Electone – More than just a name.
"Electone ®" is the registered trademark of Yamaha Corporation's own line of electronic organs. With 50 years manufacturing Electone experience, Yamaha is considered to be the market leader in electronic organs. Thus, Electone is simply Yamaha’s name for electronic organs.
Since the name first appeared on the market in around 1952, it has applied to other aspects of the Yamaha organ – to compliment the product with its users in ways unrelated to the manufacturer. We look at the various connections with the name in an effort to give an overall picture of developments over the last fifty years.
The Electone Zone
With the development of the Internet, The Electone Zone has become the
name for the World Wide Web site for Yamaha Electone organ fans. It is said to be the most complete site of Electone information, history, players, performers, teachers and friends. They state that they are not affiliated with the Yamaha Corporation in any way.
The Electone Society (UK)
Perhaps the best way to introduce the Society is to use their own words that appear on their web site:
‘The aim of the Society is the motto "promoting musical creativity using electronic organs". To achieve this aim, we seek to encourage people to find out the full potential of their electronic organs as musical instruments, and to discover or train their musical creativity.’
The Society was formed when David Wong did a research (part of his PhD) in 2002 on the Electone in the UK. In early 2003, he began sharing his idea with others including those on the Electone Zone forum. This led to the formation of the Society in July 2003 with a Launch Day in November 2003. Since then the society has conducted annual meetings to further the aims of the society.
A visit to their web site (see below) will give all the relevant information.
The Yamaha Club (Online)
In the UK, The Yamaha Club Magazine was first published in 1995 by top Yamaha UK Demonstrator / Product Specialist Glyn Madden with the intention of supporting amateur home players of Yamaha portable keyboards, organs and Clavinova digital pianos.
Although the Yamaha Club Magazine is independently owned, Yamaha UK lend their full support to the project and, through the contribution and encouragement of the UKs finest Yamaha players, teachers and technicians, almost 4000 subscribers now benefit from this invaluable resource.
Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner.
This website is described as an independent enthusiast community site for Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos. It contains several podcasts that can be downloaded to your computer (as a mp3 file) and listened to at anytime.
The podcasts are informative and can be very useful. One podcast includes an interview with
a Yamaha demonstrator who compares playing the Tyros2 with an electronic organ (Electone).
His views may surprise you.
Yamaha Sales Policy
Elsewhere on Keyboardnews.com you will read about Yamaha’s sales policy and how some British enthusiasts have had to buy their Electone’s from other countries. In the UK Yamaha appear to be promoting their single manual keyboards with the Tyro2 at the top of their range. At least one of Yamaha’s competitors is delighted with this policy and has brought out a new range of electronic organ to fill the gap that Yamaha is creating. Perhaps here in the UK the name ‘Electone’ will eventually become a name of the past – we must wait and see. The UK Electone Society is, of course, doing their best to preserve the name and the instrument – but in the end it must surely rest with Yamaha in Japan.
LINKS:
The Electone Zone
The Electone Society
The Yamaha Club - Online
Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner
Yamaha UK (& Europe) Including details of Yamaha Music Schools
Yamaha Global
Swift Music Yamaha Dealer UK - South West
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