With fingers so fast they seemed a blur, world-renowned pianist Corey Hamm took the stage Tuesday in Kimbrough Hall Tuesday.

The musician, a native of Canada, has played music across the globe in cities like Singapore, London, Minneapolis and Montreal. He said he wasn’t inspired to start playing piano by the work of Beethoven or Bach.

It was the ‘70s rock band Supertramp.

“I am sort of an anomaly in that I started playing when I was twelve,” Hamm said. “Pianists usually start when they are three or five. I started because my sisters bought me sheet music from Supertramp. I asked for lessons to learn to play it. I liked the lessons and I liked to listen to classical and jazz music and I started to progress. But I got there through Supertramp.” Hamm’s performance Tuesday night was part of Summer Keyboard Explorations, a camp for high school students presented by the WSU School of Music.

Hamm performed Frederic Rzewski’s one-hour piece titled “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!”.

Hamm was first introduced to this piece of music when he was fifteen when he checked it out from the local library.

“We had difficulty finding the sheet music at first, but we eventually found it,” he said. “It was much too difficult for me at the time, but it was my dream to play it.” That dream came true in 2008, when Rzewski was 70.

Hamm organized a Rzewski-fest at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches, and invited Rzewski himself. Rzewski attended and Hamm performed this song for him.

“It was such a thrill to play a song I loved for its composer,” he said. “It was incredible. It was one of the highlights of my life.” The piece features 36 variations on a Chilean revolutionary song by Sergio Ortega.

Before Hamm took the stage, an original version of the song was played so audiences could hear what Rzewski heard before beginning his work.

“Hearing the song before helped out a lot when we were listening to him play,” said Quin Stevens, a summer camp attendee and high school junior from Montana.

Before beginning to play, Hamm talked about the piece to the audience.

“I am just giving you a road map, to help you find your place,” he said.

Each variation is from the same song, but with a different melody and notes.

The sections also change styles, which adds to the effect of the song as a whole, Hamm said.

“It is like you are listening to the radio, and scanning through the stations,” he said. “Each station is playing the same tune but each in a different style.” The last six variations are compilations of previous sections, leading up to the 36th variation, which is a compilation of the previous 35.

This part was a favorite for many.

“The last sections, really the last two where it all came together were amazing,” said Alli Blair, a high school sophomore camper from Seattle.

Hamm also taught a master class Wednesday for music students, but just watching him perform taught some things.

“All that effort and practice is amazing,” said Meckenzie Toher, a high school sophomore camper from Seattle.

The Keyboard Explorations camp is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year and runs concurrently with another camp, specifically for those playing a string instrument.

Both camps host students from all around Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

“We invited kids from the seventh through the 12th grade from all over for an intensive week of piano, chamber music, and duets,” assistant professor of music Jeff Savage said.

Each year the camps invite a special guest musician who plays for the students and then helps teach a master class.

Savage said he was extremely excited to have Hamm perform as this year’s soloist.

“It is such a great opportunity for the students to have him here,” he said. “It is a wonderful piece and he is a great artist.”