Get an Early Jump on Holiday Music

Whether the holiday season brings to mind images of fun, family and togetherness or crowded shopping malls, overpriced gifts and stress (hopefully the former), there's no doubt that this special time of year is quickly approaching.  And though Halloween is still fresh in our memories and Thanksgiving is still weeks away, why not get an early start on thinking about the holidays?  If you're the type who looks forward to December all year, you can start cultivating the warm feeling of the holidays now, and if you're worried about the stress of holiday shopping, you can beat the rush and leave some time to enjoy all the good things about the season.

Either way, if you find yourself moved to start up your holiday music early this year, we're happy to provide suggestions to help you find a great gift for the music lover on your list, learn and perform your favorite holiday songs, or just enjoy the music of the season with your Yamaha instrument.

Keep reading for links to great holiday music and gift ideas.

PianoSoft - Bring the Songs of the Season to Your Piano

Piano music is perfectly suited to the holidays, and Yamaha's PianoSoft software brings professional, original piano performances of holiday music directly to your instrument.

Every season, the Christmas Carols album proves to be our most popular collection of holiday songs, featuring performances of "Silent Night", "Joy to the World" and other well known carols.  Disklavier owners can save a bundle on holiday PianoSoft with the Disklavier Christmas pack, which features 10 albums of carols and seasonal favorites for 20% off our usual price.

Plus, our extensive catalog of holiday PianoSoft is still growing - make sure to watch for two new holiday PianoSoft albums, which we'll be introducing next week!

MIDI Songs - Learn and Play Along on Your Keyboard

Whether you're looking for realistic, customizable backing tracks to accompany a holiday performance, a full audio guide for learning your favorite seasonal song, or just some great holiday music to play around with on your keyboard, look no further than our collection of holiday MIDI songs.

Also available are holiday themed Clavisoft book and disk packs, which give you the sheet music and MIDI files for songs so you can quickly and easily learn and perform them using allof your keyboards features such as Guide Lamps and the Guide Mode.

Take a look at our catalog of holiday songs, and start playing today.

Sheet Music - The Key to Breathtaking Holiday Performances

When learning or playing your favorite Christmas carols, there's nothing like having a good book of sheet music by your side.  Sheet music is available for all kinds of players at all skill levels - choose from EZ Play song books, fake books, as well as book and CD packs, all full of classic holiday songs.

We also have tons of holiday songs at Digital Music Notebook. With Digital Music Notebook it's easy to find the song you want to learn, print out the music for it, and then transfer a MIDI version of the song to your keyboard so you can listen and play along as you figure out the parts.  You'll be ready to put on a Christmas concert in no time.

Styles - Set Your Keyboard Up for a Festive Holiday

There's certainly not just one sound of the holiday season - the feeling of the holidays has been expressed well in jazz, rock and pop music as it has in classical music.  Whatever genre you choose to use to accompany your holiday season, we have style files that will help you and your keyboard achieve the perfect pitch.

We've even got special holiday styles like 80's Xmas Pop and Sleighbell Swing that will give you the perfect background accompaniment to all of your holiday performances.

Gift Ideas For the Music Lover

Musicians of all kinds are always after that next thing that will make their or help them or take their skills to the next level. We've got the musical gifts that will help them do just that - computer software to help them record their own music, accessories to make their musical lives easier and more enjoyable, or books and instructional material to help them unlock their inner talent. 

Try the FC4 sustain pedal, which you can add to a Yamaha keyboard for enhanced expressive possibilities, Finale Songwriter 2010, with all of the recording and notating capabilities you could ask for in an affordable software package, or the Play Piano Today Beginner's Pack - everything you need to get started on the piano or keyboard with a DVD, CD and lesson book.

Don't forget to keep checking the blog throughout the holiday season for tons of deals, exciting news, new products announcements.

- Doug

New Premium Styles - Moving Ballads and Electric Blues

This week's new Premium Styles feature authentic electric blues grooves and soulful ballad backing tracks to take you back to the heydays of the boy band.

As with the our other new Premium Styles, Cool Chillout and Hot Big Band, each style comes in multiple varieties, to guarantee compatibility with your particular keyboard model.

Martin Harris is back to demonstrate the new styles, and his harmonica solo in the blues demo is truly not to be missed.  This video in particular really shows the type of amazing sounds and performances you can create with the Tyros3 and Premium Styles.

The Blues - Created at the end of the 19th century by the African-Americans in the deep South of the United States, the Blues is characterised by specific chord progressions, possibly the most well known is the twelve bar blues. This style recreates the famous sound of the Blues in the 1950's.



90's Pop Ballad - The 90's saw superstardom for a new concept – boy bands. And in the UK, it was their Pop Ballad songs which became an instant hit their with many adoring fans.



