The Yamaha "Little Red School House"

Recently I was privileged to spend a week at the Yamaha headquarters for
continuing education in piano technology.  Yamaha Piano Company has a
training program for piano technicians called the Yamaha "Little Red
School House".  It is a week-long intensive hands-on training session,
covering high-level regulation and voicing.  Yamaha has their headquarters
Jin Buena Park, California, which is right next to Anaheim (Disney Land).
Yamaha paid for the hotel (Holiday Inn), paid for my breakfast and lunch,
and the training was at no charge to me!

Meals

The meals were great!  A delicious breakfast was served in the "Executive
Lounge" at the hotel each morning.  There were snacks throughout the day
and the instructors took us out for lunch each day at a different
restaurant.  We went to a buffet the first day, followed by a trip to a
Sports Bar and Grill, and then  a Japanese noodle shop.

On Thursday we went to a chinese restaurant was called the Panda Inn, and
our group of 11 sat around a large round table.  There was a big lazy
susan in the middle of the table, and after we each ordered our meal, we
put our plates on the lazy susan.  We each had a chance to try every one
of the dinners, and the food was very tasty (especially the honey-glazed
walnut shrimp!).  For desert there were fortune cookies that were dipped
in white chocolate!

The Mexican restaurant for Friday's dining experience was called El
Torito's, and the food there was delicious also.  The waitress made fresh
guacamole at tableside while we watched!  For desert some people had fried
ice cream!

The last night (Friday) they took us to a Japanese restaurant for a
banquet.  We all sat on the floor around a very low table and ate with
chopsticks.  There must have been about 7 courses to the meal, including
an appetizer of seasoned steamed soy beans.  I had never thought I could
stand to eat raw fish before, but after I tried one piece of sushi, it
turned out to be pretty good!  After the sushi was soup before the dinner.
The drinks included hot green tea, and Japanese beer and Korean distilled
spirits (for those who wished to imbibe.) The main course was thinly
sliced beef and fresh seafood, cooked right at the table in boiling water
with mushrooms and noodles and lots of other fresh vegetables.  Then
there was more soup, cooked at the table-side.  For desert was green tea
Jice cream with a unique flavor.  Following the banquet was a
presentation of the certificates.  I can say that a good time was had by
all!

Training and Instructors

The classes were Monday through Friday, from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.  Every
day was packed full of  lectures, followed by hands-on practice in
regulation and voicing.  There were 4 instructors and only 6 students, so
there was a lot of time to ask questions and get personal training.  The
head technician at Yamaha is named Tetsushi Niimi.  "Terry" is Japanese
and spoke good English albeit with a strong accent.  I learned a few
Japanese characters and words from Terry.  He is extremely fast and
extremely accurate in his work, and I understand that he earns up to
$1000.00 a day, preparing concert pianos for artists and performers.
The other instructors were LaRoy Edwards (long-time Yamaha Consultant
and expert piano technician, the infamous Bill Brandom, and Craig
Fehrenbacher.

Each student was given a lot of printed material covering grand action
regulation and voicing.  We each had a one-note action model, and our own
grand piano upon which to practice regulating.  I learned many new and
faster techniques for regulating.  This was partly a refresher course, but
there was much material that was new to me.  The training was specific to
Yamaha pianos, but most of the techniques will apply to any brand of
piano.

The bulk of the training was in regulation and voicing.  There was a 1
hour written exam, and also a 4 hour hands-on regulating exam.  Along with
the printed material, I took about 20 pages of notes for further study at
home.  I got a few free tools out of the deal also!

Yamaha Disklavier training

Part of the training was in servicing the Yamaha Disklavier (an
electronic, solenoid-driven player piano with full recording and playback
capability).  We received service manuals for all of the Yamaha
Disklavier  products, and free software for use in calibrating the
on-board computer in the control unit.  The Disklavier service training
was a refresher course for me since I have already attended the Yamaha
Disklavier Field Service training, but I am not ashamed to say that I
learned (and re-learned) enough information to make it well worth the
trip!

