Clavinova Festivals
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Branch Manager Mark Owen of Karnes Music in Vernon Hills, IL, called his first Festival “Phenomenal! It went like clockwork. Lori Frazer was the MC and she really knew how to keep things going. We can’t wait to do this again next October. It was a total success.”
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| The trophy winners at the Clavinova Festival hosted by Schmitt Music in Kansas City |
Nine teachers registered 117 performers, ranging from age five to 19, to play during the October event held at Bennett Gordon Hall at the Ravinia Festival grounds near Chicago. Five teachers and six students have purchased Clavinovas since the Festival, and “students have more enthusiasm, too,” he adds. “What really stood out for me was watching these young performers as they prepared to play. They really knew their way around the Clavinova, pushing buttons and getting ready. They were having so much fun, and were in such control of what they were doing. It was really wonderful to see.”
Like most hosts, Karnes Music offered teacher workshops. “We held three of them, and it really opened us up to a lot of area teachers. For each teacher who registered five participants, we loaned them a Clavinova to use at home,” Owen says. “They got hooked having this great resource in their studios. And, of course, we helped them prepare disks, too. We had a lot of one-on-one contact, which was truly beneficial.”
Store Manager Dwight Cuppy says Schmitt Music of Overland Park, KS (formerly Jenkins) has hosted many Festivals, but its November event was its largest ever with 436 performers from more than 45 area piano studios. “We attracted more than a dozen new teachers,” he says, “and 120 more participants than last year."
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| Schmitt Music featured a drawing for a Clavinova digital piano during its recent Clavinova Festival |
Because of the record size of the Schmitt Festival, first round of division play was held across three days at two Kansas City area store locations. “And, we had standing room only for our trophy round finale in our largest store, which included the Clavinova raffle.” Cuppy predicts that next year’s Festival Finale will have to go offsite to handle the growing crowds.
“It’s hard to document exactly how many instruments are sold directly as a result of the Festival,” says Cuppy. “It’s a fabulous soft sell event that generates consistent business throughout the entire year.” Dwight Cuppy generally finds that immediate sales from the Festival are about the same as the number of loaner instruments placed.