The flight here is very long.  I had difficulty in getting to sleep on the plane.  Fortunately, I had plenty of reading material.  I was able to get through 18 magazines and other materials – that lightens my load considerably.  And provided lots of food for thought.

I really can never throw away a magazine without at least scanning each page.  This leads to lots of clutter  – but it also yields lots of gems of inormation.

Looking at my passport I relize that it has been 7 years since my last visit to Austrlaia – I am sure that a lot has changed.  I can already see some of the improvements that were made to prepare Sydney for the Olympic Games a few years ago.

Now I head up to The Gold Coast near Brisbane where the conference will be held.  I am looking forward to delivering my keynote address.  I'll post a report as the conference unfolds.

I am flying down to Australia this evening.  The Australian Music Association have invited me to deliver a keynote address as part of their Music Educators Day at their annual trade fair.

I will be talking about “21st Century Music Education.”  The music education programs in Australia are undergoing a major revision – to Essential Learning Outcomes.  They want me to provide their teachers with an American perspective – how teaching and education in the USA developed as we embraced the National Standards for Music Education; coped with the mandates of No Child Left Behind legislation, etc.

I am very excited to have this opportunity to work with teachers, administrators, government officials, and music industry colleagues.

I will do my best to keep posting to this blog while I am in Australia – perhaps gaining some different perspectives!

I want to thank Ann Blore, the editor of Music in Action magazine for providing me with valuable research materials to prepare my talk.

In a subsequent post, I will thank my industry sponsors who helped to make this trip possible.

I am a longtime member of the Retail Print Music Dealers Association (RPMDA) and served on their board of directors for several years.  Today I received a copy of their newsletter – the RPMDA Measure.  This issue was a recap of the annual convention held this past May in Portland, OR.

One of the highlights was a reprint of an introductory speech that my friend Don Eubanks delivered at the Saturday evening banquet.  Don is a founding member of the association – some 30 years ago – and I have known him for most of those years.  Last year Don was the recipient of “The Dorothy Award” – the highest honor awarded to members of the RPMDA for a lifetime of service.

Not long before, Don had tragically lost his wife and partner Judy to cancer.  But he had his other family – his peers and friends in the print music industry – with him that evening in Biloxi, MS (just a few months before Hurricane Katrina devasted the town).

To say that Don was overwhelmed by the emotion of that evening is an understatement.  He was much more composed this year when he presented the Dorothy Award to Geoff Lorenz of Lorenz Industries.  I suspect that he gained confidence and strength because he asked all of the past recipients of the award to join him on stage.

My point is – None of us ever knows what fate has in store for us.  The people that we have worked closely with, our friends, family members can be suddenly whisked away in a flash.  What we do have is this moment – and the history and memories that led us to this moment.  What we do, who we help, whom we seek help from – that is all that matters.  Our friends, colleagues and mentors may have passed, but we can enjoy the moment – if we choose to become involved;  if we choose to share;  if we value good fellowship.

Receiving the newsletter today – and remembering this photo from 1997 – brought bak a flood of memories – of my thirty years in the printed music business and what I learned from the people that I met and became involved with – those footsteps in the sands of time.