Pooh Poppin' Piano—a diatonic one octave toy piano

Child playing Keyskills 30 key toy piano

The toy piano is a musical instrument, made as a child's toy, but which has also been used in more serious musical contexts. The instrument was invented in Philadelphia in 1872 by a German immigrant named Albert Schoenhut. Pooh Poppin Piano toy piano, from CPSC, Tiger Electronics, Ltd. ... Pooh Poppin Piano toy piano, from CPSC, Tiger Electronics, Ltd. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. ... A teddy bear A toy is an object used in play. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

It is often in the form of a scaled down model of a piano, usually no more than 50 cm in width, and made out of wood or plastic. The first toy pianos were made in the mid-19th century and were typically uprights, although many toy pianos made today are models of grands. Prices range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Pianoforte redirects here. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... For other uses, see Wood (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plastic (disambiguation). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Rather than hammers hitting strings as on a standard piano, the toy piano sounds by way of hammers hitting metal bars or rods which are fixed at one end. The hammers are connected to the keys by a mechanism similar to that which drives keyboard glockenspiels. This makes it sound more 'tinkly.' Some new toy pianos are electronic. This article is about metallic materials. ... Most orchestral glockenspiels are mounted in a case. ...

Toy pianos ostensibly use the same musical scale as full size pianos, although their tuning in all but the most expensive models is usually very approximate. Similarly, the pitch to which they are tuned is rarely close to the standard of 440 Hz for the A above middle C. In music, a scale is a group of musical notes that provides material for part or all of a musical work. ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... This article is about the SI unit of frequency. ... In Western music, the expression middle C refers to the note C or Do located exactly between the two staves of the grand staff, quoted as C4 in note-octave notation (also known as scientific pitch notation). ...

A typical toy piano will have a range of one to three octaves. The cheapest models may not have black keys, or the black keys may be painted on. This means they can play the diatonic scale (or an approximately tuned version of it), but not the chromatic scale. Typically, diatonic toy pianos have only eight keys and can play one octave. For other uses, see Octave (disambiguation). ... In music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek diatonikos, to stretch out; also known as the heptatonia prima; set form 7-35) is a seven-note musical scale comprising five whole-tone and two half-tone steps, in which the half tones are maximally separated. ... The chromatic scale is a scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. ...

Use in musical performance

Although primarily thought of as a toy, the toy piano has occasionally been used in serious musical endeavours. The most famous example is the "Suite for Toy Piano" (1948) by John Cage. Other works in classical music for the instrument include "Ancient Voices of Children" by George Crumb and a number of pieces by Mauricio Kagel. Steve Beresford has used toy pianos (along with many other toy instruments) in his improvised music. Composer Matthew McConnell wrote a "Concerto for Toy Piano and Orchestra" in 2004. The work was premiered the same year, featuring Keith Kirchoff as the toy piano soloist. For the Mortal Kombat character, see Johnny Cage. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Ancient Voices of Children is a composition by the American composer George Crumb. ... George Crumb (born October 24, 1929) is an American composer of modern and avant garde music. ... Mauricio Kagel (born Buenos Aires, December 24, 1931) is an Argentine composer who has lived in Germany for most of his career. ... Beresford at the Red Rose club, London, 1990 Steve Beresford (born 1950) is a British musician. ... Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician(s) involved; in many cases the musicians make an active effort to avoid overt references to recognizable musical genres. ...

British experimental composers used the toy piano frequently, especially the Promenade Theatre Orchestra (1969-73), a quartet of composer/performers (members included John White, Alec Hill, Hugh Shrapnel, and Christopher Hobbs, whose central instrumentation consisted of four matched French Michelsonne toy pianos and Hohner reed organs. Their music was, broadly, repetitive minimalism, often of great technical difficulty (Hobbs's Working Notes (1969) for four toy pianos), great dynamic power (Shrapnel's 4 Toy Pianos (1971)), were used in various combinations with reed organs, and used compositional techniques that were either specific to British experimentalism (such as systems music, invented by John White), or borrowed from other disciplines (such as Alec Hill's use of change ringing systems). Promenade Theatre Orchestra was an English quartet founded by John White in 1969 and consisted of the composer/performers White, Christopher Hobbs, Alec Hill, and Hugh Shrapnel. ... John White John White (born in Berlin, 5 April 1936) is an English composer and musical performer. ... See also Christopher Hobbs (Herbalist) Christopher Hobbs (September, 1950 – Hillingdon, nr London) is an English experimental composer, best known as a pioneer of British Systems music. ... Systems musicis a particularly British type of Minimalist music in which the note-to-note procedure is determined numerically (Christopher Hobbs). ... Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called changes, without attempting to ring a conventional tune. ...

A pioneer of the toy piano is the German composer and pianist Bernd Wiesemann (b. 1938). He played many concerts with the toy piano in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1993 he released the CD "Neue Musik für Kinderklavier" ("New Music for Toy Piano"), containing compositions by John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ratko Delorko, Andreas Kunstein, Frank Scholzen, Joachim Herbold, Carlos Cruz de Castro, Francisco Estevez and himself. In 2004 he released the SACD "Das untemperierte Klavier" ("the not-so-well-tempered piano", a play on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), containing new contemporary works. A composer is a person who writes music. ... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... The 1980s was the decade spanning from 1980 to 1989, also called The Eighties. The decade saw social, economic and general upheaval as wealth, production and western culture migrated to new industrializing economies. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit ÄŒeské Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... For the Mortal Kombat character, see Johnny Cage. ... Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a German composer, and one of the most important and controversial composers of the 20th century (Barret 1988, 45; Harvey 1975b, 705; Hopkins 1972, 33; Klein 1968, 117; Power 1990, 30). ... Ratko Delorko is a pianist, composer, producer and conductor who lives in Germany. ... Andreas Kunstein (born June 25, 1967) is a composer who was born in Brühl (Germany). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Super Audio CD (SACD) is a read-only optical audio disc format aimed at providing much higher fidelity digital audio reproduction than the Red Book audio CD. Introduced in 2000, it was developed by Sony and Philips Electronics, the same companies that created the Compact Disc. ... “Bach” redirects here. ... Title-page of Das wohltemperirte Clavier A flat major (As-dur) fugue from the second part of Das wohltemperirte Clavier (manuscript) The Well-Tempered Clavier (in the original German: Das wohltemperierte Clavier[1]) is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. ...

