Contribution to Regional Community Development

Responsibility to Local Communities

The Yamaha Group recognizes that it has certain responsibilities as a member of society. We therefore engage in communication with local communities and advance various initiatives with the aim of contributing to the development of society as a good corporate citizen. As we continue to make contributions to the popularization and development of music culture around the world, we also aspire to help further the development of the countries and regions in which our business sites are located through support for fostering future generations and welfare programs.

Communication with Local Communities

The Yamaha Group engages in ongoing communication with the communities that are home to its business sites to maintain good relations with these communities.

At our business sites, we regularly hold information exchange sessions with surrounding municipalities and solicit opinions and requests at neighborhood council meetings.

Communication Activities Conducted at Business Sites and Factories

  • Regular information exchange sessions with neighborhood councils (once annual forums for reporting on business activities, sharing opinions, and soliciting requests)
  • Factory tours
  • Accommodation of community study trips for local elementary school students and hands-on workplace experience programs and tours for local junior high and high school students
  • Summer festivals for strengthening relationships with communities
  • Signing of memorandums to open up facilities to the public during disasters
  • Participation in local events and celebrations
  • Exhibition in and cooperation with MUSIC SPOT at Shin-Tomei Expressway NEOPASA Hamamatsu and exhibition at Hamamatsu Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen line
  • Lending of facilities, parking lots, etc.
  • Cooperation with regional safety patrol activities
  • Cooperation with regional environmental activities, including participation in regional cleanup efforts by employees
  • Participation in joint disaster drills led by municipalities
  • Donation of household goods, sweets, etc., gathered through charity bazaars and donation campaigns to local organizations
  • Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to food banks
  • Lending of instruments and holding of concerts
  • *Note: Some activities were canceled in fiscal 2023 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[Photo] Information exchange session at local neighborhood council meeting (Headquarters)

Information exchange session at local neighborhood council meeting (Headquarters)

[Photo] Summer festival (Tenryu Factory)

Summer festival (Tenryu Factory)

[Photo] Regional cleanup effort (Kakegawa Factory)

Regional cleanup effort (Kakegawa Factory)

[Photo] Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to a food bank (Toyooka Factory)

Donation of food from disaster stockpiles to a food bank (Toyooka Factory)

Piano Factory Tours

At the Kakegawa Factory, a domestic piano manufacturing site, we open our doors to public visitors so that they can observe the process of making grand pianos and thereby experience the appeal of instruments and music. In factory tours, visitors see how we use modern techniques and some traditional, more than 100-year-old manufacturing processes. Visitors also pass through the adjacent showroom, where we display valuable instruments as well as instruments that visitors are invited to try out. In addition, visitors witness the environmental preservation initiatives woven into our product creation activities. We accommodate a plethora of visitors, including professional and amateur musicians and local elementary school students on field trips, while also opening our doors to general customers and organizations as part of our efforts to foster understanding with regard to product creation at the Yamaha Group. In fiscal 2023, factory tours were held with limits on the number of participants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we also provided remote (online) factory tours for local elementary school students and Yamaha musical instrument sales agents across Japan.

[Photo] Visitors observing the grand piano manufacturing process

Visitors observing the grand piano manufacturing process

[Photo] Exhibition at the showroom

Exhibition at the showroom

Public Opening of Corporate Museum

Opened in 2018, Innovation Road is a hands-on corporate museum displaying exhibitions on the history of the products and services of the Yamaha Group. This museum allows general visitors to learn about products and services from the Company’s founding until today, their development process, and the Company’s vision for the future via audio and visual exhibits. Since its opening, many people have visited Innovation Road, including organizations, business partners, and community members.

Information regarding Innovation Road can be found on the following website.

[Photo] Entrance of Innovation Road

Entrance of Innovation Road

[Photo] Exhibition area (History Walk)

Exhibition area (History Walk)

Contributions to Communities through Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi

Every year, Yamaha Corporation and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., jointly host the Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi women’s golf tournament at the Katsuragi Golf Club located in Fukuroi City, Shizuoka Prefecture. In fiscal 2023, this event was held with no entry restrictions for the first time in four years. We once again took steps to manage the event in an eco-friendly manner through means such as sorting garbage and encouraging visitors to use public transportation. A number of uniquely Yamaha subevents were also arranged, including opportunities to test out Yamaha golf clubs and special lessons by pro golfers with contracts with Yamaha. Thanks to the diligent efforts of a total of roughly 1,300 volunteers, and community members, and with support from local government agencies, we were able to welcome some 11,000 visitors over the four-day period of the Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi.