We each had hands-on training in adjusting and repairing the Disklavier
pedal and key solenoids, as well as the sensors on the action and under
the keys.  We also had hands-on training in trouble shooting the master
control unit; including replacing memory chips, upgrading the Flash ROM,
and replacing circuit boards and disk drives.  I learned that the key to
making a Disklavier play up to its full potential is that the action
must be completely regulated and voiced, and then the Disklavier
mechanism must be properly adjusted and calibrated.

The Disklavier Pro 2000

I saw a $250,000.00 piano, called the Yamaha Disklavier Pro 2000.  This is
a 7' concert acoustic grand piano with full recording and playback
capability.  It has an integral computer system, with built in video,
sequencer and tone generator!  It is a Yamaha C7 in dark Cherry wood, with
a lot of Anodized Aluminum on the legs, lyre, key cover, and music desk.
The 2-piece lid was clear acrylic plastic and was extremely  thick and
heavy (like the bullet-proof glass in banks).  The neat thing about this
piano (besides its futuristic appearance) is the player system that is
built in.  It has a flat screen computer monitor attached to the left
upper side of the music desk.  This is a touch-screen that is used to
control the
Disklavier (the player system) and the sequencer and tone generator.  The
piano has built in speakers and a built in tone generator, so that while
you are playing the piano, you can have an almost unlimited number of
synthesized and sampled sounds playing along.  It also has the capability
of playing a video of a concert artist playing the piano, and the piano
plays exactly what the artist has previously recorded.  It is like having
a performer come into your house to give a private concert!

The Yamaha Disklavier Pro can display a score of music, and as you play
the piano part, an orchestra plays along with you.  When you speed up
or slow down, the orchestra follows your tempo.  Then when you get to
the bottom of the page, the computer turns pages for you!  I believe
that this piano has a built in 8 or 16 track sequencer.  You can compose
music directly from the keyboard, using the computer touch-screen.  Then
you can edit the music score with the built in computer, and arrange
different sounds for each track.  Then you can play back the finished
music and save it as MIDI information to a disk or built in hard drive.
That piano was pretty fantastic!  Too bad I don't have $250,000.00
laying around in my sock drawer to buy one of these beauties!

Piano 300

For those of you who want to see this piano in person, I believe that a
Yamaha Disklavier Pro 2000 will be on display at the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, D.C. throughout the rest of the year until next
March, 2001.  This is part of "Piano 300", which is a celebration of
300 years of the invention of the piano.  There will be over 150 pianos
gathered at the museum, including an original piano built by Cristofori
(the man who invented the piano).  There is also a write up of this
historic collection in the March 2000 issue of the "Smithsonian"
magazine.

Disklavier Mark III

The new Mark III Yamaha Disklavier grand is also pretty incredible.
Fortunately, this piano is less expensive than the Pro 2000 I described
above!  It is an acoustic piano with built in CD player, built in audio,
tone generator and record and play back.  It records all three pedals,
including the sostenuto and una corda pedals.  It will even do half
pedaling.  There are sensors on each key and each hammer to measure
accurately what is being played.  Then it is recorded into the hard drive
(or floppy disk) and plays back exactly as it was played, mistakes and
all!  The MIDI information can be edited using a computer program, to
get rid of all the mistakes before you play it back.  It even records
the volume from fortissimo to pianissimo, in up to 128 different levels
of volume!  There is a new development called the "Smart Key" system,
which allows a rank amateur to sound like a polished professional playing
the piano.  When the Mark III Disklavier with "Smart Key" mode, a key
will wiggle ever so slightly.  When you play that key, a full orchestra
will play along with your performance.  After you have played the first
wiggling key, then another key will wiggle, and so on until you have
played a beautiful song even with no musical training.

