Fox Music House Partners with Claflin University on Landmark Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Acquisition
—Charleston-based music dealer helps Claflin become first HBCU to purchase Yamaha’s flagship concert grand while advancing the University’s student-first investment strategy—
ORANGEBURG, S.C., September 30, 2026 — Fox Music House, the Charleston-based, family-owned music company serving the Carolinas since 1928, has partnered with Claflin University to acquire a Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano, helping the University bring Yamaha’s flagship concert instrument to its students, faculty and community.
The acquisition makes Claflin the first Historically Black College or University to purchase a Yamaha CFX and marks another significant institutional piano project for Fox Music House. Working with Claflin’s music faculty and Yamaha, Fox Music House helped guide the acquisition and selection process around the University’s educational, performance and long-term program needs.
For Claflin, the CFX is much more than a new concert grand. It represents a deliberate institutional commitment to placing students at the center of academic investment decisions.
“This decision began with our students,” said Dr. Isaiah McGee, dean of Claflin University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences. “When we consider the return on an academic investment, students must be the first and foremost consideration. We wanted to provide them with an outstanding instrument—one they can be proud to practice and perform on, and to share with the broader community. The CFX supports Claflin’s commitment to transformation and elevation by giving our students the tools and opportunities they need to reach an even higher level.”
The Yamaha CFX will serve as a centerpiece for music education and performance at Claflin’s Whitaker V. Middleton Fine Arts Center. It will support individual instruction, student and faculty recitals, ensemble performances, master classes, guest artist appearances, and other University and community programs.
The new CFX replaces an aging concert grand and complements the Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos already in use in Claflin’s piano laboratories. Together, the instruments create a consistent Yamaha learning environment across classroom instruction, individual preparation and performance. With the addition of the CFX, Claflin becomes an all-Yamaha piano school.
Dr. Eunjung Choi, a professor of music at Claflin and head of the University’s keyboard program, traveled to Yamaha Corporation of America’s facility in Buena Park, California, to personally select the University’s instrument from among three CFX concert grands.
“Each concert grand has its own musical personality, so selecting the right piano for Claflin was an important responsibility,” Choi said. “Our students can now learn and perform on an instrument that can respond to the full range of their musical ideas. I am excited about what this will mean for their development and for our music program’s future.”
“Claflin University approached this acquisition with a clear purpose and great care,” said Joseph Fox of Fox Music House. “Our role was to listen to what the University wanted to accomplish for its students and music program and then help connect that vision with the right instrument. Dr. Choi’s personal selection of the CFX reflects Claflin’s commitment to finding the right musical voice for its students, faculty and performance space. This is an investment designed to serve Claflin for generations.”
For Fox Music House, the project reflects the consultative role independent music dealers can play in major institutional purchases, working with educators, administrators and manufacturers to match an instrument with a school’s educational objectives, performance environment and long-term plans.
For more information, visit usa.yamaha.com.
