Best Tools for Schools

The 2010 Summer NAMM Show featured countless innovative musical products covering the entire spectrum of music making. MMR‘s sister publication, School Band & Orchestra, enlisted educators attending the Nashville trade show to seek out the best tools for use in music classrooms, with the winning products being named at a special presentation on June 20th. The panel of educators helped select and introduce the following products in12 widely varying categories, declaring them SBO‘s 2010 Summer NAMM Show Best Tools for Schools.

Best Elementary Tool

Jumbie Jam
Panyard, Inc.
www.panyard.com/jumbiejam

The Jumbie Jam is a colorful steel drum pan for young and beginning music students that comes with a height-adjustable, collapsible stand, mallets, a play-along CD, and educational materials.

Best Beginning Tool

The Chord Buddy
www.chordbuddy.com

The Chord Buddy is a capo that is configured to play the primary chords in the key of G on the guitar. Simply press one of the four colored buttons on the top of the Chord Buddy to change the chord while strumming.

Best Intermediate Tool

FT-88 Mini-clip Tuner
Shenzehn FZone Technology
www.fzonetechnology.com

The FT-88 mini-clip chromatic tuner from FZone is a colorful, fun-shaped clip-on tuner that uses vibration to determine pitch and is designed to work on both stringed and brass instruments.

Best Advanced Tool

The Drum Wallet
www.thedrumwallet.com

The Drum Wallet is a small, simple, bean-bag-like device that can be attached to the lugs of a snare drum and then easily flipped onto the batter head in order to quickly muffle the drum, and just as quickly flipped back down when additional muffling is no longer wanted.

Best Percussion Tool

Power Wrist Builders
www.powerwristbuilders.com

Designed to build strength, agility and endurance in the wrists and forearms, Power Wrist Builders are solid aluminum and solid brass drumsticks weighted between two and 28 ounces.

Best Small Ensemble Tool

JamHub
www.jamhub.com

JamHub is a portable device with multiple segments that each have their own input and output jacks, each controlling its own mix. This tool enables a small ensemble to play electronic instruments together in relative silence.

Best Stringed/Fretted Instrument Tool

TunerGuard
www.tunerguard.com

Currently only for guitar but in the process of being adapted for other stringed instruments, the Tunerguard is a sturdy plastic sleeve that slides over tuning pegs to prevent them from moving if something should bump or brush against the headstock.

Best Marching Band Tool

BBS-1 Wireless Pulsating Metronome
Peterson Strobe Tuners
www.petersontuners.com

Building on the original BodyBeat metronomes, the BBS-1 Wireless Pulsating Metronome allows an unlimited number of performers to feel or hear the same beat by wirelessly connecting and syncing pulsating metronomes.

Best Recording Tool

PCM-D50, Sony
pro.sony.com

The PCM-D50 is a rugged, lightweight recorder that uses AA batteries and is packed with useful features, including two-position stereo microphones, 4GB of internal memory, digital pitch control, and MP3 playback capability.

Best Independent Study Tool

Trumpet Compact Practice Mute
Faxx Mutes
www.AmericanWayMarketing.com

Faxx Mutes’ lightweight and compact practice mute for trumpet is designed to allow players to practice at low volumes.

Most Innovative Tool

Beamz Player
Beamz Interactive
www.thebeamz.com

With the tag line of “Enabling people of all ages to play, create, and perform great music,” the Beamz Player uses lasers and sensors, which, when interrupted, trigger musical cues. In addition to being fun for beginners, this device is also a great way to involve special ed students in music making.

Best Health & Hygiene Tool

Guitar Hands

The Guitar Hands Clinical Lipid Therapy Cleansing Lotion is, as the name suggests, designed to cleanse, nourish, heal, and toughen skin, making it ideal for use on hands that play stringed instruments.