Roxanne McReynolds and Ronna Moon of Sacramento’s Music Exchange assisted in the store’s Clavinova Festival.

Karen Cuneo of Music Exchange in Sacramento, CA believes that the teachers are critical to the success of the Clavinova Festivals. “We work with local piano teachers on a monthly basis with a program called Who Teaches the Teachers?,” says Cuneo. The program evolved when teachers requested lessons on how to utilize the features of the Clavinova digital piano; the program has since grown to 40 teachers, attending lessons given by store employees and Yamaha Specialists. “The teachers have an esteemed place in our store. About 40 percent of our sales come from teacher referrals, so we work with the teachers and let them know what they are doing makes a difference,” Cuneo says. The Festival was broken down into four sessions, one on Friday night and three during the day on Saturday. One hundred sixty-nine students participated in the non-competitive Festival. “The whole point of the Festival is for the kids to have a good time,” says Cuneo. “Although it is non-competitive, we gave four trophies for best showmanship.” Winners included those students who concentrated on putting on a great show for the audience, some even dressed in costume for the songs they played. “We plan to showcase several of the Clavinova Festival participants in a special performance; we’re also planning a night for the teachers to perform for their students,” Cuneo says. “It should be a lot of fun.”

Participation in the Clavinova Festival hosted by Scott’s Music in Grand Forks, ND doubled to 106 participants.

A CLP810 was also raffled off, but the winner, Garrett Marengo, decided to trade up to a CVP96. “The kids get used to playing on the CVP units, and they want all the additional features such as Karaoke,” says Cuneo. Brook Mays in Dallas also hosted its third Clavinova Festival in February, with 136 participants. “We’re starting to feel like veterans, having done this three times now,” says Brook Mays Festival Coordinator Sue Collier. “We’re constantly refining the process, which makes it easier to do the next time around.” According to Sue, Brook Mays focused on the sales aspect of the Festival this year, with special signage on the rehearsal units that read, “Take the Clavinova Festival Home With You.” These signs gave more visibility to the practice and teachers’ units. “This extra attention definitely paid off,” says Collier. “This was our best year for sales at the Festival, resulting in 12 Clavinova sales.”

continued on page 6

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