For Immediate Release:
November 15, 2004

Ann-Marie Nieves (anieves@giles.com)
Giles Communications
(914) 798-4114

"Music Has Power Awards" Recognize Industry Icon Karl Bruhn

CARLSBAD, CA (November 15, 2004)—Karl T. Bruhn, an acknowledged statesman of the music products industry and the father of the Music Making and Wellness movement, will be honored at the annual Music Has Power™ Awards sponsored by the Institute for Neurologic Function, part of the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York.

The awards recognize significant accomplishments by men and women who have brought new understanding to the use of the power of music to awaken and heal. Funds raised through this celebration will support patient care along with clinical and scientific research. Other honorees at the November 29 event will include renowned recording artist Moby and Concetta M. Tomaino, D.A., MT-BC, director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function and Vice President for Music Therapy.

Bruhn, an accomplished musician who led his own orchestra early in his career, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In recent years he has pioneered the concept and application of Recreational Music Making (RMM), or music for the sake of non-musical outcomes such as stress relief, wellness and emotional health. With Dr. Barry Bittman, he co-authored a significant 2003 study that established statistically significant reductions in burnout and mood disturbances among long-term healthcare workers who took part in an RMM protocol.

As the first director of market development for NAMM, The International Music Products Association, Bruhn led the entire music community—including educators, manufacturers, technicians and performers—in bringing compelling facts about the value of music making to the attention of government decision-makers and the general public.

Bruhn has served as both the Executive Director and President of the American Music Conference, President of the National Piano Foundation, President of Piano Manufacturers Association International and Presidential Advisor to the American Music Therapy Association. Previously, he was senior vice president of marketing for Yamaha Corporation of America, a position from which he retired in 1989.

He presently serves as a trustee for the International Foundation for Music Research (IFMR) and sits on the board of directors of percussion products manufacturer Remo, Inc.

About AMC
The American Music Conference is dedicated to promoting the importance of music, music making, and music education to the general public. For more information about AMC and this new partnership, visit www.amc-music.org.