Yamaha Music Education System

• The philosophy of Yamaha is to offer the joy of music to everyone and to cultivate the musical sense that everyone is born with.
  
  Today, Yamaha Music Schools have developed into a globally recognized system with more than 750,000 students and 20.000 teachers at 6,400 locations around the world. Along with this, more than 6 million students have graduated from a Yamaha Music School.
  
  Many YMES students have grown up to become award-winning professional musicians. They are film and television composers, awarded classical pianists and recording artists.

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"Yamaha's history began when its founder, Torakusu Yamaha, repaired a broken reed organ in 1887. Shortly thereafter, he successfully completed his own organ and established in Hamamatsu the Nippon Gakki Company, Japan's first maker of Western musical instruments".

The Yamaha music courses began in 1954 in Japan under the direction of its president Mr. Gen’ichi Kawakami.
He believed his company was responsible not only for making a quality product, but also for teaching customers how to use the product. In 1966 he established the non-profit Yamaha Music Foundation (YMF) for the purpose of developing and promoting music education and music popularization activities worldwide.
Yamaha Music Foundation is constantly working on designing new courses, improving quality of the lessons, and refining existing programs.

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• Here are his three main missions:

  1. The development and promotion of age-appropriate music lessons for everyone from kindergarten to adulthood.
  
  2. Train the teachers to enable large-scale popularization of music and make it accessible to all the levels of students.
  
  3. The realization and promotion of music popularization activities for the general public through various festivals, competitions and concerts.

In the early 1950s, a research team of outstanding teachers, doctors, psychologists and musicians joined together to develop an innovative and effective method of teaching music. As a result the unique Yamaha Music Education System emerged which known today all over the world. The System is based on four main features:

Timely Education

One of the main Yamaha's principle is based on the courses appropriate to the students' age and their physical and mental abilities. For young children, whose listening ability develops most remarkably, teaching with emphasis on 'hearing' will help acquire the fundamental music ability and sensitivity to music and will allow them to learn in a natural and enjoyable way.

Group Lessons

“I believe that music should not be competitive, but should be a means of fostering friendships” Kawakami Genichi, Reflections on Music Popularization.

Playing in group as ensemble allow students to have a fun and rich musical experience and to deepen their understanding of music. Group classes foster friendship, improve teamwork and social interaction of individuals.

Comprehensive Music Education

Comprehensive Music Education is based on learning in the lesson various elements of music, such as listening, playing, singing, creating and etc.
Yamaha not only trains its students to be able to perform on an instrument but also develops music fundamentals, such as ear training, ensemble playing and rhythmic sense.

Creativity

All the music elements which students learn in the lessons are connected to develop their creativity. Students when moving to advanced Junior Courses learn how to express their emotions by creating music composition. The Junior Original Concert (JOC) was created to allow Yamaha students to perform their original compositions in public. The first JOC was held in Japan, in 1972 and since its start more than 35,000 pieces were submitted to Yamaha Foundation.

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• Our passionate, highly qualified Yamaha Teachers are dedicated to conduct interesting lessons which encourages child’s interest in music.
  
  In addition to extensive training prior a Yamaha teacher, each year Yamaha Teachers participate in on-going training and development seminars to ensure every student is receiving the best possible music education.

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• Globally recognized Yamaha Grade Examination System was started in 1967 for the purpose of evaluating the performing ability and the musical knowledge of the performers.
  
  More than 9.5 million people have taken these examinations over the past 40 years, in more than 40 countries/regions. The content of the Yamaha Grade Examination is synchronized with lesson subjects, so that the students acquaint required skills during their daily lesson.
  
  For more details click here

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• Catering for all ages Yamaha courses can be found within Yamaha Music Schools and partnerships worldwide allowing the students to follow or resume the same course anywhere in the world.