Day Three of the 2006 NAMM Summer Session

Day three of the 2006 Summer Session featured more business meetings, product testing, a variety of NAMM University sessions, live music and ultra-fast drumming.

The morning's breakfast session, "Best in Show," featured Frank Alkyer, publisher of Music Inc. magazine, along with a panel of industry experts who discussed the top products and trends. Panelists included Zach Phillips of Music Inc. magazine, Victor Salazar of The Drum Pad, Liane Rockley of Rockley Music, Ted Eschliman of Dietze Music, CPA Alan Friedman of Friedman, Kannenberg & Co. and Pete Gamber of Alta Loma Music. Their selections consisted of tuners, pedals, microphones, drum sets, cases, print music paired with DVDs and many other creatively designed products.

Throughout the day, show attendees reflected on the gear, the city and the education.

"I'm finding a lot of good stuff, new stuff," said Cheryl Bliss a buyer from Mira Costa College. "I'm just taking it all in. Specifically, I saw some really nice moldable in-ear monitors with little microphones built in so you get ambient sound."

"We made a lot of connections, a lot of networking, met some new people, said Jimmy Haughtnot of Brubaker Guitars. "Austin's fun—a great musical town."

Many show-goers sat in on the NAMM University morning sessions, "Lunch & Learn" mid-day session and the afternoon roundtables, which were set for open discussion.

"NAMM University is what the summer show's about," said Pat Oliver of Treble Clef. "I'm so pumped up. It's Sunday at noon, and many people have probably left, but they're missing out on one of the biggest things—the education you can get here at NAMM. I'm so energized. I hope NAMM keeps doing and improving these sessions."

Live musical performances took place in front of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus throughout the day, and the bus itself was open for show attendees to tour the recording studio inside.

The NAMM Fastest Drummer Contest came to a close Sunday afternoon when the top 10 competitors in each of the categories of "Fastest Hands" and "Fastest Feet" pounded away in the final heats. Matt Smith took home the title of "Fastest Hands" with a score of 1,030 beats per minute, and Hensley Souryavong placed first in the category of "Fastest Feet" with 774 beats per minute.

For more information about the 2006 Summer Session, interested parties can log on to www.nammsummersession.com.

The 2007 NAMM Show will take place January 18–21 in Anaheim, Calif. Log on to www.thenammshow.com for further details.