Since the first tournament in 2008, Yamaha Corporation has given donations to local governments that have backed the tournament (Shizuoka prefectural government and five municipalities) as a token of our appreciation to community members for their cooperation and support of the event and as an expression of our desire to further strengthen these ties. These donations are to be used for regional revitalization and social welfare activities, such as maintaining sports facilities, buying vehicles for volunteer activities, and funding cultural and educational venues.

[Photo] Tournament winner Lala Anai together with members of volunteer staff

Tournament winner Lala Anai together with members of volunteer staff

Regional Contribution Activities through Music

The Yamaha Group aims to make contributions to communities and their invigoration and promote the popularization of music by planning and holding music events in various regions around the world. In addition to proposing ways of enjoying music to a wide range of music and instrument lovers, we will also plan and provide opportunities to perform to amateur musicians seeking to take their art to the next level.

Community Development through Music

Yamaha Music Japan Co., Ltd., is advancing the Oto-Machi Project for Creating Musical Towns. The Oto-Machi Project aims to revitalize communities and create shared value for companies and society by harnessing "the power of music to connect people." To address the issues faced by municipalities, communities, and companies, the Yamaha Group proposes and supports citizen participatory projects, events, and programs that use music as a tool for community development. The Group aims to help create the independent communities that form sustainable community foundations. Through the Oto-Machi Project, we promote new forms of social contribution activities by offering focused support for the early stages of community development and building schemes for places and times that allow for ongoing activities open to free participation by community members. In fiscal 2023, we arranged a drum circle facilitator development workshop in Toshima that mobilized a drum circle with the aim of fostering community leaders as one facet of the efforts of Toshima Music Circle, a public-private partnership project launched in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Toshima Ward. This workshop represented the creation of a new approach toward community outreach. In addition, Yamaha Music Japan concluded a three-year partnership agreement with Fukui Prefecture in February 2021. Through this agreement, we will contribute to community development in Fukui Prefecture with music. We are currently engaged in wide-ranging initiatives together with local and prefectural government agencies and other organizations to create opportunities for musicians to perform in urban centers and other locations and along with opportunities to view performances in one’s community. These are just some of the activities we are implementing to promote the spread of music within Fukui Prefecture.

[Photo] Drum circle workshop (Minami-Ikebukuro Park in Toshima Ward)

Drum circle workshop (Minami-Ikebukuro Park in Toshima Ward)

[Photo] Music promotion event in Fukui Prefecture

Music promotion event in Fukui Prefecture

Regional Contribution Activities by the Yamaha Symphonic Band

The Yamaha Symphonic Band, which was established in 1961, is an amateur band comprised of Yamaha Group employees. The band’s activities include holding regular musical performances and pop concerts, supporting the Yamaha Baseball Club, and performing regularly and appearing in contests in Japan and overseas. The band also actively participates in events rooted in local communities while helping Hamamatsu City realize its vision for becoming a "city of music." The Promenade Concert held in front of JR Hamamatsu Station is one example of these events.

[Photo] Promenade Concert

Promenade Concert

Hamamatsu Jazz Week

Each year, Yamaha Corporation holds Hamamatsu Jazz Week in cooperation with Hamamatsu City and other co-organizers. The event, which was first held in 1992, is part of the Hamamatsu City government’s efforts to create a city with music at its core. As one of the new undertakings in the 30th iteration of this event, which was held in 2022, a jazz concert was arranged at a facility for senior citizens for the purpose of promoting senior health. The years of contributions made to the development of music culture through this event have earned recognition, with Yamaha being presented with an event planning award in the popular culture category of the 35th Music Pen Club Awards. Hosted through a joint effort by the government and the community based on the theme of jazz, which can be enjoyed by people of all ages, this unique event has become an entrenched part of the local culture that is beloved by fans of jazz and even people who are not. This event features hall concerts by top-notch domestic and international artists, live performances that allow guests to casually enjoy jazz on street corners, and events held in collaboration with local jazz clubs. In recent years, we have been embarking on new initiatives for helping grow the number of music fans and contribute to the popularization of music culture. Such initiatives include engaging with municipalities and cultural organizations and broadcasting the appeal of Hamamatsu City and jazz throughout Japan via jazz concerts for families, talk shows led by commentators, and live online streaming. Other activities include arranging events that serve as aspiration for outstanding student big bands from across Japan, holding big band workshops for students from the community, and conducting in-school jazz concerts in which professional musicians are sent to perform at elementary and junior high schools in Hamamatsu City. These events are part of plans for cultivating future musicians by fostering artistic sensitivity and expressiveness in children.

