Elementary School Kids Record Their Own CD with Help of Clavinova CVP

roducing a professional quality CD is no longer the exclusive province of adults or even teenagers. Just poke your head into the music room at Whispering Pines Elementary School and a talented group of six-to eleven-year olds will show you how it's done, using Yamaha Clavinova® digital pianos.

This Miami, FL school's 20-unit Clavinova Lab is equipped with CVP205 and CVP207 models, plus a CVP209 teaching unit. Soon after the lab was installed last year, music director Ron Simon started fundraising for additional equipment to fulfill his longtime dream of a complete recording studio run by kids.

"I'm always seeking new methods to expand the curriculum and maximize children's potential. We're one of the few elementary schools with a Clavinova Lab and the kids use it to the hilt. They liked coming to music class before, but now they love the Lab so much I have to throw them out," he laughs. "Manny Perez of Hale Piano, Coral Gables, was a huge force in this," adds Simon. "By sponsoring the Clavinovas, he really pulled out all the stops to make this dream become a reality."

The studio opened in October 2001, and although there were a few major challenges in educating students how to operate recording equipment, Simon remained insistent the kids learn to run the entire production. "I believe we should never put a limit on what our students can achieve so that amazing things can happen." This philosophy has produced inspiring results: WPES students have earned numerous awards, including being the first elementary school invited to perform inside DisneyWorld.

To complete their first CD, Album One, the young musicians did all the arrangements, playing, singing, recording, mixing, artwork, even CD-burning, arriving at 7:30 a.m. each school day to work on their tracks. Several recent alumni, now students at Southwood Middle School, contributed their voices and instrumental talent to Album One, an engaging mix of eleven pop, rock, classical, patriotic and country tunes. "They had a blast putting it all together," says Simon, adding, "you normally see college-level students doing such projects."

Since February 2002, sales of Album One have amassed $5,000 for needy kids. To share their joy in performing music, on May 10th the WPES students staged A Night At Hale Piano for Charity to raise additional funds for kids who need wheelchairs, laptops and travel expenses. This exceptional group of caring, music-loving students is now "back in the studio" with their Clavinovas, producing and recording a children's songbook and CD slated for publication in Spring 2003.