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Yamaha Music School
Yamaha Music School was founded in the 1950s in Japan. It offers a fi fty-year 
long experience with teaching and has three million pupils all around the world. The 
school has a developed system of education of all age groups (from four-month old 
children to adults and seniors).
According to its head teacher Zdeněk Simek, the basis of the Japanese model is 
in pre-school education (education of children to 6 years). The school focuses mainly 
on this group and has three fi elds for this age period. The education starts at the age 
of four months when children gain basic experience and when they perceive music 
rather emotionally because they do not understand its content yet. Until they are three 
years old, children learn to develop their attitude to music, until they are six years old, 
they know the stave, they can interpret simple rhythmical patterns, sing according 
to solfège syllables and they receive the basis of playing a melodic instrument (they 
start playing the fl ute at the age of four, then they can choose the guitar or electronic 
keyboard). Thanks to this system and the fact that no other institutions offer the edu-
cation to such small children, the largest group of children in YMS is aged 18 months 
to 4 years (C
ÍSAŘ
2010).
In 1994, the school was introduced to the Czech Republic. The school methodolo-
gical centre is in the town of Znojmo and the school has its branches in almost every 
town in the country. The teachers of the school receive a regular training. The school 
has its own educational materials which are available only to its pupils.
Playing the electronic keyboards at YMS and playing the piano at 
elementary music schools
To compare these two types of schools means according to Simek ‘to compa-
re non-comparable’
1
, so I decided to only describe both educational processes and 
conceptions of these two co-existing types of schools. Whereas elementary music 
schools are the part of the Czech educational system (they are answerable to the 
Ministry of School and Education of the CR) and are schools with regular compul-
sory education following the curriculum and giving its alumni fi nal school report, 
the YMS is independent of the Ministry, playing the role of an after-school activity, 
giving its alumni a certifi cate. Elementary music schools accept children after they 
have passed entrance exams where they show a certain amount of musicality, YMS 
accepts every child who wants to play a musical instrument.
1 
From the phone call with Zdeněk Simek on September 13, 2010.

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The profi le of YMS alumni is completely different from the alumni of elementary 
music school. Those who want to study at YMS are usually children or adults who 
do not have high ambitions, those who are not attracted by classical music repertoire 
and often those who start playing at the high age.
The lessons at YMS are held in groups (maximum eight pupils per group). This 
fact brings both advantages and disadvantages. The school stresses the playfulne-
ss and usefulness of the ability to play the musical instrument in pupils’ future life 
(pupils are allowed to play what they fi nd interesting and they can later use their skills 
and knowledge in music bands, etc.). It is believed that group education automati-
cally creates the basis of ensemble playing and that different sounds of instruments 
develop colourful hearing. Music theory is learned in the process of playing itself in 
order not to discourage pupils by a lot of information. The group education brings 
a healthy element of competition and higher motivation connected with the desire 
to please the teacher and an attempt to make other pupils admire one. An immediate 
comparison of pupils is possible and children can learn from each others’ mistakes.
On the other hand, there are several drawbacks to this which will be mentioned by 
the pianist – professional, the one who has studied piano playing and who uses this 
instrument with all its sound and technical possibilities.
The biggest disadvantage is the lack of work on the sound quality of a tone (the 
teacher in the observation lesson said ‘we bang on the keys’)
2
, the melody of songs 
is not usually played legato and children usually play with wrong fi ngering. In the 
lesson where I was present, the teacher paid attention neither to the right posture at 
the piano nor to the right hand position on the keyboard. Generally, it can be said that 
a close and detailed cooperation between the pupil and the teacher is missing. This 
fact could be understandable due to the number of pupils in the lesson. The number of 
pupils plays the role in lesson effi ciency. Children usually play the piece together so 
it is diffi cult to distinguish individual differences and mistakes in interpretation. The 
low effi ciency is also the result of parents’ attitude. Most of the parents do not have 
music experience (this assumption is supported by the fact that they do not want to 
give their children piano education) and so they cannot help their children with home 
preparation. The parents presented in the lesson did not really show any interest in 
their children activity, they did not make any notes.
In a group education, it is not easy to devote individual attention to every pupil 
and it is not possible to enable each student to study at their own pace. Thus, more 
talented children do not have the adequate advance and the pace is too slow for 
them.
Teaching materials contain several attractive, catchy and simple tunes, mostly 
English and American. What I fi nd surprising and shocking is the statement in the 
2 
An observation lesson in October 2009 at elementary school Jasanová in Brno – Jundrov led by Petr 
Dvorník.

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introduction of the book ‘Fun Key Kids’. It says that both instruments, the piano 
and the electronic keyboard, are musically equal! While one of the main differences 
which can be seen at fi rst sight (regardless the work on the tone and keystroke) is the 
size of the keyboard which is only fi ve octaves on electronic keyboards.
According to the professor Alena Vlasáková, the promotion of YMS which repre-
sents electronic keyboards as more convenient (in comparison to pianos) is false. 
Parents who do not understand the problem deeply value only the fact that electronic 
keyboards need not be tuned, are cheaper and occupy less space. At the same time, 
they are not told that the tone is created in a different way on the classical type of 
piano and that this has a signifi cant infl uence on developing important preconditions 
in brain cortex which are vital for the child development.
3
In comparison with the above-mentioned, the piano education at elementary 
schools is done at a much higher level, it is more precise and requires a continuous 
preparation. At least, with pupils who are preparing for conservatory entrance exams 
or with these who want to play music of different genres and styles correctly and 
these who want to have enough technical skills for that.
An individual piano lesson requires a great concentration and systematic work. 
The main features are individual attitude and interpretation with the focus on the 
quality of the tone, right fi ngering and hand position and technical abilities. Natural 
is playing by heart.
It is either impossible to compare the outcomes of each alumni. While elementary 
music schools follow the curriculum which every student must keep to (according 
to their abilities), at YMS, due to the absence entrance exams, children of different 
abilities are in the same group. The group is after some time re-structured on the basis 
of children abilities. Each group has its own pace, so it is not possible to state the 
outcomes after a certain number of lessons or at the end of the school year / grade. 
Pupils learn from different music textbooks which may take different time to master 
so it is possible to describe outcomes only after fi nishing each textbook.