[Photo] Yamaha Jazz Festival

Yamaha Jazz Festival

[Photo] Next-Generation Jazz Stage workshop for student big bands

Next-Generation Jazz Stage workshop for student big bands

[Photo] Jazz concert at a facility for senior citizens

Jazz concert at a facility for senior citizens

Wind and String Instrument Performance Contests

Yamaha Music & Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. (YMEC), holds wind and string instrument performance contests every year in locations across China to provide opportunities for wind and string instrument performances. In fiscal 2023, contests were arranged for wind and string instrument enthusiasts. These contests featured solo, ensemble, and band competitions. Given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contests were conducted by recording videos of performances at the stores of sales agents, and these videos were then submitted for judging via online voting and by artists. A total of 3,959 individuals participated in these contests.

[Photo] Wind and string instrument performance contest

Wind and string instrument performance contest

[Photo] Wind and string instrument performance contest

Support for Fostering Future Generations

Support for Young and Aspiring Musicians

The Yamaha Group contributes to the spread and development of music culture at various music contests and workshops both in Japan and overseas, including piano contests held across the world. The Group not only provides musical instruments to those pursuing a high artistic standard but also assists with the running of the events.

Additionally, the Yamaha Group has set up scholarship systems in different regions of the world to support young and aspiring musicians. The Group also teams up with music education institutions to offer ongoing support through the provision of curriculum and seminars for instructors.

For example, the Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy and Festival was launched in 1995 as part of our efforts to help make Hamamatsu City into a city of music. Held together with Hamamatsu City and other co-organizers, this world-leading music festival is centered on wind instruments. In this event, we arrange an academy in which we welcome wind instrument players from around the world to help cultivate young and aspiring musicians looking to become professional performers. Another part of this event is the festival, a concert for enjoying wind instrument performances open to community members. A major goal of this event is to promote music culture exchanges and cultivate globally active performers in Hamamatsu City.

Cooperation with On-Site Tours, Hands-On Learning, and Educational Facilities

As part of our local contribution activities, the Yamaha Group accepts requests from local educational institutions in parts of the world where it has business sites and opens its workplaces for visitors to experience hands-on learning. We also offer internships and tours of our workplaces and factories for junior high and high school students and help educational facilities prepare exhibits. Through these efforts, we aim to support the young people who will shape the future in formulating goals and developing a passion to work in the future.

Yamaha Corporation has been contributing to exhibits at the Hamamatsu Science Museum since it opened to help develop science-oriented minds. The Hamamatsu Science Museum is an experience-focused museum centered upon active learning that provides children and adults alike with the opportunity to have fun while learning about science in the areas of sound, light, force, and space. Companies representing local communities exhibit their technologies, products, and services at this learning facility.

Manufacturing Classes and On-Site Lessons

Throughout each year, Yamaha Corporation works with local educational institutions to offer classes teaching children about manufacturing. For example, we hold handmade guitar classes in which children create their own handmade one-string guitars using everyday items such as cardboard boxes and toothpicks. Other classes teach children how to make a folk instrument from Africa called a mbira using offcuts from piano manufacturing. Furthermore, we offer classes in which children make mini clappers the size of a keychain so that they can carry them around and form an attachment with the instrument. These classes use musical instruments to offer children a way to experience the process of manufacturing.

In fiscal 2017, we began participating in the "Company UD Visiting Lectures" universal design program that is part of the efforts of Hamamatsu City to promote community development through universal design. Through this program, we dispatch employees to perform classes on Yamaha’s universal design initiatives at elementary and junior high schools based on requests from local municipal government agencies and educational institutions. In fiscal 2023, we conducted classes on this topic at two Hamamatsu City elementary schools in which we explained the importance of universal design in city development. These classes looked at the Daredemo Piano, which allows anyone, including senior citizens and people with disabilities, to enjoy playing the piano as a melody can be played with only one finger thanks to support provided by automatic accompaniment and pedal movement.

