Three Questions with Aaron Rosenberg
Image by Tory Germann
02/22/2016
By David Perry
Aaron Rosenberg is 51 and still playing with toys.
He does it so well that organizers recently invited the music department adjunct faculty member perform his 鈥淭he Crail Family, 1910鈥� composition at the International Toy Piano Festival in St. Petersburg, Fla. It鈥檚 that crossroads where serious composers write for and play a 鈥渢oy.鈥�
Among the instrument鈥檚 most recognizable devotees is Schroeder (from Peanuts) and among its most heralded, experimental guru John Cage. Between and beyond, B-52s, Radiohead, John Medeski, Tori Amos and Dresden Dolls have all used the toy piano to chime in to their catalogs.
Q: How did you come to toy piano?
A: Toy piano has been popular for quite a while now, since the '70s at least. There鈥檚 not a huge repertoire of music written for toy piano. I got into it because in 2008, I was studying for my doctorate at the University of Oregon and I thought I would try to write a piece for the department, for my doctoral recital.
Image by Tory Germann
A: It鈥檚 not at all like a regular piano. There are fewer keys, for one thing. I have a toy grand and it has 37 keys (compared to 88 for a full-size piano). And you write for that range. It has a sound kind of music-boxy. Like a glockenspiel. It is rich. All it is is hammers on metal rods. Fundamental pitch can get lost. There are a lot of things you can鈥檛 do with it that you can do with a regular piano. The volume control is in your hands. And sometimes the keys stick together.
I think there鈥檚 always going to be an element of cuteness to it. I mean, it is a little piano. Some serious musicians and composers also play and write for it. I鈥檝e seen some really amazing performers on toy piano, some real strong pianists play. It鈥檚 hard to make fun of somebody who can do that. There are a number of toy piano nerds out there who love it.
Q: What was the piece you wrote?
A: It鈥檚 called 鈥淭he Crail Family, 1910鈥� and it鈥檚 about six minutes long. It鈥檚 based on what I imagined about people featured in a very old photograph shot in Wyoming that I saw in a picture book called 鈥淭he Early Days in Jackson Hole.鈥� I like to look at pictures, especially of people, and think about what their lives might have been like. I can鈥檛 actually know but I can create a fantasy around the rest of their lives.