Toy Piano - History

History

Albert Schoenhut conceived of the toy piano with metal sounding bars in 1872 and established the A Schoenhut Company to manufacture the new instrument. By 1917, A Schoenhut produced a catalogue showing 10 pages of upright and grand pianos of all shapes and sizes, with one page devoted to miniature piano stools alone. The models had nicknames beginning with "P", such as Packer, Padder, Papa and Poet. Keys were made of imitation ivory and a dozen pianos could be bought for US$348.

By the 1950s, the toy piano market was dominated by two main toy piano makers: Jaymar and Schoenhut - counterparts to the Steinway and Baldwin for adult pianos. Wooden keys and hammers were replaced by moulded plastic ones. In the late 1970s, Schoenhut was acquired by Jaymar, although the two retained their distinct identity. Jaymar/Schoenhut experienced difficulty during the recession of the 1980s, folding and eventually re-emerging as the Schoenhut Piano Company in 1997. Today there are two other major toy-piano manufacturers - Haring from Brazil, and the Zeada from China.

From 1939 to 1970 Victor Michel improved toy-piano conception. Michelsonne French toy-pianos are known from their inimitable sound.

An annual toy piano festival is held in San Diego which features a collection of toy pianos and recording of toy pianos.