Looking ahead, the Yamaha Group will continue to cooperate in such initiatives to spread understanding of universal design and the joy of music to children.

[Photo] Class at school on Yamaha’s musical instruments and services

Class at school on Yamaha’s musical instruments and services

Wooden Blocks for Children Made from Piano Offcuts

Yamaha Music Manufacturing Japan Corporation provides wooden blocks made from offcuts produced during the piano manufacturing process to local kindergartens, preschools, elementary schools, and public facilities. Continuing since 1998, this program is a chance to contribute to the community while simultaneously finding a useful purpose for waste material.

[Photo] Craft making using offcuts

Craft making using offcuts

[Photo] Craft making using offcuts

Baseball Clinics for Youth Teams Provided by the Yamaha Baseball Club

The Yamaha Baseball Club holds baseball clinics for local youth baseball teams in western and central Shizuoka Prefecture as part of its efforts to contribute to the community and the development of young people in the area through sports. At these clinics, members of the Yamaha Baseball Club provide instructions and examples to teach young ball players techniques such as how to shift their weight when pitching, where to step, basic posture when fielding infield and outfield, play combinations, and how to follow the ball when batting. The clinics help foster healthy young baseball players while nurturing the dreams and supporting the development of young people. Furthermore, the Junior Baseball Instructing Club, primarily made up of former members of the Yamaha Baseball Club, holds baseball health examinations for children during the clinics. As part of the exams, sports medicine doctors help children with baseball injuries and give them advice to help prevent injuries and accidents. Since fiscal 2017, the Company has participated in Hamamatsu City’s Top Athlete Partnership Business,* arranging by various sports workshops based on requests from local educational facilities. In fiscal 2023, we expanded the scope of activities by organizing workshops on games played with balls for preschoolers and baseball workshops for junior high school students as well as sports workshops that saw participation from a total of 270 elementary school students.

  • *This business has been run by Hamamatsu City since fiscal 2017 and entails holding sports classes by sending local top athletes to sports organizations and schools. By imparting the skills and experiences of top athletes, the objective is to uncover the next generation of top athletes and increase the number of children participating in sports.
[Photo] Baseball lesson

Baseball lesson

[Photo] Baseball health examination

Baseball health examination

School Music Education Support

The Yamaha Group supports music education at schools in various regions of the world. Community-rooted efforts are made to contribute to the enrichment of course content by providing instruments, offering courses on methods of instruction to music instructors, and supplying music-related information.

Yamaha School Project—Providing Opportunities to Play Musical Instruments

In order to enable more children to experience the joy of playing a musical instrument, the Yamaha Group has been carrying out the School Project since 2015 to support instrumental music education at public schools primarily in emerging countries.

The benefits of instrumental music education are so well documented that such instruction is standard in schools around the world. Conditions regarding such education vary greatly by country, and schools in some countries are often unable to provide musical education at a satisfactory level due to a lack of equipment or trained teachers or inadequate curriculum. The Yamaha Group hopes to help provide these children with opportunities for quality musical instrument performance experiences during the course of their public education.

As of March 31, 2023, we had provided opportunities for musical instrument performance experiences to an aggregate total of roughly 2.02 million children at approximately 6,200 schools in seven countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt).

Our involvement in Egypt started with the introduction of instrumental music education courses using recorders at nine elementary schools in November 2021. The scope of these activities were expanded in November 2022 to include 40 schools, and we have also prepared new materials based on Japanese-style education practices to foster non-cognitive skills.

In fiscal 2023, Yamaha’s project for introducing Japanese-style music education into primary education in Egypt as well as its projects for introducing Japanese-style instrumental music education into primary education in Brazil and India were selected as 2022 pilot projects to receive support from EDU-Port Japan by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We will continue to share and verify the successes and challenges of these projects with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as we strive to promote Japanese-style education in the respective countries.

Yamaha projects in Vietnam were selected to receive support from EDU-Port Japan in fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019 and a project in Egypt was selected in fiscal 2021.

[Photo] Music class in India

Music class in India

[Photo] Music class in Egypt

Music class in Egypt

[Logo] School Project

Music Education Programs in the Middle East and Africa

Yamaha Music Gulf FZE (YMGF), a Yamaha subsidiary tasked with sales in the Middle East and Africa, regions where western music education has not taken root, is engaged in activities for promoting music education in schools based on the local circumstances of the respective countries.

