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“I am very proud of each and every one of our employees for making this important, selfless, and compassionate decision,” says Mr. Mitsuru “Mick” Umemura, YCA President. “Our entire nation feels the pain caused by these acts of terrorism, and Yamaha Corporation of America is deeply committed to helping the American Red Cross achieve its objective of providing relief to the victims of this horrific event.”

This donation followed a matching funds contribution of $16,800 made by Yamaha employees last September to the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund, and the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.

Yamaha Unveils New Pianos at Winter NAMM

t Winter NAMM 2002 in Anaheim, CA Yamaha kicks off the new year with an array of product debuts and upgrades for every segment of the piano market. The new line includes acoustic pianos, new digital technology, and a nod to Yamaha’s century of piano making tradition-a heritage that received its most recent accolade when Musical Merchandise Review named Yamaha its 2001 Acoustic Piano Line of the Year and the Disklavier® Mark III Series the 2001 Product of the Year.”

P600 Tuscan

One of the new products is actually an amalgam of two proven favorites. The GC1 5’3” Classic Collection Grand Piano uses the scale design and tonal quality of the Yamaha C Series, with a duplex scale and tone collector-at the affordable price point of the former G Series pianos. Piano Marketing Manager Paul Calvin foresees a bright future for this best-of-both-worlds product. “Now, home customers can enjoy the renowned C Series sound at a very affordable price,” he notes.

M500 Chippendale

One of the season’s most remarkable new ideas is PianoSmart™ technology, now featured on all Mark III Series pianos. This new system enables the Disklavier to play along with standard audio CDs, matching the playback of the commercial audio track with accompanying MIDI files and synchronizing them automatically. Owners can even record their own piano accompaniments to their favorite CDs, and the PianoSmart technology will synch them perfectly on playback.

“PianoSmart technology will clearly distinguish the Disklavier piano from all other reproducing systems,” Calvin predicts.

P600 Queen Anne

The console and upright lineups have seen new additions as well. The M500CH is a new Chippendale cabinet offering for the M500 series. The P600S, P600QA and P600T are the new Sheraton, Queen Anne, and Tuscan cabinets, respectively, a new series that matches the tone and performance of the P22 45” acoustic upright with rich, detailed treatments in Mahogany, Cherry, and Ash.

P500 Sheraton

The DU1A Disklavier Mark III upright is a new model that offers most of the features of the successful Mark III grand pianos in an upright configuration, including a CD drive, SmartKey™ and CueTime™ software, PianoSmart technology, Quiet and Silent Modes, and 16 MB of memory for song storage.

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