Shana Kirk is on Call for Clavinova Owners

or all its ease of use, the Clavinova line of digital pianos is so packed with features that many users appreciate a little advice. Rather than confine them to the pages of the owner's manual, Yamaha provides a toll-free hotline at 1-800-PRO-YAMAHA — and Shana Kirk is the newest voice on the other end. Kirk joins Phoenix, AZ-based Rollie Hudson in staffing the hotline, which was established in 1990.

"I get anywhere from 15 to 50 calls a day," the ebullient Kirk reports. "A lot of teachers call; a lot of churches call. Sometimes high-end professional users call with very technical questions about computer connectivity or software options." Kirk, who has been a product specialist for the Yamaha Piano Division since 2000, is an active piano teacher and touring artist based in Denver, CO. The current president of the Denver Area Music Teachers' Assoc., she helped develop and operate the "What Makes Music?" Discovery Center for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and has written music and music-technology based articles for such publications as Keyboard Companion and FamilyWonder.com.

"One thing that makes this hotline unique is that between Rollie and myself, we have experience with every model of our product," Kirk says. "In my case, I've been a piano teacher for several years. When teachers call with questions that are about specifically using the technology with their teaching, I can help them with that."

Kirk enjoys receiving calls from all over the country and keeping in touch with the pulse of Clavinova users. "The most common questions relate to the recording features on the Clavinova," she notes. "One teacher in Oregon calls on a regular basis every Thursday and says, 'Okay, I want to learn one more thing today.' People discover that there's a whole world of features that they haven't touched yet."