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| A grand piano is made up of over eight-thousand precision parts...wood, metal, fiber, resin, and many other materials. Just assembling them into the mere form of a grand piano is, by itself, an immense undertaking. But the process of crafting them into a precision instrument capable of translating the subtle expressions of the soul into the language of music...creating an instrument that can truly "sing"... is an art. For generations, the Kawai family has blended knowledge, skill, technology and heart in the quest to perfect the art of the piano. | |||
| A Family Tradition | |||
| Koichi Kawai, our founder, was born in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1886. As he entered his teens, young Koichi began working in the piano industry. He was a key member of the research and development team that first introduced pianos to Japan. A talented inventor, Koichi Kawai was the first to design and build a piano action in Japan. He held many patents for his inventions and designs. | |||
| Koichi Kawai, founder, 1886-1955 | |||
| In 1927, Koichi Kawai founded the Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory, employing seven other kindred individuals. As a fledgling company, the only thing that supported them was their passion for music and desire to produce superior pianos. Koichi¹s fundamental principles were centered around quality, music appreciation and the quest for excellence. These basic principles inspire and direct Kawai to this day. | |||
| After his father's death in 1955, Shigeru Kawai became president at the young age of 33... determined to remain true to his father's ideals. He foresaw rapid growth in the music industry and planned accordingly, improving the sales network, expanding production facilities and establishing a number of organizations to promote the value of music. | |||
| Shigeru Kawai, Chairman, Global Kawai Group | |||
| Resourceful and innovative, Shigeru became the evolving link between the age of skilled workers making everything by hand and modern technology. Forty years ago, Kawai had 543 employees and produced 1776 pianos annually. Today, Kawai employs about 6000 people worldwide and has the capacity to produce over 70,000 pianos each year. In 1980, Shigeru opened the Ryuyo Grand Piano Facility... recognized today as the world¹s most modern and efficient plant for building quality grand pianos. | |||
| The Ryuyu Grand Piano Facility | |||
| Shigeru Kawai also turned his attention to the overseas market and succeeded in making Kawai "the sound heard around the world." Kawai musical instruments are now exported to over 80 countries. | |||
| Hirotaka Kawai, third generation president of Kawai Pianos. | |||
| Hirotaka Kawai, appointed president in 1989, remains committed to carrying on the tradition established by his father and grandfather. In affirming their philosophy, he states, "At Kawai, the quest for perfection is not just an ideal... but a duty." Under his guidance, Kawai embarked upon a program which invested tens of millions of dollars to integrate advanced robotics into the manufacturing process. He has also directed the establishment of Kawai manufacturing facilities in locations around the globe. Thus, the tradition of leadership lives on from generation to generation. | |||
| There is no longer or more lustrous pedigree in the piano-building world than Kawai. Today, nearly 70 years after the founding of the company, Kawai is one of the largest piano manufacturers in the world. Despite this growth and success, the humble passion Koichi Kawai brought to piano-making as he struggled in his small shop has remained unchanged. It is not the size of the company that is a source of pride to all at Kawai... rather, it is the musical instruments themselves. | |||
| The Quest for Perfection | |||
| At Kawai, a fully assembled piano is not a fully completed piano. It is not even yet a musical instrument. Before it leaves our factories, it must undergo at least three separate and strictly controlled finishing processes. | |||
| The first of these we call "sei-cho," or regulation, which is somewhat comparable to taming a wild horse or breaking in a new car. All mechanisms are checked and rechecked several times, using different criteria and methods... and the piano is "taught" to perform as it should as far as the mechanical action is concerned. | |||
| Next comes "choritsu," the tuning process, beginning with the initial application of tension to the strings and the establishment of the major tonal relationships. Again, a break-in or taming treatment is applied. Then, the secondary tuning takes place. The entire process... tuning, break-in, tuning... is repeated again and again until the correct musical pitch is achieved. | |||
| Each piano is checked and rechecked literally hundreds of times by Kawai's master builders. | |||
| Lastly, the final tonal and mechanical adjustments are made in a process we call "sei-on," or voicing. Voicing requires the highest level of musical sensitivity and skill as the felt of each individual hammer is "needled" manually to adjust hardness and achieve an even tone from one key to the next. Kawai's voicing staff is considered by many to be the finest in the world. The voicing process continues, many times over if necessary, until balanced sound quality is heard from the lowest to the highest keys. Then, the final regulation and tuning begins. | |||
| By the end of these processes, the piano will have been checked and rechecked literally hundreds of times. Then and only then, the piano is, at last, a musical instrument worthy of our founder's proud symbol, "K. Kawai." | |||
| A Kawai grand piano is a complex work of art. Yet, the individual elements which make up a superb instrument are quite easy to understand when considered one-by-one. The Kawai "Guide To Excellence" was created with the hope that it might assist you in your quest for the right grand piano. | |||
| "K.Kawai" is an abbreviation for Koichi Kawai. | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 23:48, 29 December 2005
The Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg. Co., Ltd., (株式会社河合楽器製作所) TYO: 7952 of Japan is best known for its pianos and electronic keyboards. The headquarters is in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.
The K5 and K5000 digital synthesizers employed additive synthesis.
See also
External links
- Kawai Corporate site: http://www.kawai.co.jp/english/
- Kawai America Corporation: http://www.kawaius.com
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