NAMM's Wanna Play? Booth Is One of Top 10 Onsite Booth Searches at 2009 AARP Vegas@50 Convention

Association Hosts More Than 2,000 Hands-On Musical Experiences for Attendees Age 50+

LAS VEGAS, November 6, 2009— NAMM, the national association of music merchants, announced today that it was the one of the top 10 booths being searched for at interactive kiosks by attendees at the AARP conference this past weekend.

According to Morgan Ringwald, NAMM’s Wanna Play? booth was extremely popular with people at the conference because of the many hands-on music-making sessions available for participation.

The sessions included opportunities to play drums and percussion in a drum circle setting, ukuleles, harmonicas, organs, pianos and guitars.

“Each session was completely packed,” Ringwald said. “There was always someone playing a piano, drum, guitar or organ at the booth. In fact, there were 108 harmonica lessons held until we completely ran out of harmonicas.”

In all, the booth played host to more than 2,000 hands-on musical experiences for first-time music makers with the help of NAMM Members REMO, Roland, Yamaha, Lowrey, Panyard, Hohner, Alfred, Daisy Rock, Kala Brand Ukulele and Making Music magazine.

“This was a phenomenally successful show for NAMM and its Members,” said Ringwald. “The attendees are a very viable demographic for the music products industry. People in this age range have extra time and want to find activities to get involved in. They also have the expendable money to purchase instruments. We made a lot of referrals to retailers in attendees’ hometowns for people who were interested in purchasing instruments and participating in recreational music making activities right away.”

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