— Clavinova is nearing its 25th Anniversary. What was the original concept behind the creation of the Clavinova?

Clavinova means “new keyboard instrument.” As the name implies, it was conceived as an instrument approximating the sound and touch of an acoustic piano, that is, as a brand new type of electronic piano. In fact, at that time, I was learning the Electone in a Yamaha music school (laughs). When I saw a Clavinova for the first time, I felt that it was neither an Electone nor an electric piano, nor an organ, but rather something completely new, and this impression remains strong. I thought that since it did not require tuning, it was easier to use, and that it was a classy result of the most advanced technologies of the time, and was also a gorgeous musical instrument.

— What kind of work is product planning?

I play a role called “Producer”, but the work begins with planning what kind of musical instrument to make for specific types of customers. First, I collect information. This means not only obtaining the view of sales staff and the desires of customers, but also personally visiting stores to hear the views of their personnel, and viewing the reactions of customers who visit the stores. Based on this information, I decide what kind of musical instrument to produce, and then designers plan the sound, keyboards, design and functions that will achieve this instrument. This is the most difficult part, but each manager is fully committed to a particular type of technology, so we sift through these and discuss which technologies will be incorporated and to what degree.

— In what areas do their obsessive commitment to the new CLP-300 Series appear?

We put highest priority on the questions: What kind of impression will players receive from the overall piano? and Can the players express what they want to? The pleasant feeling experienced when playing a grand piano is the major goal of our development. Because it is not something that is visible, it is extremely difficult to express it, but we are obsessed with the internal issue of, if such and such is done, will the sound be heard properly? And what can we do to make the sound emerge beautifully? We put top priority on the playing comfort we want to achieve, and the approach we use to do this is to ask experts what technologies there are to achieve it. One advantage is that in our company, there are people who have built grand pianos and know which approach will create playing comfort similar to that of a grand piano. And since we have many professionals play it over and over, we make a series of gradual adjustments to create a musical instrument. This obsessive care has achieved, for example, the new piano sound called Pure CF Sampling and the acoustic Tri-Amp System.

— Can you tell us about the Internet Direct Connection function, which is a feature of the CLP Series?

This is a function that allows the access of music data on the Web by directly connecting a musical instrument to the Internet, and has been offered on Clavinovas since the CVP-300 Series. When we have asked our customers how they use their Clavinova, many answered that they use it for lessons or for playing along with songs. So we considered what kind of function would be the most useful for this type of use. Until now it was assumed that people began by buying a score and learning to play it, but it is now more convenient to hear playback of the lesson pieces and then to play the pieces to match the playback. In addition, our challenge was to make a musical instrument that could be listened to for reasons other than lessons, because we wanted people to also use the CLP Series to listen to music, so we made it possible for them to use it for background music. Both of these are ideas for new kinds of enjoyment created by Yamaha.

— You have introduced two slim models, the CLP-S308PE and S306PE. What led to their creation?

There was already a demand for thin pianos suitable for home use. And in fact, there were a large number of compact and portable pianos. However, we wanted to offer cabinet type pianos suitable for genuine piano performance. We wanted to make pianos that would provide a beautiful presence in a living room. To achieve this, we made design innovations allowing the placement of circuits and speakers in a slim cabinet. For the finish, we applied woodworking technologies nurtured through our piano-building.

— Going from the CLP-200 Series to the 300 Series, what was the most difficult part of completely switching the lineup?

The CLP-200 Series models were very well received. The challenge was in finding ways to improve them. Rather than trying to surpass them based on identical concepts, we wanted to create a new type of electronic piano, but with a different character, which was a hard thing to do. Taking sound as an example, a strong point of the CLP-200 Series was that not only the player, but also the people listening to it experienced sound that reverberated gorgeously, but in this new series, we put top priority on achieving a pleasant playing feel. Therefore, musical instrument stores want people to sit on a chair and play it to genuinely sense its good qualities. We want people to feel the high quality of its sound and of its touch for themselves; not only listening to it or seeing it from a distance.

[ Interview took place in July 2008. ]