Countries incorporating music classes into school curricula are incredibly rare in the Middle East and Africa due to cultural differences and a lack of instructors. In 2012, YMGF started a school music education promotion project in order to help foster aesthetic sensibilities and support the growth of children through musical instrument education. YMGF carries out this project in collaboration with local sales agents as it seeks to demonstrate the importance of music education by inviting local education officials to observe classes in Japanese elementary schools and to help foster local instructors.

Since starting the project with one school in South Africa in 2016, YMGF has continued to expand the scope of its activities. As of March 31, 2023, YMGF had conducted recorder lessons for an aggregate total of roughly 10,000 students in 85 schools in seven countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Morocco, and Uganda).

[Photo] Recorder lesson in South Africa

Recorder lesson in South Africa

[Photo] Recorder lesson in Nigeria

Recorder lesson in Nigeria

School Wind Band Workshops and Instructor Training

Since 2010, Yamaha Music & Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. (YMEC), has been dispatching local and foreign instructors to hold workshops for school wind bands in major and other cities. In fiscal 2023, we were unable to hold these workshops due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, YMEC would invite instructors from Japan to hold wind band director workshops to improve the wind instrument instruction capabilities of general music teachers in conjunction with the workshops for school wind bands. In fiscal 2023, YMEC arranged online wind band director workshops led by Japanese instructors, which were attended by roughly 260 band directors across Japan, to further its efforts to contribute to the education of band directors.

[Photo] Wind band director workshop

Wind band director workshop

Student Band Maintenance Seminar

In South Korea, band (wind instruments), orchestra, and other music activities are popular among extracurricular activities in schools. However, students often do not have much opportunity to learn about musical instrument maintenance at local schools, and there arise situations in which the students are unable to properly produce notes despite owning high-quality instruments as these instruments become damaged.

To help schools become an environment more conducive to music performances, Yamaha Music Korea Ltd. (YMK) has been visiting schools with orchestras since 2013 to hold seminars on musical instrument maintenance and offer to repair instruments free of charge. To date, YMK has visited over 350 schools to teach students how important it is to maintain their instruments in good condition, thereby supporting music activities in these schools and contributing to the development of music culture in South Korea.

[Photo] Maintenance seminar

Maintenance seminar

[Photo] Musical instrument maintenance

Musical instrument maintenance

K-ONB Program for Offering Musical Instruments and Equipment Support to Nationwide High School Light Music Clubs

Yamaha Music Japan Co., Ltd., has launched its K-ONB program for providing support regarding musical instruments and equipment to high school light music clubs, which are becoming increasingly popular across Japan.

Membership in high school light music clubs has been growing rapidly as a result of the influence of popular anime works and video games. However, this has created a situation in which there are a large number of instructors who lack the necessary knowledge regarding instruments and equipment as well as numerous students that do not understand the proper methods of tuning and performing maintenance on their instruments. Seeking to support such light music clubs, Yamaha Music Japan visited a total of more than 400 high schools and concert sites in fiscal 2023. This company also arranges workshops on how to use club equipment that are tailored to the specific equipment and environments at different schools, holds technical workshops on musical instruments, offers advice on band performances, and provides other forms of support to accommodate the needs of a given club. In addition, we reach out to high schools through mediums such as Twitter and Instagram, uploading equipment-related content that is beneficial to light music clubs as part of a support approach that takes advantage of both online and offline venues.

[Photo] Workshop on musical instrument and equipment use and band performance held at high school for light music club

Workshop on musical instrument and equipment use and band performance held at high school for light music club

Donation of Musical Instruments to Schools for the Children of Migrant Farmers

Yamaha Music & Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. (YMEC), together with four manufacturing subsidiaries and major sales agents in China, has been donating instruments to schools for the children of migrant farmers across China since fiscal 2013. These donations are a show of YMEC’s gratitude for local communities and for the growth of its business in China.

YMEC continues to make such donations with the goal of giving children the opportunity to experience music and learn the wonders of instruments and thereby helping them to develop artistic sensitivity. To date, 60 schools have received donations, and the aggregate amount of donations has reached approximately RMB5.2 million. In fiscal 2023, donations from YMEC were unfortunately unable to be made due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, digital keyboards were donated to four senior education facilities as a way to support senior citizens. By increasing opportunities to engage with music and musical instruments, YMEC aims to support feelings of emotional stability and enrichment.

