It’s that time again.
Voting for the 2013/14 MAMAs is getting underway. Null Device is in the running for Electronic Artist, Electronic Song, and Electronic Album of the year.
You can go vote at http://www.themamas.org
We’ve done this before. We’ve asked you to vote for us before. The rules are pretty much the same. There’s a nominal signup fee ($5) and there’s an award ceremony in May.
But just giving us a shiny bauble and a little local press is not why it’s important. It’s important because of what it’s all about. The Madison Area Music Association uses the funds raised by the awards and voting to support music education programs around the area. They literally put musical instruments in the hands of students (really, I have seen MAMAs head honcho Rick Tvedt physically place a guitar in the hands of a 6th grader).
That IS a big deal. Education for the arts has taken a beating in the past several years, and yet it’s more important than ever. Certainly, without solid arts education, the Null Devices of the world wouldn’t exist. I personally can credit a good portion of my life to the influence of a few good music teachers.
We encourage all ND fans to get involved, first with the MAMAs – and while we’d love you to vote for us, really voting for anybody is doing a solid for our scene (and our compadres in Sensuous Enemy are in the running, too, so they’re a good choice too). – and second in your community, whether that’s Madison, Seattle, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Quad Cities, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Chiswick, Amritsar, Brisbane or wherever. Get involved. Art and music may not have an immediate effect on the world – music ed doesn’t build jobs, but it does build people.