, kids are actually finding some very interesting ways to better the world around them.

This October, a teenage Southern California native added his name to a growing list of young philanthropists by throwing a birthday party in honor of The Fender Music Foundation. Jacob, a music connoisseur since infancy, decided the best thing he could do was contribute to the spread and survival of music education. In lieu of receiving gifts for his birthday, Jacob asked that his guests make a donation to The Fender Music Foundation. When asked about his altruistic decision Jacob stated: “ I realize how blessed I am to have a family who supports my interests and talent emotionally and financially. I felt like it would be horrible if I couldn’t have music in my life.” As recently elected Philanthropy Commissioner at his middle-school, Jacob believes it is his duty to provide service to those in need. When asked further about his role as Philanthropy Commissioner, Jacob responded by saying: “I really feel like this year I am responsible to be a leader and show kids my age and younger it is important and rewarding to think of others less fortunate than us and make a difference.”

Jacob’s birthday party was thrown at Newport Harbor and hosted over ninety of hisfellow friends and classmates who all got into the spirit of giving. With the help of his classmates, Jacob was able to raise over $1500, which will contribute to The Fender Music Foundation’s mission to make music education universally accessible. Jacob now finds himself on a bourgeoning list of child philanthropists who are finding unique ways to make a difference. The Fender Music Foundation applauds the efforts of Jacob and looks forward to seeing where music will take him.

The Sunday Spill (Mother’s Day Edition)

Today is Sunday and on this particular Sunday it is indeed Mother’s Day. We are looking for the best songs, in your opinion, about mothers. Explain to us how you came across your song and why it should be dedicated to moms everywhere. Please let us know! (ex. John Lennon – Julia, such a beautiful song about his mother; I felt like I knew her personally through that song.)

The Air Force’s Mother’s Day Gift

This Sunday, mothers all across the nation are being celebrated for their hard work and dedication. The Air Force’s brass quintet is holding a free concert at the Solvang Festival Theater in honor of Mother’s Day at 4 p.m. Sunday. How will you be celebrating this Mother’s Day? What is the best gift for a mother to receive? Let us know!

Conan O’Brien Signed Guitar

For those of you who have followed Conan O’Brien from the Late Show to the Tonight show you may know of his new show on Tbs, you may have also seen actor/comedian Will Ferrell recently campaign against Conan’s highly fashionable beard. Last night, Will Ferrell sure enough got his way and shaved Conan’s beard on basic cable television. Conan was nice enough to sign a guitar for us in support of music education a couple months back (the beardpocalypse did not harm the guitar in anyway) . Check it out at our store!

http://i.cdn.turner.com/tegwebapps/tbs/tbs-www/cvp/teamcoco_dynamic_embed.swf?context=teamcoco_embed_offsite&videoId=250226

The SMiLE Sessions

The Beach Boys have long been an iconic figure in the music industry, paving the way for all bands with classic albums like Pet Sounds and SMiLE. As of today, Brian Wilson announced that the original recordings of the SMiLE sessions will be released on Capitol Records. To say the least, Wilson seems excited, “I’m thrilled that the Beach Boys’ original studio sessions for ‘Smile’ will be released for the first time, after all these years. I’m looking forward to this collection of the original recordings and having fans hear the beautiful angelic voices of the boys in a proper studio release.”

 http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/03/beach-boys-original-smile-lp-to-finally-be-released/

CAKE @ the Avalon

CAKE is a wonderful modern rock band from Sacramento, CA. Their music takes on many different forms ranging from funk to folk. The band has recently released their sixth full-length record Showroom Compassion. They’re next show will be in San Jose, CA on March 14. Besides being great musicians, the guys in CAKE took the time to contribute to the Fender Music Foundation by donating signed memorabilia. Please visit our store and support music education like CAKE!

http://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/