[Photo] Ceremony commemorating donations to a senior education facility
[Photo] Ceremony commemorating donations to a senior education facility
[Photo] Ceremony commemorating donations to a senior education facility

Ceremony commemorating donations to a senior education facility

School Music Education Support Websites

Yamaha Corporation is developing tools for supporting school music teachers as well as piano, Electone, and other music instructors. For example, Music pal, a school music education support website, provides information on Yamaha products as well as content for learning fundamental music subjects such as history and compositional rules. Website visitors will also find information on the origins and structures of musical instruments, performance techniques, trivia, and other musical-related topics. In this manner, Music pal is a valuable tool for helping people learn more about the instruments that interest them while also providing content useful for music coursework and investigative learning. We also offer information on seminars and lectures for instructors, websites featuring videos and case studies that explain instruction techniques, and a concert band portal site that contains information beneficial to the activities of junior high and high school concert band clubs. With this myriad of options, we offer support for anyone seeking an accessible way to better enjoy music.

Japan Band Clinic

Yamaha Music Japan Co., Ltd., supports and takes part in the planning of the Japan Band Clinic, which is comprised of lectures and concerts for band directors from across the country. One of Japan’s largest comprehensive band training events, the Japan Band Clinic is designed to help improve the capabilities of Japan’s band directors and to further the spread and development of band culture. This event was first held in 1970 and is open to school music teachers and all other band directors in Japan. Prominent lecturers and bands from Japan and overseas are invited to take part in this event, which includes lectures on how to instruct and operate bands as well as concerts. In addition, the Japan Band Clinic is an opportunity for sharing information on new music sheets, software, and other topics matched to contemporary needs and for proposing directions for future band activities. In this manner, the Japan Band Clinic contributes to the development of Japan’s band culture.

[Photo] Concert at 2022 Japan Band Clinic

Concert at 2022 Japan Band Clinic

Smart Education System Music Education Solution Utilizing ICT

Since 2014, Yamaha Corporation has been developing the Smart Education System (SES), a music education solution that utilizes ICT, in the educational setting of schools. Capitalizing on the skills related to music it has developed over the course of many years, as well as its knowledge about music education, Yamaha Corporation has repeatedly conducted trial classes with the help of elementary and junior high schools across the country through which it has developed digital classroom teaching materials, which have been positively received.

Primarily aimed at elementary and junior high school students, these materials are not simply teaching materials, but content packages covering how to lead classes following course curriculum guidelines, cautionary tips to keep in mind when teaching, and videos on foundational knowledge needed for performance. These packages have been designed for ease of use by teachers in schools in order to help foster students’ imaginative and theoretical skills while simultaneously allowing teachers to teach easily and effectively.

The installation of ICT infrastructure in schools accelerated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and it now is increasingly common for schools to distribute a learning-use terminal to every student. This situation is stimulating growth in demand for digital teaching materials. In response to the need of schools for digital teaching materials that can be accessed via internet browsers, we enhanced the digital music teaching materials offered through the SES (Soprano Recorder Class and Melodica Class) to allow these materials, which previously had to be installed, to be used through cloud services. Moreover, we expanded the range of operating systems with which our digital teaching materials are compatible and also made it possible to use these materials on iPads.

Through the SES, Yamaha Corporation plans to capitalize on the benefits of digital music classroom materials, namely their ability to be quickly adjusted to adapt to changes in the social climate and trends, to provide support for new forms of music education by promoting the widespread use of cloud services and other digital solutions.

Distance Learning Using Web Conference Microphone Speakers

Many schools have been exploring online and hybrid classes as part of their efforts to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. High-quality online communication between students and teachers is imperative to the success of such new approaches toward classes. Yamaha has long been engaged in providing ICT-powered audio support for remote classes. Specific undertakings on this front have included joint classes between different schools, special exchange classes between sister schools, and collaborative classes for isolated islands and underpopulated areas that lack specialized teachers. Based on this experience, we understand that the voice quality of classes and lectures is imperative to distance learning as interference or interruptions can impede a student’s ability to understand classes. For this reason, the ability to deliver a clear, uninterrupted voice is absolutely essential.

