Korg USA president Michael Kovins left a rich legacy. Most MET readers aren't familiar with Kovins, who passed away this May 2 at age 57 after a long battle with leukemia. But any music educator interested in using technology should know his name because of his passionate and practical support for music education.

Much of Kovins's job involved marketing Korg products in the United States, from the days of the Polysix and Mono/Poly analog synths to the introduction of the legendary M1 synth to today's Triton and Oasys. These products were very successful, and the Triton is currently used in many school keyboard labs. But the real reason I'm dedicating this issue of MET to Kovins has to do with his role as a driving force behind the creation of SoundTree, the educational division of Korg USA.

SoundTree sells music technology to educators, sets up music labs, offers extensive technology training for teachers, and provides free lesson plans and other aids. You can thank Kovins for much of that, along with the SoundTree staff that he empowered — led, incidentally, by general manager Lee Whitmore, who wrote this issue's cover story (see “Spotlight: Building Strong Music Programs with Electric Guitars” on p. 18).

Kovins understood that if manufacturers are to have a healthy future, they need to help grow the overall market for music-technology products. To that end, he cofounded the International Association of Electronic Keyboard Manufacturers (IAEKM), an organization of influential companies in the music-technology field whose purpose was to better market music-technology products and to get more people to make music with electronics. He then helped convince IAEKM and the NAMM trade association that one of the best ways to get more people involved with music making is to reach out to the next generation by bringing music technology to the schools. As a result, IAEKM and NAMM provided the financial backing for the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME), a nonprofit organization dedicated to training music teachers in the use of technology.

When I first started planning a music-technology magazine for teachers, Kovins was one of the first people I approached for advice. Always a busy man, he nevertheless made time to repeatedly discuss my ideas, check on my progress, and offer suggestions. MET would not have been as strong without his encouragement and his company's support.

Kovins worked hard to give teachers access to music technology and to provide the training needed to use it effectively. You can make a donation in his memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.leukemia.org), but if you want to do something that would have particularly touched his heart, contact the folks at TI:ME (www.ti-me.org) and ask how you can help. Tell them you want to support the opportunities that Mike Kovins helped make possible.