A New Approach to Yamaha Lessons for Those Who Want to Continue Learning Music: Expanding Learning Opportunities with Yamaha Music School Online

On March 27, 2026, Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha Music Japan, and Yamaha Music Foundation launched Yamaha Music School Online, a new online music lesson service.

Yamaha Music School Online offers one-on-one online instruction from certified instructors who teach instrumental and vocal lessons at Yamaha Music Schools. The service centers on “Chat Learning,” where students can send practice videos and questions to instructors and receive feedback. Plans with live video lessons are also available. During these video calls, students receive real-time, one-on-one instructions. A key feature of the service is that students can learn music at their own pace, regardless of time or location.

Through interviews with Erika Kitahara of Yamaha and Shigeru Ohtomo of Yamaha Music Foundation, this article explores how the project began and how online lessons are creating new ways to learn music.

Yamaha Music School Online began with a survey of musical instrument users’ needs conducted as part of the Music Connect business, which aims to “expand the possibilities for people and music through the power of technology.”
“Through a series of user interviews and other research, we began to hear a common concern from customers: ‘Between childcare, caregiving, and busy work schedules, I don’t have time to attend a music school regularly, even though I want to continue taking instrument lessons.’ We had long suspected that customers faced challenges like these, but being able to clearly confirm that they existed was a major outcome for us,” said Kitahara.

The project began with the question, “What can Yamaha do to help customers facing these challenges?” After extensive research and planning, full-scale development of the online music lesson service began in 2025. The project brought together people with diverse expertise from across the Yamaha Group. Yamaha Music Japan, which operates the service, contributed team members responsible for areas such as marketing and customer support.
With future global expansion in mind, the Music Connect Division assembled a multinational team to plan and develop the service.
Yamaha’s external development partner is TrueFire Studios, a U.S.-based company with extensive experience in online music lessons.
“By using TrueFire Studios’ platform, we were able to establish the core specifications for the service. Their insights into the features and user interface that online music learners look for were also extremely valuable,” said Kitahara.

Once the foundation for the online lessons was in place, the team’s next focus was how Yamaha could draw on its unique strengths. The key was the expertise Yamaha had built over the years through Yamaha Music Schools. To make the most of Yamaha’s strengths in developing educational content and training instructors, we worked with Yamaha Music Foundation to develop the new service.
“Building on the materials used at Yamaha Music Schools, we worked together to develop educational materials specifically for Yamaha Music School Online, including video content designed to make the most of the online learning environment,” said Ohtomo.

The number of adults taking instrumental and vocal lessons at Yamaha Music Schools continues to grow. As of July 2026, adults accounted for approximately one-third of the 270,000 Yamaha Music School students in Japan. Through many years of operating Yamaha Music Schools, Yamaha Music Foundation had gained a deep understanding of students’ circumstances and needs. These insights aligned closely with the concept of Yamaha Music School Online.

“We often see students reluctantly stop taking lessons because family responsibilities, such as caregiving or raising children, or increasingly busy work or school schedules make it difficult for them to find the time. Our educational materials have always evolved to reflect the needs and characteristics of students at the time. One notable change in recent years has been what we call ‘personalization,’ with materials increasingly tailored to the needs of each individual student. I felt that the student-centered concept of Yamaha Music School Online, which allows students to learn the music they want, when they want, is well suited to today’s needs,” said Ohtomo.

As development progressed, Kitahara continually tested and refined the service design and user experience. Beta testers were recruited from members of Yamaha Music Members (now Yamaha Music Connect) and other customers. The team identified issues, shared them with the development team at TrueFire Studios, and made improvements based on feedback from the beta testers.

Yamaha Music School Online is a project involving a large number of stakeholders. Everyone involved had strong ideas about the features they wanted to see and what they wanted the service to become, so bringing all of those ideas together into a cohesive plan involved a great deal of trial and error. Whenever we ran into difficulties, I would return to the original goal of the project: meeting the needs of customers who want to continue learning music. This helped us stay focused on the direction we needed to take. When someone who had previously had to give up music because of family circumstances told me, ‘With this service, I can make time at home for instrument lessons. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to give up music,’ it reminded me once again of the value of this service,” said Kitahara.

Yamaha Music School Online was designed around students’ needs. Key features include:

• 1. Practice at your own pace
  “People often associate online lessons with real-time instruction by video call, but Chat Learning allows students to learn and progress at their own pace. I believe the biggest advantage is being able to practice whenever you have a little free time and receive prompt feedback from your instructor,” said Kitahara.
• 2. Get a closer look at the instructor’s techniques
  “Some instructors set up multiple cameras, including one for close-up views of their hands. This allows students to observe the instructor’s hand movements in greater detail than they could in an in-person lesson, and students often find this more satisfying,” said Ohtomo.
• 3. Greater motivation to share your “best take”
  “Students can send a video to their instructor when they feel they have made progress through practice or achieved a performance they are happy with. This creates a lesson experience that is, in a positive sense, driven by the student. Many instructors also say that this allows them to see their students’ progress more clearly,” said Kitahara.

Beta testing and early operation showed that the service also benefits instructors.

• 1. A platform with all the necessary features in one place
  Yamaha Music School Online brings together all the features needed to provide lessons, including core features for live and Chat Learning, lesson planning, and schedule management.
• 2. Additional benefits of “Chat Learning”
  “One instructor told me that when giving feedback on a student’s performance during Chat Learning, they have become more conscious of putting their advice into clear and precise words, rather than relying on the intuitive verbal feedback they had given in the past. They said this has also helped them improve their own teaching skills. It seems that highly motivated instructors are discovering benefits that go beyond what we had originally anticipated,” said Ohtomo.
• 3. Teach students nationwide
  “We’ve found that the service is being used more widely across Japan than we expected. Instructors appreciate the opportunity to teach students across the country through online lessons. I also think the service has helped boost their motivation, encouraging them to enhance their profiles and put more effort into promoting themselves as they as they work to reach and teach more students,” said Kitahara.
• 4. Make the most of gaps in your schedule by combining in-person and online lessons
  “Some highly motivated instructors tell us they want to use gaps in their schedules to teach online, even when their week is already almost fully booked with in-person lessons,” said Kitahara.
  
  “One instructor told us, ‘I want to help shape the future of online music lessons together,’ and I was almost moved to tears. The service is still evolving and there is plenty of room for improvement, but it is encouraging to know that there are instructors who see its future potential. I hope that instructors who share this enthusiasm will inspire their peers to get involved and help expand the community,” said Ohtomo.

Since its launch at the end of March 2026, the service has continued to attract new students. As of July 2026, around 100 piano and guitar instructors were going through the certification process.

“Most of our current students are already Yamaha fans or people who previously attended Yamaha Music Schools and are looking to resume their lessons online. Going forward, we want to focus on raising awareness that online lessons are another option for people who want to learn music, so that even more people can enjoy the service,” said Kitahara.

Based on the results of a survey he previously worked on at Yamaha Music Foundation, Ohtomo saw significant potential among adults who would like to play an instrument if given the opportunity.
“The people currently attending Yamaha Music Schools represent the top of the pyramid, while at its base is a much larger population of people who are interested in playing an instrument and are waiting for the right opportunity. I hope Yamaha Music School Online will encourage more people to pick up an instrument, which in turn will attract more certified instructors, creating a virtuous cycle. I’m excited about the possibility that this could grow into a movement beyond what we can currently imagine,” said Ohtomo.