In cooperation with prefectural education boards, educational institutions, and other companies, Yamaha promotes the use of voice communication devices, such as web conference microphone speakers, for distance learning programs. Yamaha’s high-quality web conference microphone speakers feature easy installation and configuration and allow for distance learning classes, ranging from small classes with one or two students to larger classes in the area of 40 students, to be held in a hassle-free manner with optimal voice quality not hampered by reverberations or interference.

[Photo] Online class communicating voices of both teacher and students as well as the atmosphere of classroom

Online class communicating voices of both teacher and students as well as the atmosphere of classroom (Namiki Junior High School, Ibaraki Prefecture)

[Photo] Live class streaming scheme using digital blackboard and YVC-1000 unified communication microphone and speaker systems

Live class streaming scheme using digital blackboard and YVC-1000 unified communication microphone and speaker systems (Tango Ryokufu High School, Kyoto Prefecture)

Support for Community Development through Music Popularization

The Yamaha Group contributes to the healthy development of youths, to the development of music education and culture, and to the preservation of traditional music through activities that include bringing music and musical instruments to local communities in addition to activities to popularize music.

Support Activities through the AMIGO Project

In many countries in Central and South America, crime and poverty as well as social inequality are serious social problems. In order to enable the children in such environments to grow up in a healthy manner, rather than leaning toward crime, delinquency, or violence, music education activities are provided free of charge as a country policy. These activities have led to the formation of regional youth orchestras and band groups. Endorsing such activities, the Yamaha Group has long offered support for activities that draw participation by large numbers of children.

The AMIGO Project was launched in 2014 and entails holding maintenance seminars to spread knowledge regarding instrument maintenance and to help children learn how to maintain instruments on their own. In addition, we hold technician seminars to foster technicians that can repair instruments and offer other forms of support to aid in the development of an environment in which children can more easily continue to play music. This project is currently active in eight Latin American countries (Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil).

[Photo] Youth development orchestra and band organization (Mexico)

Youth development orchestra and band organization (Mexico)

[Photo] Technician seminar

Technician seminar

Recorder Music Popularization Seminar by Sopro Novo

Yamaha Musical do Brasil Ltda. (YMDB) began its Sopro Novo (New Breath) activities in 2005 and has since been holding recorder music popularization seminars for music teachers throughout Brazil.

These seminars entail music instruction lessons that comprehensively provide instruments, textbooks, and teaching methods. Starting with how to read music and ending, ultimately, with ensemble performances, seminar members learn music performance techniques so that they can begin giving music instruction to beginners after completing the lessons. In Brazilian schools, there is no regular music education in the compulsory curriculum. For this reason, the cultivation of music instructors plays an important role in granting children their first opportunity to learn music. To date, Sopro Novo seminars have been held over 1,600 times in 189 cities and have trained approximately 5,000 instructors. The number of children taught by those instructors has reached more than 610,000.

In 2017, we established the non-profit organization Fundação Sopro Novo Yamaha. At this time, we began to lobby the government to adopt direct music education and started expanding the scope of recorder lessons to provide music teacher training and music education instruction in public schools.

[Image] Online recorder lessons

Online recorder lessons

[Image] Online recorder lessons

LovePiano Street Piano Events—Making People More Familiar with Pianos

Since 2017, Yamaha Music Japan Co., Ltd., has been conducting LovePiano activities that involve providing casual performance spaces based on the concept of feeling more familiar with pianos and enjoying them more. Centered on the theme of LovePiano, these activities include placing colorfully painted pianos in open spaces like train stations, airports, and commercial facilities, where they can be played by anyone, to allow a wide range of people to form a connection with the piano. To date, such pianos have been placed in more than 120 locations across Japan, providing casual opportunities to play and creating spaces for forging connections with people through the piano and the surrounding excitement.

In fiscal 2022, Yamaha Music & Electronics China Co., Ltd. (YMEC), launched its own LovePiano program. Activities through this project thus far have included the placing of four pianos painted by students of Shanghai Theater Academy in open spaces in Nanjing City shopping malls in February 2022. In addition, a virtual piano painting event was held that allowed individuals to design and post the piano of their liking online. This event was meant to give people who cannot play the piano a way to participate in this program.

We intend to continue these LovePiano activities with the hopes of encouraging people to start playing piano while also spurring former pianists to pick up the instrument again and helping address social issues through community building and energization.

