Pittsburgh Keyboard Project Expands

Recognizing the benefits of music education and restoring music education to public schools, the Pittsburgh Keyboard Project has distributed more than 400 Yamaha keyboards to aid music programs at needy schools in the Pittsburgh area since 2001. The program recently expanded to include schools in suburban Wilkinsburg, Pa., a district that ended specialized music instruction at its elementary schools in 1982.

Students at the Minadeo Elementary School in Pittsburgh during a keyboard lab lesson.

"This is a very worthy cause and we are happy to be a part of it," said Mark Anderson, marketing manager, Portable Keyboards, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. "Yamaha strongly supports music education around the world and this program clearly helps us further our goals."

Initially, the Keyboard Project focused on public elementary schools, but has since branched into other schools, said Natalie Ozeas, the project's coordinator and associate head of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University. The instruments have been placed in three K-8 schools, 13 K-5 schools, one junior high school and one high school.

The Keyboard Project identifies top music teachers and works with the principal and parents to make it a success. In addition to keyboards, it also provides manuals and in-service training for teachers. Lois Clark, music teacher at Kelly Elementary School in Wilkinsburg, told a visitor to her classroom that during music instruction, the students are "the quietest they've ever been. That's because they're concentrating."

The program's main keyboard of choice: the PSR-E203. "Out of all of these keyboards, we've only had to replace two," said Ozeas. "We've spent a lot more on replacing headphones than we have on keyboards."

The project has grown from limited beginnings. "At our first school, we held a parents' information night before we launched the program and only two showed up," said Ozeas. "By the end of the year, we had a piano recital that was standing room only in the gym."

For more information about Yamaha Portable Keyboards, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Portable Keyboards, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; telephone (714) 522-9011; or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.