2022 - 2023
VOL. 2
FUNDRAISING SPOTLIGHT NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE KICKS OFF 88 KEYS CAMPAIGN BOONEVILLE, MS (August 26, 2022) - Northeast Mississippi Community College recently launched a fundraising campaign to purchase a new Steinway & Sons Spirio | r piano infused with state-of-the-art technology. The 88 Keys campaign, named for the number of keys on a standard piano, was launched by the Northeast Development Foundation in July. It has raised more than $12,000 thus far with an end goal to raise $180,000 to cover the full cost of the piano. The Steinway grand piano is the gold standard of musical Promotional Image for 88 Keys Campaign instruments, NEMCC said, and the Spirio | r model has added features that will allow students to record and hear themselves play, along with allowing faculty to record accompaniments for other singers and instrumentalists. That capability will allow students multiple opportunities to rehearse before recitals, whereas normally they would only be allowed one or two run-throughs because of the sheer number of music majors at Northeast, according to Dr. Ray Harris, head of the Division of Fine Arts at NEMCC. NEMCC is currently home to a couple of Steinway & Sons pianos, which are housed in the Hines Hall music building, but none are like the Spirio | r model. But as Harris puts it, "The rest of our pianos are just pianos. This has all of that additional technology," he said. "It's a piano plus." With the Spirio | r, students can listen and play along with thousands of musical pieces performed by legendary pianists which are stored in a cloud library via an iPad attached to the piano. Students can also view live performances through the piano and video projection system as they are streamed. If someone is playing a Steinway Spirio in a recital in Seattle, Northeast's piano can mirror exactly what that musician is playing in real time, Harris added. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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