Children's piano
The children's piano , also called toy piano or toy piano , is a musical instrument (originally intended as a toy ) in which steel rods are struck over a keyboard with small wooden or plastic blocks . A damping of the sounds do not exist mostly.
Children Pianos have the shape of pianos or wings . The range is depending on the model a few notes and four octaves . The tones of the instruments resp. on the keyboard do not always correspond to the actually sounding pitches if, for example, an f sounds when you press the c key . Most of the instruments in use today are designed chromatically; but occasionally there are also diatonic forms with painted black keys.
Depending on the manufacturer, there are big differences in sound , mechanics , appearance and workmanship. Well-known manufacturers are Schoenhut (since 1872) and Jaymar (since bought by Schoenhut). Both companies are in the United States . In Germany, children's pianos are made by the Goldon company, in France until 1970 by Michelsonne .
For a long time the children's piano was ignored by composers . In 1948 John Cage wrote his Suite for Toy piano . Since the mid-1970s, the pianist Bernd Wiesemann has regularly used the children's piano in concerts. The first children's piano CD was released with him in 1994 .
There are compositions for children's piano by John Cage, Carlos Cruz de Castro, Ratko Delorko , Oscar van Dillen , Michael Denhoff , Karlheinz Essl , Shigeru Kan-no , Harold Gramatges , Andreas Kunstein and Bernd Wiesemann, among others . In ensemble compositions z. B. George Crumb , Moritz Eggert , David Graham and Aaron Jay Kernis used the children's piano.
Pianists who specialize in children's piano are e.g. B. Bernd Wiesemann , Margaret Leng Tan , Isabel Ettenauer , Phyllis Chen and Wendy Mae Chambers .
Schroeder from the comic strip Peanuts is a passionate pianist for children. His instrument is diatonic , which in a strip leads to the question of how he can play Beethoven perfectly if the black keys are only painted on.
In 2005 Matt Malsky and David Claman launched The Extensible Toy Piano Project , an international composition competition for which they produced children's piano samples in excellent quality and made them available for free download on a website.
Children's pianos often appear in prominent positions at Von Magnet and Bernd Friedmann . Mike Langlie is an American composer who has released many albums under the name Twink that work almost exclusively with children's piano and other toy instruments.
Compositions for children's piano
1948
- John Cage (1912-1992): Suite for Toy piano
1980
- Bernd Wiesemann (1938–2015): Seven miniatures for toy piano
- Carlos Cruz de Castro (* 1941): Valse
- Francisco Estévez (* 1946): Tres Luisiadas
1983
- Wendy Mae Chambers (* 1953): Suite for Toy Piano
1987
- Bernd Wiesemann (1938–2015): Petite Suite
1988
- Joachim Herbold (* 1951): piece for children's piano
1992
- Louis Andriessen (* 1939): The Memory of Roses for toy piano and grand piano
- Andreas Kunstein (* 1967): 10 epigrams
1993
- Ratko Delorko (* 1959): Three games for children's piano
- Frank Scholzen (* 1968): Three fragments with Hölderlin
1994
- Norbert Laufer (* 1960): bitS & pieceS
- Bernd Wiesemann (1938–2015): Bauhaus Suite
2001
- Christian Banasik (* 1963): Trimer for toy piano and tape
- Karl-Heinz Zarius (* 1941): Nocturne
- Rob Smith (* 1968): Schroeder's Revenge for toy piano
2002
- Yasuko Yamaguchi (* 1969): Sugar rain
- Heinz-Dieter Willke (* 1956): Piece for Toy piano
2003
- Michael Denhoff (* 1955): PA-CA-TO
- Oscar van Dillen (* 1958): mm 3
- Henry Brant (1913–2008): Lebasi & Eirelav for toy piano and mandolin backstage
2004
- Stephen Montague (* 1943): Almost a Lullaby for toy piano
- Vanessa Lan (* 1968): Is a bell… a bell? for two toy pianos (one player)
- Kai-Yves Linden (* 1960): Three blackberries
2005
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): Kalimba for toy piano and tape
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): WebernSpielWerk for toy piano
- Tom Johnson (* 1939): Small chorales for small piano
2008
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): Sequitur V for toy piano and live electronics
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): Listen Thing for toy piano
- Andreas Kunstein: Requiem for a guinea pig for a pianist with 2 toy pianos
2010
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): whatever shall be for toy piano, dreidel , music box and live electronics
- Martin Schütz (* 1954): 2 pieces for Toypianos to grope of Anna Huber
2012
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): under wood for two electrically amplified and partly prepared toy pianos and ensembles (flute, clarinet, accordion, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello and double bass)
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): miles to go for 4 prepared and reinforced toy pianos
2013
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): Pachinko for toy piano and computer
2014
- Shigeru Kan-no (* 1959): The four Elements for Toy Piano
- Karlheinz Essl (* 1960): VIRIBVS VNITIS for toy piano and harpsichord
2020
- Axel Schünemann: Hangenberg concert for double bass, toy piano and orchestra
Date unknown
- Oskar Gottlieb Blarr (* 1934): Ringing the bell for the Tsarevich
Web links
- Mysterious sound boxes by Christoph Wagner on the history of the toy piano
- New music for children's piano CD by Bernd Wiesemann (1994) for listening on the web
- Toy Piano Museum Pictures of playable and non-playable children's pianos
- Toy Piano - Collection of Bernd Wiesemann Piano Museum Haus Eller / Collection Dohr