In 1997, pianist Margaret Leng Tan released the CD "The Art of the Toy Piano". On it, she plays a number of pieces written specially for the toy piano as well as arrangements of other pieces, including Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby". A documentary directed by Evans Chan entitled "Sorceress of the New Piano" explores the music making of Tan and will have its American debut at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival in 2005. For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Margaret Leng Tan was born in Singapore in 1953. ... In music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet. ... “Beethoven” redirects here. ... “Piano Sonata No. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... For the novel by Douglas Coupland, see Eleanor Rigby (novel). ... Evans Chan 陳耀成 is a Hong Kong second-wave director. ... Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) presents the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) every March. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Ben Lee used a toy piano in the song Catch My Disease which became popular in 2005 and won several awards. Benjamin Michael Lee (born September 11, 1978 in Sydney, Australia) is a ARIA Award winning Jewish Australian musician and actor. ... Catch My Disease is a single by Australian artist Ben Lee. ...

Another famous artist who uses a toy piano is French musician/composer Yann Tiersen, who played the instrument already in his first album "La Valse des Monstres" ("Monsters' Waltz"). He also uses the toy piano to musically recreate the childhood of the main character in the French movie Amélie, which features a soundtrack composed mostly by him. Yann Tiersen (born June 23, 1970) is a French Avant-Garde/New Age Musician and composer known for his versatility, minimalist compositions, and virtuosity as a multi-instrumentalist. ... For other uses, see Amélie (disambiguation). ...

Some jazz performers—John Medeski and Larry Golding, among others—have used toy pianos. For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... John Medeski is a pianist and composer. ...

The toy piano has been used extensively by alternative rock and post-rock bands such as Agitpop, Evanescence, Radiohead, Warren Zevon, Tori Amos, Sigur Rós and The Dresden Dolls. The punk rock band Matty Pop Chart has a song on their Good Old Water CD composed entirely on a toy piano. Alternative music redirects here. ... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... Agitpop, A band from Upsate New York which formed in 1981 and released four records on the Comm3, Twintone [1] and Rough Trade labels. ... Evanescence is a Grammy Award-winning American alternative rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1998 by singer Amy Lee and former guitarist Ben Moody. ... Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire. ... Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was a Grammy Award-winning American rock singer-songwriter and musician. ... Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... Sigur Rós ( ) is an Icelandic post-rock band with melodic, classical, experimental, and minimalist elements. ... The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ...

The experimental pop band Br'er use toy pianos as a characteristic sound on many of their recordings. The Cure used a toy piano during their MTV Unplugged Set. This article is about the English rock band. ...

The B-52's song "Dance This Mess Around" features a toy piano played by Fred Schneider as both an essential musical plot device and live prop. The B-52s are a New Wave rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, an important center of alternative rock. ... Fred Schneider (born Fred Schneider III on July 1, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52s, of which he is a founding member. ...

In the Peanuts cartoon strip, one of the characters, Schroeder, plays classical music (principally Beethoven) on what appears to be a toy piano. However, given the technical difficulties of the music he is playing, it is unlikely he actually played on a toy piano. For other uses, see Peanut (disambiguation). ... Schroeder is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ...

In 2005 Matt Malsky and David Claman sponsored "The Extensible Toy Piano Project"[1], which consisted of an extensive set of freely-available, high-quality toy piano samples, an international composition competition, and a festival at Clark University. One of the winners was Karlheinz Essl with his piece "Kalimba"[2] for Toy Piano and CD playback. Karlheinz Essl (born August 15, 1960 in Vienna) is an Austrian composer, performer and improviser. ...

The instrumental "Calliope", on Tom Waits' album Blood Money, features a toy piano, as well as the calliope of the title. Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. ... Blood Money is an album by Tom Waits. ... Circus calliope, lithograph by Gibson & Co. ...

See also

• List of solo toy piano pieces
• Online playable toy-piano, plugin flash necessary

1948 John Cage (1912-1992): Suite for toy piano 1969-73 Promenade Theatre Orchestra works including toy piano: Alec Hill: Large Change Machine for four toy pianos Christopher Hobbs (*1950): Working Notes for four toy pianos Christopher Hobbs (*1950): Aran for percussion, toy piano and reed organ Christopher Hobbs (*1950...

Videos

• Phyllis Chen performing Karlheinz Essl's Kalimba (Amsterdam 2007)

External links

• Keyskills: UK toy piano manufacturer
• Schoenhut: American toy piano manufacturer
• Twink: a toy piano band
• Toy Piano Forum: a place to talk about toy pianos
• Isabel Ettenauer: Austrian toy piano performer
• Chapi Chapo & les petites musiques de pluie: one man band with toy pianos
• Pascal Ayerbe, sound scribbler: plays Michelsonne and Domiso Pianos