Thursday, April 01, 2010

The Ultimate Guide to the Toy Piano Scene

Last week I played on a wonderfully resonant Jaymar toy piano in Chan Ka Nin's one-act opera Ice Time for Tapestry New Opera's Opera To Go. On opening night, I had the pleasure of meeting Elisha Denburg, a member of Toronto's Toy Piano Composers, who subsequently got me connected with the thriving community of toy piano composers and performers on Facebook and the web. What follows are some useful links about the instruments, composers, collectors, and performers who are creating an ever-increasing body of work for these enigmatic instruments. Note: some of these links require either a Google or Facebook ID - you'll find this noted in parentheses. I'll be adding stuff to this post as new information comes to light...

[Update: a huge thanks goes to Xenia Pestova for the time she spent compiling corrections and link info!]
[Update: thanks also go to Wendy Mae Chambers and Liz Parker for contacting me about adding further links.]

Information, Collections, and Manufacturers

Communities



Performers, Composers and Ensembles


Works and Performances

A search for "toy piano" on YouTube will yield lots of fascinating performances (too many to post here) but below are some particularly fascinating ones...

Clio Montey's Barcarolle played by Xenia Pestova:


Isabel Ettenauer performs Kalimba by Karlheinz Essl:



Eiko Sudoh plays John Cage's Suite for Toy Piano:



Phyllis Chen performs her composition Double Helix for toy piano and bowls:



If you have any more notable toy piano links, events, or stuff, leave a comment or send me an email at collaborativepiano [at] gmail dot com.

7 comments:

  1. Check out the following three sites.
    www.junctqin.com, www.myspace.com/junctqin and
    www.elainelau.ca

    This is a group that is based out of Toronto, ON. I saw them perform last fall in Peterborough as part of Peterborough's Arts Week. They're great!

    Members of Junctqin
    Elaine Lau
    Stephanie Chua
    Joseph Ferretti

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  2. Thanks, amyissimo. Those sites were added!

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  3. Great resource!

    If anyone is interested in Toy Piano, you should check out our concert in September for Toy piano vs. Orchestra (featuring Sneak Peek Orchestra and the Toy Piano Composers). Stay tuned!

    Monica
    www.monicaclorey.com
    www.thetoypianocomposers.com

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  4. Yeah it's better for kids! Better to get a toy piano at first and then upgrade than not get started at all. Music skills develop at a very young age!

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  5. Thanks for this great ToyPiano compilation - i'll add it to my site ... maybe you enjoy it too, but its only in german :)

    have a nice day!

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  6. Thanks for this compilation - i had a great break and fun here ;O)

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  7. I just wanted to add that you can listen to a clip and view a score sample of my toy piece (simply titled "Variations for Toy Piano") on my website www.gregorymillar.net

    There is also a link to Musicaneo, where you can purchase the complete score.

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