When an ensemble of children are playing their instruments together, the new Pianica looks joyous to play, and—with the subtly adjusted and now unified tones of either blue or pink—the instruments match one another cleanly.
Timeless
Lay it down and perform. Hold it in your hand and perform. The Pianica can be played in a variety of ways. It has no forward or reverse: Any of the 360 degrees from which one might approach it can be the front. All these possibilities are equally imbued with tenderness for little children to enjoy.
Well-Made
Open the case, and the excitement spreads. The case—which can also be used as a music stand—is not only resistant to scratches and dirt but also provides echoes of the Pianica itself in its shape, as exemplified by the curves on the sides. The colors of the case are a few shades lighter—all the better to draw out the brilliance of the instrument.
Instantly-usable
The shape of the Pianica, with its plump curves, is easy to grasp with any sized hands and permits stress-free and enjoyable performances even when standing.
Kunihiro Takei
Designer
Yamaha Design Laboratory
Mami Sato
Designer
Yamaha Design Laboratory
The Gentle Pianica that Makes Playing More Fun.
Most Pianica users are young children or students in the lower grades of elementary school. It is mainly used as an educational instrument, and for many people, the pianica is the first instrument that they touch in their lives. There are many ways of playing it, including placed on a desk or held in the hand while standing.
With the P-32E/EP, which was the first redesign of the pianica in almost 30 years, Yamaha aimed to create an instrument that would let children produce sound without feeling any stress. Something gentle that would let children feel the joy of playing an instrument. And something that would look nice regardless of the child's stance while playing. What we at Yamaha had in mind when designing the updated pianica was to eliminate the entire concept of front and back, so that the design appears uniformly solid from any angle. While the previous model was constructed out of several flat planes based on straight lines, this new instrument featured stretched curves that wrap around to the sides. The gently bulging silhouette both makes the instrument easier to hold and increases its volume, improving the quality of the notes that it produces. The lack of sharp corners also makes the instrument safer. While the new model retains the traditional blue and pink colors of the Pianicas of over thirty years, the new pink has a more restrained yellow tinge that harmonizes better with the blue. We matched the two colors to bring them closer together, ensuring that the audience's eyes could relax without being made to flicker jarringly between the two colors in situations such as when watching an entire class of children playing as an ensemble. The design maintains a sense of uniformity is between the shapes of the Pianica itself and of the case, which we designed based on the same concept. At the same time, the scratch-resistant texture of the case resembles the grain of leather and is colored a shade lighter than that of the instrument itself, making the Pianica stand out.
All this leads to the scene we had in mind when designing the instrument: Children open their cases and lustrous Pianicas emerge, shining like jewels. Smiles then grace their faces as they begin to experience the joy of playing music themselves.
