I learned piano beginning at age 10 when daddy sold an acre of ground- a hay field for $800. He went straight to town- Pantone Music in Ogden, and came home with a used Kimball grand from I944 and the 4 kids began piano. Our aunt taught us...traveled to our place and charged us each 25-cents a lesson. My sister still has that piano! I graduated from Utah State University in 1984 with a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance and met my future wife in the piano department. She graduated in 1985 with the same degree then attended Indiana University for 2 years earning a Masters Degree in Piano Performance. We married in August 1987 and had hoped for a nice piano to begin our life together. We found a Kawai KG5C 6'8 listed as used and loved it very much. We couldn't afford it but parents from one side lent us the money and wrote an agreement that showed our monthly payment along with interest and the years they would allow us to pay in full. We've never forgotten the kindness and the start it gave us in teaching piano and later being able to teach our 3 daughters how to play. I mentioned "one side" because the other side wouldn't have anything to do with helping us and opposed us getting our start with a grand piano when an upright would suffice. We like both but found the grand to be just right for us. We have played and taught on that piano for our entire marriage- 37 years of daily use! We've always been thrilled with its use and were glad our 3 daughters could learn on this piano. We liked it so much we next bought the Kawai KG6C which is now being rebuilt. And together, these two pianos played many concerts and recitals...concertos, 8-hands, and duets aplenty. We did our playing for studio recitals in our music room in Pleasant Grove, and for 24 years, we've used these 2 pianos together at our concert room in Idaho. Many people have heard these pianos played in past years. And we hope to continue that into the future. The Clark Music Foundation was created in memory of our parents who gave their 4 children the gift of music. We hold the concert hall and pianos here in Idaho as the home for sharing music with others and are now hoping to remake our 2 Kawai pianos to be used for another 37 years and beyond in our performance venue with seating for 120 people. We also use the venue for performance competitions and festivals for students in the Rexburg and Idaho Falls area. And it is also used by other teachers for their recitals. Kawai KG5C from about 1985. Owner of Kawai Dealer in Logan Utah closed his store and took this piano from his showroom to his home in Logan. Couple of years later he listed it for sale and I purchased it in July 1987 and took it to Provo where I was working. Seemed brand new...played some in the store and some at the dealers home but not much. But through the years of intense playing, teaching, and recording...well, it is time for it to be rebuilt and continue in its new use as a performance piano in our concert hall. Other pianos are now used in the teaching studio and a rebuild of our Kawai 7'3 now taking place and a rebuild of this Kawai 6'8 will be for use in our performance hall at the Clark Music Foundation building in Rexburg Idaho.
