While I’m not much for nostalgia, there are times that being nostalgic is appropriate – wedding, birthdays, first performance during which my mouth didn’t go bone dry. Some people are nostalgic about items that have sentimental value – family photographs, favorite stuffed animal as a child, first Commodore 64 computer. But, the Department of Music is excited to be “letting go” of our old Piano Lab and to see completion of Phase 1 of our new Digital Piano Lab.
The old lab consisted of a mix of old Yamaha Clavinovas and Korg digital pianos in various states of disrepair. Needless to say it was time to explore our options.
Through the generous support of the students through their contributions to the Clarion University TechFee, the Department of Music submitted a proposal for $18,000 to purchase 7 new Roland HP207 Digital Pianos.
Members of the University Technology Advisory Council (UTAC), Sam Puleio and the Office of Computing Services, and Dr. Joseph Grunenwald, President of Clarion University, graciously supported funding our proposal which led to the successful bid by western PA’s own Spotts Music Center. The Department of Music is very pleased to continue its long, successful relationship with the fine people at Spott’s. They have been very kind and helpful to us over the years, and we are looking forward to many more years of excellent service.
Last week, Mark Kephart, president/CEO of Spotts Music Center, and his crew delivered and installed the 7 new Roland pianos. These beautiful instruments not only sound fantastic (great sampled sounds!), they have several features that make them uniquely useful in an instructional piano lab environment, including the ability to easily “split” the full-sized, 88-key keyboard into two and have the instructor sit beside the student to model the correct performance behavior WITHOUT having any octave displacement (“Twin Piano Mode”). Also, each instrument has recording/playback capabilities and 2 USB ports so students can record themselves and self-evaluate outside of class, or the instructor can record an example (wav. or MIDI) that students can download and bring to class on a USB drive to play along. We are just beginning to explore the many ways in which these new instruments can improve piano instruction and learning at Clarion.
As stated, the installation of the 7 instruments was only Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 will involve the installation of 7 additional instruments, bringing our Digital Piano Lab to a complement of 14 new Roland pianos. Like Phase 1, Phase 2 was proposed through the TechFee process, and will undergo a competitive review, judged against other proposals across Clarion’s campus. With any luck, our Phase 2 proposal will be funded, and the 2009-10 academic year will bring our new Digital Piano Lab fully online.
So, if you are an alumnus of the Department of Music, and have lasting, warm recollections of our old Piano Lab, I hope that you will forgive us for moving ahead into the 21st century. Just remember that even though musical instruments don’t last forever, fond memories do.
