A New Warning From the Surgeon General

Dr. Laura Beauchamp, director of Keyboard Pedagogy at Capital University in Columbus OH, was surprised to find the following note attached to her Clavinova CVP96 one Monday morning: "Surgeon General's Warning: Due to all the neat-o-gadgets on this instrument, it is highly addicting. Do not use if you have assignments due, practicing to finish, or other important events to attend to - they will not get done!"

The Clavinova digital piano was on loan for the semester from The Piano Gallery in Dublin, OH. The CVP96 was kept in the keyboard resource library, which contains method books and other teaching materials. Students had a large assignment due and had to spend a good deal of time in this library.

Two students, Jenny Stark and Janet Boes, both undergraduate Keyboard Pedagogy majors, were working on the assignment one weekend when they started playing with the Clavinova. Their assignment was quickly forgotten as the hours passed, prompting them to write the Surgeon General's Warning.

Dr. Beauchamp had hoped something like this would happen when she exposed her students to such a modern instrument. She devoted several lectures on the latest innovations to keyboard instruments and how they can be used in piano teaching, but she really wanted to pique her students' interest enough that they would fiddle around on their own time and get some teaching ideas. "I wanted the students to have fun with the Clavinova, to familiarize themselves with its recording features and style accompaniments." And it worked.

One student even chose to give her final project on the Clavinova. Others used it when giving lessons to elementary school children. "I appreciate the generosity of Norwin Mergler at Piano Gallery for such an opportunity for my students," says Beauchamp who also has a Clavinova CVP69 in her studio where she teaches private lessons. "Clavinovas are great teaching tools."