More new styles are in store in the weeks to come - so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

- Doug

Live Excitement: Yamaha and Disnelyand Announce New Interactive Music Concerts and Sweepstakes

Yamaha and Disney, who have long been partners in entertainment, have recently begun a new stage of collaboration with a series of performances from Yamaha artists taking place at the Disneyland resort. The great news for everyone outside of Southern California, though, is that the performances will be broadcast live over the Yamaha Hub website.

A series of four concerts has been planned, and the first concert, which included a Dixieland jazz band, was held last week in the French Quarter area of Disneyland. The next concert will be broadcast from Disney's California Adventure Park on at 5pm Pacific Time on December 8th, featuring the music of acclaimed trumpeter Jens Lindemann with accompaniment from a Yamaha MODUS piano. This concert will be followed by one more event in December before the series wraps up with the Grand Prize giveaway concert and simulcast on January 17, 2010. The performances will feature well known and admired Yamaha artists. For the most updated schedule, visit www.yamahahub.com.

Also, a code will be shown during each broadcast, which can be redeemed through The Hub website or through an SMS message. Prizes will be awarded during each broadcast. The Grand Prize, consisting of a Yamaha home theater system and a Disneyland vacation, will be awarded at the close of the final concert broadcast coinciding with the 2010 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. You can tune in to www.cli.gs/yamaha for all of the live broadcasts.

Keep reading for more details about the concerts, contests, and Yamaha's partnership with Disney.

Yamaha is the official supplier of musical instruments to the Disneyland Resort, and the company has launched a number of popular web initiatives, including production of several podcast episodes that have become major web hits. Recently, Yamaha and Disney named Mark Carman, of Levittown, NY, as the winner of the Celebrate Your Music Contest. Launched in September 2008, the contest sought the best performance of Disney’s “It’s a Small World” theme song. Contestants had the opportunity to upload their performances online through The Hub. The press conference announcing the winner and debuting the winning video was held on January 16, 2010 at the Winter NAMM 2009 conference in Anaheim, Calif.

In addition to this partnership, Yamaha is also proud to be the instrument provider for the prestigious Disney All-American College Band. The relationship between the Walt Disney Company, the largest employer of professional musicians in the world, and Yamaha, the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments, has thrived and grown in many ways over the past several years. Vacationers, visitors and guests at events held at the Disneyland Resort have long experienced a rich Yamaha musical experience whether attending weddings, corporate gatherings, concerts or the countless musical events that are integral to the Disney offerings.

For more information on the sweepstakes and Disney events, visit www.yamahahub.com, or e-mail bandandorchestra@yamaha.com.

- Doug

Yamaha Behind the Scenes: The Live Performances Channel - It’s Alive!

Earlier this week we announced the release of the "Live Performances" channel on Yamaha's Piano Radio. Today, we have our resident PianoSoft insider, Cathy, to give us details on what to expect from the channel.

The title of this post is a bit Halloween inspired but as excited as I am for Halloween, I'm even more excited to tell you about the new Piano Radio channel - "Live Performances."

As you may know, most PianoSoft is recorded in a studio then painstakingly edited by the team of Yamaha editors before it is released. Over the years, though, some live concerts, specifically those from the Newport Music Festival, have been captured on the Disklavier then edited in our studio to be sold as PianoSoft collections. You can find many fine examples of these performances in the Newport series at Yamaha MusicSoft.

However, there is a wealth of music from the Newport Music Festival that has never been released in a collection. There are also many other live performances that have been captured on Disklavier pianos the country that have not made their way to PianoSoft. For example, since 2002 Yamaha has partnered with the Piano e-Competition, which brings together world class pianists from across the globe to compete virtually through Disklavier technology. The finals of each competition are all recorded for posterity on the Disklavier. Plus, Yamaha Artist Services in New York City sponsors concerts in their own venue throughout the year, and occasionally these performances are captured live on the Disklavier.

Now you can have a front row seat and enjoy these live-as-they-happened concerts and competition performances right at home on your own instrument through the Live Performances channel. For the most part, these offerings are "untouched by human hands" in order to allow the listener to relive the experience of the live concert or competition exactly as it happened.

The channel features performances from acclaimed artists like Frederic Chiu, Bernadene Blaha, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Mirian Conti, Piers Lane, Mei-Ting Sun and many others. The selection of performances is already impressive, but there is more to come, as we will be regularly adding music to the station.

If you haven’t tried the Piano Radio service yet, this is a great time to get started! There is a Complimentary Channel so you can try it out before you subscribe, but once you subscribe, you'll get access to many channels covering genres including Adult Contemporary, Pop, Standards, Spiritual and Worship, Country, Soundtracks, Broadway and others. Moreover, there are seasonal channels appropriate for holidays throughout the year.

