The first toy piano I got was a two and a half octave baby grand Schoenhut. It came with a small bench that was about 10 inches tall. All together, the toy piano was only about 28 pounds. The legs screw off of the bottom of the toy piano, so everything fit nicely into a black garbage bag. I found it quite funny to transport a toy piano ‘incognito’ in a black trash bag. As I became more serious about the toy piano, I acquired a three octave concert grand Schoenhut. This piano is different because it has a lid that opens, four legs instead of three, and is made of mahogany wood instead of plywood (this makes the sound brighter). Getting a few extra notes on the toy piano has come at a really troublesome cost for me. The instrument is almost 40 pounds, which doesn’t sound like much, but ended up being a royal pain when brought on subways or walked down the street.
First thing, it takes two hands to carry the body of the toy piano because of the shape. Everything else could fit in a backpack, but not as easy as the black trash bag technique. Second, as my toy piano shows have grown, I use more than one toy piano for performances, sometimes up to three. Using both hands to carry one toy piano ends up being a pretty big hassle. My fiancée, Rob, has mused over different ways of transporting them. Because the instrument is about 24 inches by 24 inches, we needed to find a box-like suitcase with wheels—not as easy as it might sound. We ended up with a computer suitcase from Ebay that weighed 50 pounds! All together, we were lugging 90 pounds for a three-octave toy piano, just so it could have a case around it and wheels (that didn’t actually work so well.) I have numerous photos of Rob and I lugging toy pianos in New York, Chicago, Bloomington, Amsterdam. Since there is no protective cover for the instruments, I have ended up taking a lot of taxis to haul them place to place, performing countless toy piano tunes in cabs to entertain my driver. This ended up being a costly solution, so I contacted the Colorado Case Company to have a custom-made case for this particular piano. I now have a soft case that is the shape of the toy piano (without the legs) that fits nicely into a hard case with wheels. The hard case is still being built at the moment, but it should put an end to this saga.
