Playing Clavinova is Now the Rocky Mountain Way

ocky Ridge Music Camp has a rich history of more than 60 years of classical excellence high in the picturesque Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Yamaha Product Specialist Phillip Keveren has been a guest instructor there before but this year he brought something new: Clavinovas.

For this summer's camp, which was attended by approximately 60 musicians, ages 8 through 15, Keveren enlisted the help of Yamaha and Natural Piano Center in Fort Collins to bring a CVP209 for use on stage and a CVP205 for the teacher studio.

"I asked them if they minded involving Yamaha, and they were thrilled," Keveren reports. "I taught several sessions where the Clavinova was used during class time, and students had composing assignments where they used the Clavinova with headphones during lab times."

The Clavinova's true benefit for the camp came one day when fellow instructor Connie Glenn, part of the regular faculty at Rocky Ridge, was preparing to accompany a young cellist's performance of Lully's Gavotte. Glenn meant to play the piano part, but the student had brought an accompaniment in the wrong key with him.

"I was going to have to sit down for a couple of hours to transpose it and write it out," Glenn recalls. "We have actually had this problem every summer. So Phillip said, 'You know, that instrument transposes.'" Which it did, in real time, as Glenn performed the piece using the harpsichord sound to match the baroque style. "I didn't know it could do that," says Glenn.

Keveren sees this small rescue in broad terms. "With the magic of the transposer, the Clavinova was able to save the day," he says. "But that was just one occurrence in the larger context of a very successful camp experience. Dozens of young musicians, all with very serious musical aspirations, were exposed to the Clavinova right along side the acoustic piano and the traditional orchestral instruments. They responded very well."