I remain wholeheartedly intrigued by the toy piano's magical overtones, hypnotic charm, and not least, its off-key poignancy. In the words of author John David Morley, "Sound combed from the keys of a starway ascending faintly into sleep". My composer-friends were similarly beguiled and driven to frenzied helghts of creativity by this modest little instrument. What a deceptively simple mechanism—plastic toy hammers hitting steel rods! Albert Schoenhut could hardly have envisaged that at the close of the next century, his brainchiid would have been elevated from a treasured plaything to a bona fide musical instrument.

—Margaret Leng Tan © 19