November 28, 2022—Louisville, CO
MakeMusic is delighted to announce that they have signed an exclusive agreement with The FJH Music Company, Inc. to feature FJH content exclusively in MakeMusic Cloud, formerly SmartMusic.
“This alliance is a dream come true,” says Brian Balmages, Director of MakeMusic Publications and Digital Education for Alfred Music and MakeMusic. “Everyone knows how passionate I have been about the FJH catalog over the last two decades, and to see their popular piano, instrumental, and guitar catalogs joining forces with MakeMusic represents a huge win for music teachers, dealers, students, and the wonderful composers represented by both companies. For years, both companies have been receiving countless requests for more FJH titles in MakeMusic Cloud. This agreement opens up additional resources to allow that to happen more quickly, so users can expect to see more of their favorite FJH content in the platform soon.”
The FJH Music Company agreements are twofold. First, effective January 1, 2023, the FJH catalog will be exclusively distributed by Alfred Music in both print and digital forms. In addition, FJH’s educational catalogs will be exclusively available for interactive practice on MakeMusic Cloud, the reference online platform for music practice from MakeMusic. While FJH instrumental performance music is already exclusive in MakeMusic Cloud, the popular methods Measure of Success® for Band, Measures of Success® for String Orchestra, New Directions® for Strings, and The FJH Young Beginner Guitar Method will be available for interactive practice exclusively on MakeMusic Cloud beginning in the fall, back-to-school period in 2023.
Kevin and Kyle Hackinson, Vice Presidents of The FJH Music Company Inc. stated, “Everyone at FJH is excited about this collaboration and the opportunity it provides to further grow the FJH catalog in both print and digital formats. For over 20 of FJH’s storied 35-year history, we have worked alongside Brian Balmages to build one of the world’s most exciting instrumental catalogs, paralleling our success in piano and guitar. This relationship builds on the FJH legacy in new and exciting ways, expanding the reach of our existing catalog more broadly throughout the world with an eye on developing new innovative publications and growth for the future.”
ABOUT MAKEMUSIC
MakeMusic®, Inc. is a world leader in music technology whose mission is to develop and market solutions that transform how music is composed, taught, learned, and performed. MakeMusic’s SmartMusic® interactive music learning software transforms the way students practice. With an online library of thousands of band, orchestra, and vocal pieces, students practice with background accompaniment and receive immediate feedback on their performance. Teachers leverage MakeMusic Cloud, formerly SmartMusic, to individualize instruction and document the progress of every student. For more than 25 years, Finale® has been the industry standard in music notation software, enabling musicians worldwide to create, edit, audition, print, and publish musical scores. MakeMusic is also the creator of Garritan® sound libraries, providing state-of-the-art virtual instruments with the playback quality of a live performance, and MusicXML™, the internet-friendly way to publish musical scores, distribute interactive sheet music, and share music notation with a wide variety of software programs. Additional information can be found at makemusic.com.
ABOUT THE FJH MUSIC COMPANY, INC.
The FJH Music Company, Inc. was founded In January of 1988 by Frank and Gail Hackinson. Their children Kevin Hackinson, Kyle Hackinson and Kerry Hackinson Giorgi have been with the company since its inception. As President and CEO, Frank J. Hackinson built one of the nation’s most exciting, best-selling educational catalogs for piano, instrumental, and guitar.
Throughout his career, Frank recognized the need to provide sound supplemental keyboard and instrumental music for up-and-coming musicians and, in doing so, was instrumental in nurturing and establishing the likes of John Brimhall, Richard Bradley, Dan Coates, Robert & Pamela Schultz, Nancy & Randall Faber, Helen Marlais, Kevin Olson, Brian Balmages, Soon Hee Newbold, and others as industry icons in this field.
The impact of FJH on educational music publishing has been all encompassing, including piano, concert band, string orchestra, jazz ensemble and guitar. The passion for providing musically compelling, pedagogically sound works has found expression at every level. FJH’s writing team features many exciting new composers and arrangers along with well-known names.
Innovation, quality, forethought and determination have all been integral parts of Frank J. Hackinson’s long career – hallmarks found in each and every FJH publication, from concept through publication. Following the framework established by Frank and currently led by his wife Gail and sons Kevin and Kyle, The FJH Music Company will continue to set new standards in educational piano, band, string orchestra, and guitar publications.
ABOUT ALFRED MUSIC
Alfred Music, the leader in music education for over 100 years, produces educational, reference, pop, and performance materials for teachers, students, professionals, and hobbyists spanning every musical instrument, style, and difficulty level. Alfred Music is located in Colorado, with offices around the world, including Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
Since 1922, Alfred Music has been dedicated to helping people learn, teach, and play music. Alfred Music currently has over 150,000 active titles and represents a wide range of well-known publications—from methods like Alfred’s Basic Guitar, Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Premier Piano Course, Sound Innovations, and Suzuki, to artists like Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Who, to brands like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Rolling Stone magazine, and Billboard.
In addition to its own titles, Alfred Music distributes products from over 150 companies, including Advance Music, Belwin, Dover Publications, Edition Peters, Edwin F. Kalmus, Co., Faber Music, Highland/Etling, Jamey Aebersold Jazz, and LudwigMasters Publications.
Alfred Music is now also paired with MakeMusic, which is part of Peaksware Holdings, LLC portfolio of companies, to transform how music is composed, published, taught, learned, and performed by bringing together the leaders in educational music publishing and music technology.