Happy listening!

- Cathy

New Songs - Hits from the Beatles, Queen & Lady Gaga

This week's new song release includes great tunes across the board, whether you want a modern pop ballad, a 70's classic rock anthem, or a slice of the 60's from the legendary Beatles.

After newly remastered versions of all of the Beatles' albums were unveiled last month, Beatlemania, even 40 years on, shows no signs of letting up. We have three new fab-four songs for you this week: "Paperback Writer," an 1965 single featuring some heavy bass work from Paul McCartney, "When I'm Sixty-Four," the timelessly jaunty tune about love and aging featuring interesting clarinet parts, and "Revolution" which was released in three different versions over the course of the Beatles' catalog. The version of "Revolution" heard here is the fast, hard rocking version found on the B-side of the "Hey Jude" single.



Next up is "Somebody to Love", from one of classic rock's greatest bands, Queen. Newer fans may recognize the song from its recent appearance on the TV show "Glee", but others will know it more for its over the top vocal harmonies, emotional lyrics and monumental guitar solo.



For a taste of modern pop, we've also added Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" this week. "Paparazzi" continues Lady Gaga's string of infectiously fun and danceable pop hits that started with "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "LoveGame". With a disco beat that would sound good in any era and a catchy chorus, "Paparazzi" is an especially good song for those seeking to bring out the synth-ier side of their Yamaha keyboard.


All of these songs are great to use on your keyboard to learn, perform, or play along with. Keep reading for a full list of new songs, and if you're still looking for music to add some scary spice to your Halloween, don't forget that we have tons of spooky songs available at Yamaha MusicSoft and Internet Direct Connection...

Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers



Fame - Naturi Naughton




Paparazzi - Lady Gaga

Paperback Writer - The Beatles



Revolution - The Beatles



When I'm Sixty-Four - The Beatles

Somebody to Love - Queen

Take a Bow - Rihanna



- Doug

New for Piano Radio - The Live Performance Channel

Today we've added yet another channel to Piano Radio's roster: the Live Performance channel.

Part of the beauty of Yamaha's Piano Radio is the way it replicates real, live piano performances on your instrument. In a sense, every channel on Piano Radio is a "live performance" channel. So what's so special about the Live Performance channel? The fact that every song you hear on the new channel is being reproduced exactly as it was originally performed by one of the world's greatest classical pianists in a concert or competition.

Every key and pedal movement in these songs was precisely captured by a Yamaha Disklavier piano during a live performance, and now those movements and sounds are recreated perfectly on your instrument through Piano Radio. Listeners can expect to hear performances of sonatas Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Beethoven and more from pianists like Frederick Chiu, Jan Lisiecki and Boris Beresovsky.

The Live Performance channel is now online and accessible for all Piano Radio compatible instruments. CLP and MODUS users will find it under channel 14 (those looking for the Halloween Hits channel can now find it under channel 15).

If you've never tried Piano Radio before, now's the perfect time - the holidays are just around the corner, and Holiday Favorites channel will be there to soundtrack the whole season. Of course, two free channels available right now - all you need to do is get your keyboard online and you can be enjoying streaming music within seconds. Subscribers get access to the Live Performance channel, seasonal and holiday channels, and over a dozen other channels of piano music.

Follow this guide for help with connecting to the internet, or head here if you're ready to subscribe. For more information on Yamaha's Piano Radio, visit our Online Services site.

- Doug

Playing and Learning With MIDI - More Classic Keyboard Songs

Way back in July we introduced the idea of using MIDI files with your Yamaha keyboard to learn the piano or keyboard parts to songs. Yamaha's keyboards make it easy to isolate the keyboard parts in songs, so you can either hear the parts by themselves or mute them and fill them in with your own playing.

Of course, you can do this with any MIDI song that has a prominent keyboard or piano track, but we've tracked down eight songs with great piano or keyboard parts that are tons of fun to play and learn. The list covers all types of pop and rock piano styles. If you're a rock fan you'll have a great time pounding out "Good Golly, Miss Molly"or Coldplay's "Clocks", while those after something a little lighter will have a blast with "Your Song" or John Legend's "Ordinary People".

After locating the keyboard track or tracks in the song, you can use the channel on/off or mute functions on your keyboard to turn off either the piano tracks or all of the other tracks, then play along.

Either way, these files are fun, easy and interactive tools you can use to learn classic keyboard and piano parts. And once you've had your fun mastering the songs and playing along with the backing tracks, you'll be all set to play these songs solo on any keyboard or piano.

