Music of Long Island - Venues and Music Education

Venues and Music Education

The Nassau Coliseum has been the indoor arena used by national touring acts to stage concerts. Jones Beach State Park is a popular place to view summer concerts, with new as well as classic artists performing there during the summer months at its outdoor venue. It hosts a large Fourth of July fireworks show every year, and the stands are filled. People park cars along the highway leading to the show, and others watch from the nearby beaches.

In 2003, a group of local business people/music lovers began meeting to create a Long Island Music Hall of Fame. The organization was incorporated as a not for profit corporation in July 2005. It held its first inauguration ceremony in October 2006, inducting prominent musical Long Islanders from various genres and eras. Plans for the future include the creation of a physical space for a museum of Long Island music history that will also serve as a multimedia resource center, an educational facility and outreach program, and a venue for musical performance.

Long Island is also known for its schools' music programs. Many schools in Suffolk County have distinguished music programs, with high numbers of students who are accepted into the state-wide All-State music groups, or even the National All-Eastern Coast music groups. Both the Suffolk County and Nassau County Music Educator's Associations are both recognized by MENC, and host numerous events, competitions, and other music-related activities. Many schools are also well-recognized for their rich music programs, such as Stony Brook University and Long Island High School for the Arts.

Online, the nonprofit Long Island Musicians Network enables area musicians to easily find other players to jam with and perform. The heart of the free online venue is its members domain, where musicians can post detailed info about themselves, a photo, their musical tastes and preferences, and info about the kind of musicians they're looking to get together with. Members communicate via the Web site's free email service.

With the rise of DIY and Noise related tape culture, Long Island too saw the rise of underground noise & diy scenes which included bands such as Insect, Jazz Became Elevator Music, United States, Megerk, amongst others. The DIY co-operative also booked shows around the NYC and surrounding areas showcasing Long Island's underground.

Another DIY faction, The Long Island Alternative Music Association, interviewed various artists bringing attention to the lack of venues opening their doors to independent Long Island artists. LIAMA, as they are commonly referred to, often book shows at the Plainview Old-Bethpage Public Library, to help to alleviate the problems created in local scenes form the shortage of underground supportive venues and booking agencies. Employment for musicians has always been a challenging pursuit on Long Island, which is largely considered to be an overly saturated competition pool. The Advent of talent directories has helped stream line the relationships between venue owners and the bands that seek to play them. The days of mailing unwanted and unsolicited demos and flyers to venue owners are fast becoming a thing of the past. The reason is simple to understand when you consider the range of choices a single internet search can bring. Entire musical programs can be created and booked in less time than it takes to open and discard an unsolicited and often innapropriate demo mailing. There are many talent search engines that operate on a national platform and feature searches by region. The problem with these search engines is that they often return results based on a geographic net-throw. This usually means that a search for something local, especially on Long Island, can return results for band located in Connecticut and New England if it happens to be placed within 50 – 100 miles. There are some quality local search engines like Local Band For Hire.com who specialize in entertainment local only to Long Island and Metro NY.