Yamaha Tries to Capture the Meaning of Music in This Epic Six-Minute Tearjerker of an Ad

A musical jaunt through three generations

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It's tricky to pull off a six-minute dramatic commercial, but Yamaha might have managed it—with a few caveats.

"The Gift" is an odd mix of epic tearjerker and cheesy promo. On the one hand, it's a tour of Yamaha products through the ages, featuring everything from a beginner's acoustic guitar to pianos and synthesizers, drums and mixing consoles. (There's even a cameo from a compact disk, known in modern parlance as a coaster.)

It's reminiscent of Sony's also-lengthy—but less melodramatic—celebration of its own history, and the intersection between art and engineering.

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