James Barnes Receives BMI Award for Excellence in Teaching Music Creation

Honor Bestowed During Inaugural MENC Teaching Music Awards

The National Association for Music Education (MENC) honored a selection of the country’s hardest working music educators at the inaugural Teaching Music Awards on Monday, June 22. Staged during MENC’s Music Education Week in Washington, D.C., the ceremony was the fitting capstone of a week filled with discussion, development, and celebration of music education.

On behalf of BMI, Marcus Johnson (right) presents BMI Award for Excellence in Teaching Music Creation to James Barnes during the inaugural MENC Teaching Music Awards, held on June 22 in Washington, D.C.

As part of the Teaching Music Awards, BMI and MENC established The BMI Award for Excellence in Teaching Music Creation, which honors leaders in teaching composition. The award’s first recipient is Professor James Barnes, Division Director for Music Theory and Composition at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. In addition to creating myriad educational tools and publications currently used by music instructors all over the world, the multiple award-winning educator is also an accomplished composer and conductor whose original works have been performed at renowned venues including Tanglewood, Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and the Tokyo Metropolitan Concert Hall.

James Barnes, winner of the BMI Award for Excellence in Teaching Music Creation, addresses the audience during the inaugural MENC Teaching Music Awards, held on June 22 in Washington, D.C.

Acclaimed BMI jazz composer Marcus Johnson, who is also CEO of Marimelj Entertainment Group, presented the award to Barnes on behalf of BMI.

For a complete list of 2009 Teaching Music Awards winners and more information on MENC, please visit www.menc.org.

Winners of the first MENC Teaching Music Awards gather for a photo during the ceremony held on June 22 in Washington, D.C.