Yamaha.

The brand name of musical instruments (and other products) manufactured by Yamaha Kabushiki Kaisha (Yamaha KK, i.e. Yamaha Corporation), Hamamatsu, Japan. The firm was founded in 1887 by Torakusu Yamaha (b Wakayama Prefecture, April 1851; d Hamamatsu, 8 Aug 1916), who built the first Japanese harmonium in that year. In 1888 the firm employed fewer than ten craftsmen; a year later there were 100. In 1897 the company was named Nippon Gakki Seizo KK (Japan Instrument Manufacturing Co.). It expanded steadily through the prosperous period following World War I. The factory base was moved from Tokyo and Yokohama to Hamamatsu in 1922. During World War II production was diverted to the military.

After World War II the company began collaboration with the Nippon Kangakki (Japan Band Instrument) company, founded as Egawa in 1892 and renamed in 1920, whose brand name is Nikkan. The companies jointly set up an experimental department for wind instruments in 1965, and merged in 1970. In 1953 the company's fourth president, Gen'ichi Kawakami (b 1912), spent 90 days observing living standards and production methods in Europe and the USA. On his return he introduced technical advances, mass-production methods and new products and began to emphasize the popularization of music; the firm also branched out into the recreation industry. In 1966 Renold Schilke became a consultant. The present factory in Hamamatsu opened in 1970; by the mid-1970s it was making 30% of the world production of both wind instruments and pianos. The Yamaha brand name was applied to all the firm's products from its centenary in 1987. The company, which now produces pianos, wind instruments, electronic instruments, concert and marching percussion, guitars, drums and audio equipment, has developed into a huge complex of diversified interests, with 36 related companies in Japan and 35 in as many countries overseas.

The firm made its first upright piano in 1900 (in the early stages a consultant from Bechstein gave advice) and its first grand piano in 1950; by the late 20th century Yamaha was the largest producer of pianos in the world. Annual production slowed from about 200,000 in the late 1970s to about 140,000 in the mid-1990s. The output is of high quality; the firm uses heavily automated production practices, applying what it has learnt in other ventures (e.g. metal-frame casting and electronics) to piano design and using digital recording and playback technology in an impressive computerized reproducing piano, the Disklavier. Piano models range from console uprights to a well-regarded concert grand.

Since 1958 Yamaha has produced many models of electronic instruments, beginning with electronic organs (under the name Electone), followed by electric and electronic pianos (including digital models in the Clavinova series), electric guitars, monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers (from 1975), synthesizer modules, string synthesizers, home keyboards (PortaSound and Portatone ranges), remote keyboard controllers, wind controllers (WX series, developed with Sal Gallina), guitar synthesizers, samplers, sequencers and electronic percussion systems.

Yamaha's greatest success was the DX7 synthesizer (1983), of which possibly 250,000 were sold. Coinciding with the beginnings of MIDI, Yamaha's DX/TX range of ‘algorithmic’ Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesizers were based on John Chowning's researches at Stanford University (1967–71). The company has continued to develop this significant innovation, but – like other manufacturers – has also adopted sampled timbres and has often combined both, as in the SY series (1990) and the Physical Modeling method (also licensed from Stanford University) used in its Virtual Acoustic synthesizers from 1994. In 1984 Yamaha introduced the first specialized music computer (CX-5M), in which FM synthesis was combined with the shortlived MSX computer standard; the company has subsequently produced home computer music systems featuring a synthesizer module and licensed software. Some of Yamaha's more sophisticated synthesizers have had an optional breath controller. The scale on which the company manufactures electronic instruments enabled it in 1976 to be the first musical instrument manufacturer to develop its own LSI (large-scale integration) chips, each equivalent to millions of transistors and other components.

Three ranges of acoustic pianos with MIDI have been produced, including the Disklavier (1986), which contains fibre-optic sensors to register the movement of keys and hammers and solenoids to control their operation, MIDI grand pianos and the recent Silent Piano that can be heard over headphones (part of a series that also includes violin, two models of cello, trumpet, horn, trombone and electronic drumkit).

Yamaha maintains its own departments of wood processing (for pianos and guitars), metal processing (for pianos and brass instruments), machine making, electronics and chemicals. There is a research and development division for keyboard, brass and woodwind instruments, and special instruments are made for individual players.

The first Yamaha Music School was founded in Tokyo in 1954; by 1993 there were 14,000 Yamaha music school sites in Japan and 2000 in 38 other countries. The Yamaha piano instruction method does for beginners on the piano what the Suzuki method does for the violin. The Yamaha Foundation for Music Education, established in 1966, sponsors concert series and music competitions.

For illustration of instruments by Yamaha, see Electronic instruments, fig.9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

N.H. Crowhurst: Electronic Organs (Indianapolis, 1960, 3/1975), 123–32

J. Chowning and D. Bristow: FM Theory & Applications by Musicians for Musicians (Tokyo, 1986)

S. Trask: ‘Made in Japan: Eastern Intrigue’, Music Technology, ii/3 (1988), 50–53

M. Vail: ‘Yamaha's CS-80: Heavyweight Champion of the Early Polyphonics’, Keyboard, xvii/3 (1991), 116–17; rev. in Vintage Synthesizers: Groundbreaking Instruments and Pioneering Designers of Electronic Music Synthesizers (San Francisco, 1993), 162–7

J. Colbeck: Keyfax Omnibus Edition (Emeryville, CA, 1996), 128–41, 180–88

P. Forrest: The A–Z of Analogue Synthesisers, ii (Crediton, 1996), 214–39

HUGH DAVIES, EDWIN M. GOOD, EDWARD H. TARR