KeyAction Spring 2001: Page 8

With Yamaha’s Help, She’ll Play In Peoria

It was on one of her countless visits to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, 150 miles from home, that 11 year old Dania first saw a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano at the nearby Ronald McDonald House®, where she and her mother were staying. With the help of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Samuel Music, and Yamaha Corporation of America, today Dania has a Clavinova CVP103 in her own living room in Peoria. It lights her up.

Dania, an 11 year old who has spina bifida, is thrilled with her new Clavinova CVP103

Dania suffers from spina bifida, a common but serious birth defect that results from the failure of the spine to close properly. Her physical life involves frequent hospitalizations; varying amounts of time spent on crutches, a wheelchair, bed, or even a body cast; and she’s endured more than 40 brain surgeries to date. Her inner life, however, is the same river of creativity, friendship, love, and Britney Spears-mania you’d see in any girl her age. Finding an outlet to bridge the two was the tricky part.

Enter the Starlight Children’s Foundation, an international non- profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. Pamela Smith, director of Children’s Services for Starlight’s Midwest chapter, remembered Yamaha’s generosity in providing a piano in a previous case she’d worked on, and contacted Yamaha sales professional Kerry Keck at Samuel Music in Peoria.

“Dania is a very creative little girl,” Smith reports. “She’d been trying to decide upon her wish – but as soon as she saw the Clavinova, it was settled. This has really been a dream come true for her, and she’s passionate about it.” The Yamaha Piano Division teamed with Samuel Music to provide the Clavinova.

“To talk to her, you wouldn’t think anything’s wrong,” says Dania’s mom. “For her, the frustration is not being able to do what her friends are able to do.”

Now that Dania has her Clavinova just in time for her birthday, “She wouldn’t leave it alone,” her mother reports. “Her brothers wanted to try it, but she wouldn’t get off the bench. She stayed up until midnight. She focuses on the Clavinova and she’s totally absorbed by it.”

Dania’s mother is an amateur pianist and flutist herself, and plans to help her daughter learn to get the most out of her new Clavinova. She’s even bought a Britney Spears songbook and played the melody lines herself onto a disk, so that Dania can play them back on a slower speed and learn the tunes using the Follow Lights feature. “I didn’t realize we were going to be able to do that,” her mom relates. “That was so cool.” Dania’s brother even downloaded music files from the internet so his sister could play them back on her Clavinova.

“The biggest thing is, we’re still at the hospital at least twice a month,” Dania’s mom explains. “We don’t know if we’re there for a day, a week, or more. She has attention span problems and it’s hard for her at school, but the Clavinova breaks through that. I think it’s creating some normalcy for her.”

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