Keep reading for a full list of songs to play, complete with keyboard track assignments for each one.
A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton
Piano track on channel 1


Apologize - OneRepublic
Piano track on channel 4


Your Song - Elton John
Piano tracks on channels 4 &5 (right and left hands)


Clocks - Coldplay
Piano track on channel 4


Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel
Keyboard track on channel 7


Ordinary People - John Legend
Piano tracks on channel 5 & 6 (right and left hands)


If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys
Piano tracks on channels 4 & 5 (right and left hands)

Good Golly, Miss Molly - Little Richard
Piano track on channel 5


- Doug

Yamaha Videos of the Week

We've seen a lot of Martin Harris's work with the Tyros3 and Premium Styles in the past few weeks, but he's lucky enough to get paid to play a Yamaha keyboard all day. What about all the Tyros3 players out there who play just for the love of the performance? With so many players making such marvelous use of the Tyros3 Premium Pack and Voices, we thought it was only fair to give them and their performances a chance to shine.

The first video features a great rendition of the Beach Boys' "California Girls", using the SurfShuffle style from the Choir and Vocals pack, as well some of the pack's vocal sounds in the intro. The melody also really shows off some of the Super Articulation features of the Tyros3's trumpet voices. The video also shows off an awesome Tyros3 screen customization.



Next we have a stellar example of how the SA2 Trombone voice can be used in a
soft latin jazz setting. The performance may be short but it's beautifully played and makes full use of the expressive capabilities of the trombone voice.



And lastly, we have something a little different - a video from this month's CEATEC electronics show in Chiba, Japan, where Yamaha unveiled two exciting new concepts.



The first is an iPhone app that lets you play a piano remotely from your phone. Up to ten different users can play the same piano at one time using this application. Obviously this creates some interesting possibilities for live performance, plus it looks pretty cool.

The second is a humanoid robot, the HRP-4C, that is capable of some very lifelike singing. Using technology from Yamaha's Vocaloid software, the robot can take requests from a remote device, such as an iPhone, then perform them in an almost eerily human way.

Thanks to RonsonDenmark and TyrosAndi for their videos, and thank you for watching. Have a great weekend!

- Doug

New Premium Styles - Hot Swing & Cool Chilllout

The wait is over! The first new Premium Styles of the fall have officially arrived.

The new styles this week give you smoking swing accompaniments, laid back, new age pop.

Each style comes in multiple varieties, to guarantee compatibility with your particular keyboard model. All Premium Styles are available both from Yamaha MusicSoft and Internet Direct Connection - just log in to Internet Direct Connection or select your instrument on Yamaha MusicSoft, and you'll automatically get the right style for your keyboard.

Enjoy the new styles and even more demos from Martin Harris!

Hot Big Band - The 1950's brought a new big band sound image that was heavily influenced by American band leaders. This Style is ideal for playing mid-tempo swing songs.



Sunday Chillout - Emerging in the mid-1990’s, the term chillout refers to many genres of contemporary music that are mellow and slow in tempo. This Style captures the ambient chart chillout sound of today.



Remember to check back for more Premium Style news - there's plenty more to come in the next few weeks.

- Doug

Learn Songs Fast - The Real Deal Behind Fake Books

If you've spent much time around jazz music, you've probably heard the term "fake book" tossed around. Unless you've owned one or used one, though, chances are you're probably still a little confused about what they are and what they're good for.

Good news! They're good for a lot of things, and they're readily available at Yamaha MusicSoft, Digital Music Notebook, and Internet Direct Connection. Though they're it is often used by jazz musicians, the fake book format is great for learning the basics of any song, as long as you have a good understanding of chords.

Fake books all feature basic chords names and melodies, and many include lyrics as well. This may not seem like enough to go on to learn a song, but in many types of music - jazz, folk, and show tunes come to mind - the chords and melody are all you really need to play a song, especially if you already know basically know how it goes. Fake books are particularly well suited for jazz, though; the chords provide just enough of a guide for a solo or accompaniment, and the melodies for the "heads" of songs are all you need to bring the band back together.

As long as you're comfortable reading chords by their printed names (C7, E-7b5) and playing a little loose with the rhythm of your accompaniment, fake book arrangements will prove to be a great asset when you want to learn and play a song as quickly as possible.

Nowadays fake books are available for pretty much any type of music you want to play. If you're a jazz player though, the Real Book series, which got its start as an underground publication at the Berklee College of Music in the 70's, is a great place to start.

If the idea of hundreds or thousands of songs collected in one book appeals to you take a look at our list of fake books at Yamaha MusicSoft, or our catalog of fake book sheet music at Digital Music Notebook. Or, if you use Internet Direct Connection or Music Finder on your keyboard, Music Finder+ Performance Guides provide great fake book style guides to the songs in your Music Finder library.

- Doug