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Acoustic & Electronic Instruments, Musicians, News, Tutorials, Videos & Interesting Finds

Casio championing new musical education initiative

Following our report that Yamaha has updated its Disklavier Education Network comes Casio’s announcement that it will be championing musical education across US schools and colleges.

First up, educators attending the 2014 NAMM event can register to win their own Privia PX-350 digital piano, meet the Casio team and pick up a Casio information package on Saturday and Sunday at booth #5900.

Leader in music education advocacy and former associate of PBS’ Sesame Street and NAMM, Ms Jordan, said, “With many areas in the nation prioritizing a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to STEAM (including the Arts) approach, it is acknowledged that arts in education are extremely important for brain development and innovation. And today’s music students deserve access to learning music fundamentals with the piano, even in elementary school. We are proud to assist schools in refreshing their programs to address these increased needs.”

It has long been acknowledged that piano instruction sets the stage for further musical learning and development. Casio is offering up its range of keyboards, which stand up to the heavy use endured in school keyboard labs.

As a first step in the new initiative, Casio has donated six WK-225 digital keyboards to the new arts-integrated PS 532 New Bridge Elementary School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY in order to assist in launching a keyboard program for the young students. The WK-225 portable keyboard is especially suited for education as it features a 76-Key Piano Style Touch Response Keyboard with 600 onboard Tones, 180 Rhythms, and Reverb plus Chorus Digital Effects. It also includes Casio’s famous Step-up Lesson System, a 5-track recorder, audio inputs for an MP3 player and a class compliant USB port for MIDI.

“Our goal at Casio is to make learning music more accessible for everyone and we are excited to continue to dig in and make a difference in music education,” said Stephen Schmidt, Vice President of Casio’s Musical Instrument Division. “With the addition of Sandra Jordan and our new programs for music education dealers, we are confident that Casio’s increased presence in music education will benefit teachers and students, who can now have access to our feature-rich, quality instruments that meet the standards of music educators.”