[Photo] Tamagawa Takashimaya Department Store (28th Kineko International Film Festival)

Tamagawa Takashimaya Department Store (28th Kineko International Film Festival)

[Photo] Travelling LovePiano collaboration event with Hoshino Resorts Inc.

Travelling LovePiano collaboration event with Hoshino Resorts Inc.

Morin Khuur Real Sound Viewing Exhibition Reproducing Traditional Instrument Performances through Video and Authentic Instrument Sounds

Over the period from October 27 to December 13, 2022, the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments and Yamaha held a Real Sound Viewing exhibition that reproduced morin khuur (Mongolian string instrument) performances. Following the chikuzen biwa (traditional Japanese lute) exhibition held in 2021, this is the second exhibition to take advantage of Yamaha’s Real Sound Viewing system, which we are developing with the goal of faithfully preserving the performances of artists.

Through this system, we digitized the sound from performances and translated this data into vibrations that were transmitted to the instruments to generate sound from the instrument and thereby automatically reproduce the performances of artists. The authentically reproduced performances from the traditional Mongolian instruments on display is combined with life-sized video of performances to make for a vivid virtual performance that feels as though one is watching the real thing. Through such initiatives, Yamaha is committed to broadcasting the appeal of traditional instruments and music and to preserving music cultural artifacts, both the tangible elements of instruments and the intangible elements of the music they play, for future generations.

Social Contribution Activities

Promotion of Employee Volunteer Activities

The Yamaha Group promotes employee participation in volunteer activities. In addition to establishing various programs, we use the Company intranet and other means to share information on available volunteer opportunities while also publicizing examples of previous volunteer activities.

Voluntary Philanthropic Activities by Employees

Yamaha Corporation of America launched the Yamaha Cares employee voluntary philanthropic activity program in 2003. Yamaha Cares is aimed at contributing to the regions in which employees live and work by donations, collecting contributions, providing Yamaha products, and conducting other initiatives. One such activity is a donation drive benefitting a children’s hospital researching the treatment of Type 1 juvenile diabetes. Every year, employees participate in the Southern California Half Marathon and solicit contributions, which have exceeded U.S.$110,000 in total. Yamaha Cares continues to support the hospital, which is one of the few institutions researching the treatment of juvenile diabetes.

Major Yamaha Cares Activities

  • Fundraising efforts for a children’s hospital
  • Donations, including donations of Yamaha products, to after-school programs (run by United Sound, Inc.) providing musical performance experiences to children with development disorders
  • Participation in Making Strides Walk, an activity supported by the American Cancer Society
[Logo] UNITED SOUND
[Photo] Employees raising funds through half marathon to be donated to Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Employees raising funds through half marathon to be donated to Children’s Hospital of Orange County

[Photo] Fundraising activities and Yamaha product donations to various organizations

Fundraising activities and Yamaha product donations to various organizations

Donation of Food from Disaster Stockpiles to Food Banks

Food banks are organizations that supply food items, free of charge, to organizations or socially disadvantaged people who need them. The food items supplied are received through donations from companies and individuals of food that is safe to eat but would otherwise be discarded, due to reasons such as an inability to be sold because of packaging or labelling mistakes or damages. Supporting the aims of these activities, Yamaha Group business sites donate food from their disaster stockpiles to food banks before these items are due to be replaced in order to help prevent food loss, provide aid to disadvantaged people, and combat environmental activities.

Initiatives to Support Areas Impacted by Natural Disasters

The Yamaha Group implements initiatives for supporting the recovery of areas impacted by natural disasters in the domestic and overseas regions in which it has factories and other operating bases. Furthermore, we offer support for the recovery of areas impacted by disasters through special repair and other services for Yamaha products damaged by disasters available to customers impacted by disasters in regions applicable under the Disaster Relief Act.

External Recognition

Receipt of Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon for Humanitarian Support for Ukraine

In fiscal 2022, Yamaha Corporation was presented with a Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon, one of the honors bestowed by the Japanese government, in response to its donation of U.S.$300,000 in humanitarian support to Ukraine through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)* and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon is presented to individuals, companies, and organizations that utilize private assets to contribute to the public good. Moreover, Yamaha has been presented with certificates of merit from both the UNHCR and UNICEF.

The Yamaha Group prays for a swift end to the war in Ukraine and the quick restoration of peace.

  • *Donations to the UNHCR were made through Japan for UNHCR, the official support venue for the UNHCR in Japan.