Video Quick Tip: Stretching Exercise for Guitar

In this new quick tip video, brought to you by LAMA College for Music Professionals, Guitar Department Chair Jody Fisher gives guitarists a great “strength and power” exercise (where you learn very slowly and keep going slower and slower). This exercise will help you increase the span between your first and second finger. What other exercises do you practice on the guitar?

-LAMA Staff

LAMA, Fermatta, The Institute Form IAMCU

We are so excited to join The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (London, England) and Academia de Música Fermatta (Mexico City and Guadalajara; Mexico) as the founding schools launching the International Association of Music Colleges and Universities (IAMCU).

To celebrate the launch of IAMCU, the association  announced it has partnered with UNICEF for a special collaborative project to mark the 50^th anniversary of the seminal album, “With the Beatles.” The international project is led by students from  all three schools and they will recreate The Beatles second album, originally released in 1963. Proceeds will support UNICEF educational programs. The album features student producers, engineers, arrangers, musicians and bands from all three schools; each song must feature at least one remote contribution from the other two institutions.

Terry Lippman, an entertainment industry veteran who recently joined Fermatta as Assistant Director of Academic Review, has a career spanning over 30 years and has been involved with artists such as David Bowie and legendary producer Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones). He says:

The ‘Reimagining’ project is one of the most forward thinking educational programs for music professionals I think I have ever encountered. It’s wonderful to see top professional music education institutions engaging in endeavors like this one.

The album is projected for release on the 50th anniversary of its original debut: November 22nd 2013.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA Grad Santiago Roberts and Band Perform Amidst Huge Protests

LAMA drum grad and Costa Rican Santiago Roberts (yes, the happy man holding drumsticks in the photo above) and his band Billy the Kid just played the Nacional Institute in Chile, a school taken over by students protesting the state of education in Chile (where 25% of the education is financed by the government). Santiago and his group are the first international band in Chile’s history to play in a school taken over by protesting students.

Looks like it was quite a scene Santiago, but please be safe out there!

-LAMA Staff

Summer Concert Series w/ LAMA Bands

Grab your picnic basket and favorite blanket because it’s time to enjoy live music all summer long! LAMA musicians are once again playing Levitt Pavilion (at the corner of Raymond/Walnut). Organizers invited 10 LAMA bands to play the Sidestage every Friday, starting June 21st (through August 24th). The one hour set from 6:45-7:45pm is FREE and stick around because the main stage music follows our performances.

Make sure to RSVP over on our Facebook event page here.

June 21st Austin White
June 28th Connor

July 5th Ryan Bradetich
July 12th Mike Zigon
July 19th Alejandro Milan
July 26th Felicia Andolong

August 2nd Mary Whisenhunt
August 9th (TBD)
August 16th Kira Hooks
August 23rd Maracas

-LAMA staff