Toy Pianos

[John Musselwhite]

At 07:16 PM 2/10/2001 -0600, Rob wrote:

>I just watched a story on "ABC World News Tonight" About a huge rising
>cult of "toy piano" players.  What we're talking about here are those
>little things that have the tiny hammers which hit steel bars.  There is
>actually a concert coming up at Carnage Hall that will feature a toy
>piano... no lie!! (I wonder who will get to be the technician).  They
>interviewed several "serious" toy pianists and also showed the factory
>in which these things are built.  Any takers?

If I may relate a toy piano story, about ten years ago at the University of 
Calgary we were treated to the premiere of a work for *four* toy pianos 
composed by Windsor Viney, now at the U. of Waterloo, ON. I imagine the 
piano they are using in the Carnegie concert would be similar to the pianos 
used in the Calgary concert. I received the four pianos and the original 
score as a gift from Mr. Viney so perhaps I could describe them.

These particular toy pianos were made in Japan and have 32 chromatic keys 
beginning at C5. Their grand-shaped cases are made from luan plywood and 
are finished with white polyester. The legs are hard plastic and screw on. 
They stand 18 inches high with the legs on, are 15.5 inches wide and 13.5 
inches in length.  Included with each one was some simple music and a 
plastic "bench". The pianos were a "special order" item and cost about $80 
each ten years ago so they were fairly expensive toys.

One of them failed to stand up to "concert use", though it made it 
through  rehearsals and at least one performance of the work. Two others 
are in my possession and one was on display at the last Banff PNW regional. 
One of them, along with the original score, has been donated to the Chinook 
Keyboard Centre (Calgary's excellent piano museum and home of the Garlick 
Collection) in its original box complete with accessories. It is hoped that 
someday they may be reunited for another performance of the work or made 
available to other composers interested in working with toy pianos.

Glad to see toy pianos hitting the "Big Time"!

                 John
John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
email: john@musselwhite.com    http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom