I just learned that Bill Schultz, the retired Chairman & CEO of Fender Guitar has passed away.  Bill was a terrific guy, a music industry legend and he will be sorely missed.

As a young man in the industry, Bill made a tremendous impact on me.  For many years I attended the Musik Messe in Frankfurt, Germany.  Bill and I were both early risers and frequently we were the first people at the breakfast buffet each morning.  We would chat pleasantly for a few minutes most mornings.  Sometimes, we only exchanged a nod of recognition.

That Bill would even know who I was, let alone be interested in what I had to say and think gave my self-confidence a great boost!  Bill was a humble man.  Many other executives would never have even looked in my direction.  Bill was always approachable and interested in learning.

Bill's accomplishments were legendary.  We are a better industry and music education has greatly benefitted because of Bill's efforts and dedication.

Fender has a lovely tribute to Bill on the home page.  Please take a few minutes to visit and remember our good friend.

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.