How Good Are Toy Pianos?

I'm sure you've seen the ads: Schoenhut, Dexter, Fisher-Price. These are all brands of toy pianos that are marketed to parents of toddlers.

Many parents are attracted to them because of their look and their size, saying to themselves, "Oh, that would be perfect for my child. It's so cute!"

But have you ever tried a toy piano? While they may be cute and fulfill a need for a certain kind of toy and nursery furniture, they may leave much to be desired in terms sound and providing an instrument for musical development.

Let's see if the advantages of toy pianos outweigh the liabilities.

I've taught children who had toy pianos at first, and there is never any damage done, far from it, if a child plays a toy piano. I think they enjoy it simply because it makes pretty sounds. Anything that interests them in music and piano is good for their intellectual development.

But that is not our point today, but rather to see if there may be an alternative for toddlers that works better in providing a musical instrument adequate for musical development.

First let us enumerate the advantages of toy pianos:

1. They are attractive and this alone may interest the child in music.

2. They are inexpensive and portable

3. They have a standard keyboard setup with groups of two and three black keys.

4. They are mechanical devices, so you don't have to worry about electrical connections, outlets and safety issues.

5. The younger your child, the more appropriate a toy piano may be.

The only real alternative besides a real piano is the electronic music keyboard, such as the inexpensive Casio brands you see for around $99. You see them at Circuit City and electronic appliance outlets as such as that.

Here is a comparison of an electronic keyboard versus a toy piano:

1. Children's electronic music keyboards have real width keys, inch wide, while toy pianos often have "mini" keys to accommodate their tiny hands. It may be better to have the child get used to what real piano keys are like. On the other hand, anything that attracts your child to touch a musical keyboard is a good thing, correct width keys or not.

2. Electronic keyboards make a wide variety of sounds besides the standard piano sound of a toy piano. This may attract your toddler, or may confuse them. More sounds are available on a small keyboard but not usually on a toy piano, although undoubtedly there are products out there called "toy pianos" which make sounds in addition to something piano-like.

3. Toy pianos produce a sound made on what are usually small bell-like surfaces called "tines." It sounds more like chimes than a piano. An electronic keyboard's piano sound is usually very faithful to a real piano sound.

4. Electronic keyboards must be used with batteries to get around the safety issues of outlets, power cables and connections. Toy pianos usually are mechanical devices that require no power, and therefore have the advantage of safety and convenience.

Whatever choice you make, a toy piano can be a great introduction to music, which will eventually produce many benefits such as increased math scores and better handwriting.

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.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun PIANO BY NUMBER method for kids.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children's music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER.

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Origin of Erik Satie's "Gnossiennes"

The 'trois Gnossiennes' (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces of similar character, like the earlier composed 'trois Sarabandes' (1887) and 'trois Gymnopdies' (1888). The 'trois Gnossiennes' were first published by Satie as a set through Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. in 1913.

The Gnossiennes continue in the minimalist style of the Gymnopdies but add ornaments that give the pieces a destinctly oriental feel. Although the pieces are obviously composed in a 4/4 time signature, Satie did not indicate it in the score. He also omitted barlines, leaving one big "bar" for the entire piece. This gives the impression of great freedom for the pianist. The comments written above the score, like 'Du bout de la pense' (from the tip of the thought) and 'Postulez en vous mme' (wonder about yourself) also give much room for interpretation. This has proven to be true since there are few pieces in piano literature that have been interpretated in such diverse ways as the Gnossiennes.

The name 'Gnossiennes' can be explained in multiple ways. The ancient Greek word for 'knowledge' is 'gnosis'. Gnosticism was the name of a religious-philosophical belief which has its origins in Greek philosophy as well as early Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic thoughts. In this belief 'Gnosis' stands for 'True knowledge', which is supposed to lead man to true emancipation. Gnosticism also played a great role in the beliefs of Josphin Pladan's (1859-1918) 'Rose et croix' sect. Satie's collaboration with Pladan led him to take an interest in partly-heretical views. It is possible that the title of these works is an hommage to gnosticism.

The most common explanation however is that the title refers to the ritual dances performed by the inhabitants of the island of Crete, with its capitol city Knossos, famous in Greek mythology for the story of its labyrinth, Theseus and the minotaur. In 1890 Crete was in the news because of archeological excavations. Other works by Satie from the same period were named after dances as well. Namely the 'Sarabande', a dance which was first introduced in Portugal in 1586 and the 'Gymnopdie' which has its origins in ancient Sparta. Even so, it is very unlikely that Satie, a member of the 'Rose et croix' from 1891 to 1892, was unaware of the gnosticism relation when the second Gnossienne was first publicly performed in 1893.

In 1967 french composer Robert Caby (1905-1992) revealed many of Satie's posthumous and often untitled works, taken from sketchbooks and manuscripts. He named three of these pieces Gnossienne. These became Gnossienne 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The piece known as the fourth Gnossienne was composed in 1891, the fifth in 1889 and the sixth in 1897. These pieces were first published in 1968 by ed. Salabert.

Joffrey Wallaart started the Piano Society website to give the public easy access to classical piano music.

http://www.pianosociety.com

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