Yamaha Improves Popular P22 Upright Piano with Silent Piano Technology and More
ANAHEIM (January 16, 2020) —
Yamaha today announced innovative upgrades to the company's venerable P22 Upright Piano, which has been the first choice of schools and music educators for nearly half a century.
Known for its fine craftsmanship, tuning stability and durability, and all at an affordable price, the P22 has endured the test of time and stood up to daily use in classrooms, band rooms, music labs, houses of worship, and rehearsal studios the world over. Having listened to feedback from the very teachers and musical directors who rely on the P22 every day, Yamaha has introduced vital improvements guaranteed to make their jobs easier.
First, a redesigned music rack area allows the entire width of the P22 to support sheet music, which is key for when an instructor or student is juggling multiple pieces. The 75-degree incline and groove running across the bottom above the fallboard ensure that score sheets stay in place. Like on pianos costing many times more, the fallboard now incorporates a soft-close mechanism to prevent dropping. Instead, the fallboard will slowly glide to the closed position even if someone attempts to slam it on purpose. This protects both errant fingers and the piano itself, and the heavy-duty mechanism is designed to withstand literally decades of opening and closing.
For the first time, the P22 can now be fitted with optional Yamaha SC2 SILENT Piano™ technology, ideal for quiet practice or a lab where multiple pianos are located in the same room. When the center pedal is depressed and locked, the hammers stop just short of striking the strings even though the feel of the keyboard is completely unaffected. Sound now comes from a high-quality digital tone generator featuring the voices of the world-class Yamaha CFX and legendary Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand pianos. Binaural sampling of the CFX voice "hears" the sound as the human ears would for an authentic playing experience through headphones, and Virtual Resonance Modeling (VRM) reproduces all of the internal resonances of the strings and soundboard, further ensuring absolute realism.
Housed in an unobtrusive control unit tucked under the bass range of the keyboard, the SC2 SILENT Piano system can also record performances internally or onto a USB thumb drive (a perfect tool for evaluating students' progress) and interface to computers as well as the Yamaha Smart Pianist app via its USB-to-host port, or wirelessly using the UD-WL01 wireless adapter. Dual headphone jacks make side-by-side practice possible, and the P22 SC2 can also output audio to a music lab system such as the Yamaha MLC-200.
The appearance of the rear surface, posts, and beams have also been improved, since the backs of pianos are often facing the class or audience in an educational setting. Last but certainly not least, redesigned bass strings both contribute to better sound and are more resistant to breakage.
"The P22 has long been the most trusted piano for school settings," says Russ Hirota, Asst. Marketing Manager, Piano Group, Yamaha Corporation of America. "The improvements in the new P22 and P22 SC2 are the result of listening to our customers as well as our long-standing passion for music education."
Pricing and Availability
The new Yamaha P22 (MSRP starting at $7,849.00) becomes available through authorized Yamaha dealers in March. For more information, visit the Yamaha Booth at the 2020 NAMM Show in the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, Marquis Ballroom, January 16-19, 2020, or http://yamahapianos.com.