I have been fond of player pianos for quite a while, and to me this is
the ultimate dream come true!  Recording and highly accurate playback,
built in audio with tone generator (and sampled sounds).  There are
literally thousands of songs that have already been recorded as MIDI
information which can be downloaded for free from the internet and
played on your Disklavier as a "live" performance!  The piano is
basically an entertainment device capable of giving a life-time of
enjoyment, but the many millions of people who do not play the piano
miss out on this wonderful experience.  I can see that many non-musicians
will once again be drawn to the piano and listen to their favorite songs,
even if they are not able to play or read music.  At the beginning of the
last century during the heyday of the piano, the player piano was the
focus of entertainment for many homes.  I anticipate that in the future,
the Yamaha Disklavier (along with the other solenoid-driven electronic
player pianos) will once again cause many homes to be filled with the
joyful sounds of "live" performance at the piano.

MIDI recording studio

At the Yamaha headquarters, they have a MIDI recording studio with a
Yamaha Disklavier grand piano.  The artist will come in and record on
the piano, but instead of doing an audio recording, the music is
recorded as MIDI data, and then edited in the computer.  Then when the
music is completely polished, it is recorded on a floppy disk or CD for
later playback on a Disklavier (or other brand of solenoid player piano)
Yamaha has some very excellent composers and recording artists working
for them.  The recording studio was one place I wish that I had more
time to visit.  The Concert and Artist selection room The Disklavier
Pro 2000 and the Disklavier Mark III that we saw were located in a large
room filled with about 15 or 20 concert grands.  I understand that this
is the place where performers and artists will come to choose the piano
that they will take on their concert tours.

During one class period, we were in a room right next to this "testing"
area, and had the privilege of listening to an excellent pianist giving
one of these pianos a real workout.  In a small shop area right next to
this concert and artist room is where the staff piano technicians do
their "magic".  The shop area appeared to be very well organized, with
a huge assortment of tools that I would love to have.  I really wish
that there was more time to spend in the concert and artist selection
room and adjacent shop area.

If it sounds like I am enthused about the whole experience at Yamaha, I
am.  I got free food, free lodging, free training, free tools, free
software, a nice certificate to hang on my wall, and more knowledge and
experience.  If Yamaha Piano Company intended to foster good will among
the students at the "Little Red School house", they sure succeeded with
me!  My sponsor for the trip was Heritage Music Mall, (the Joplin,
Missouri Yamaha/Baldwin dealer).  I am grateful to Heritage Music Mall
and to the Yamaha Piano Company for making this great opportunity
possible.

Disclaimer

I am self-employed, and take no commissions from any piano manufacturer or
piano dealer.  I try to be objective about which pianos I recommend when
people ask me about which piano they should buy.  I am personally very
impressed with the quality of Yamaha pianos, especially the Yamaha
Disklavier.  I may even end up buying a Yamaha Disklavier for myself.  But
if someone were to ask me which piano they should buy, I hope I can still
be objective and not let my recent experience at Yamaha bias my thinking
too much.  When I go to Baldwin or Steinway for more training, I
anticipate that I will be just as enthusiastic about that experience as
I am today about the Yamaha training.

For your information, I am aware of the Baldwin ConcertMaster, PianoDisc,
Pianomation and other electronic player systems for pianos.  I did not
intentionally slight anyone in the writing of this article.  Relax, you
will get your turn at free publicity after I attend the training at each
of these factories.

For my colleagues:  If you ever have the chance to attend the Yamaha
"Little Red School House", I urge you to take full advantage of the
opportunity.

For my customers:  I am committed to excellence.  I strive to do the best
work that I possibly can each time I tune or service a piano.  I make it a
practice to keep up my skills with regular continuing education, such as
the Yamaha "Little Red School House" that I just attended.  I am glad for
the opportunity to tune and service your piano, and hope that over the
coming years I can continue to improve my service to you.

Sincerely,

David A. Vanderhoofven
Registered Piano Technician
Vanderhoofven Piano Service
Joplin, Missouri

 [ David,  I enjoyed reading this report and would be interested to
 [ hear of from you and others regarding other training courses
 [ attended.  -Jody