I bought a $35 Schoenhut for an In-Depth Review

I've had a few people wanting to see me review a Schoenhut toy piano, so I bought one online to try out! It is very cute and although it is quite limited musically, with only one octave and 5 additional notes, it would be cool for a very young child to make some noise and have some fun with, and may get them into music.

You can see performances and behind-the-scenes videos over at Milan Recording Studios:

[Modeltnick]

There’s actually a formal classical composition written for toy piano and orchestra. The earlier pianos actually had metal bars rather than the metal rods. Fun video!

[potatosama]

As a solo instrument, I don't find toy pianos particularly useful. However, when recorded and used as a textural component in a composition, you can definitely do a lot. Or you can go a step further and get a few samples and use them for something like granular synthesis and get some crazy sounds :D

[TheMikester]

I'm thinking of Schroeder in "Peanuts."

[sandscribbler]

Loved the first 10 seconds! :-) This video was better than what I was expecting. It was interesting seeing how the thing was built.

[SundayNightFringe]

Just finished adjusting the action on a spinet. I wish it was as simple as this. Great video.

[vicareyous]

Thank you for the fun! Toy piano started me on the road to music appreciation and production.

[phenom]

I could imagine having this sound in an Aphex Twin soundtrack. It would fit perfectly to some of his songs.

[sandnerdaniel]

Cute? This is how Freddie Kruger's piano would look and sound like. Great holiday video!

[moldenburg]

This toy piano (can you really say it’s a piano?) is just what a said to be : a toy. So it sounds like a toy. I love it. As a toy. Not really as musician. But what I really, really liked was you taken it apart. What a fun. Great. Messing around and making a mess. Yess. Thank you for fiddling around and sharing of course. 😀

[ChunterInfo]

My kids have one of these, they find it more fun when I take it apart to clean it.

[FXsensei]

Wow that literally means in my language: 'shoe hut'

[michellecunningham]

We have a piano just like this. It was originally a gift to my older brother when he was a little boy, then when I was born it was mine. Now it resides in our basement until one of us have kids.

[Silveradost]

Great video! Lol when you turned it over! I repaired one of these ages ago for my sister who was taking care of a 24yr old who due to medical problems had the mentality of a 6 year old. She said his face lit up and he played for hours.

[JackTheRabbitMusic]

This is really cool to see. I agree with you on the sound of these. If it was all I had to make music on, I would, but I can't see one making it's way over to me. I kinda dug that Kawai toy piano, and the little grand size looks really sweet. These toy instruments are pretty fun. Nice demo, James! 🐰❤️🎸🎶🤝✌️

[pamelaarescurrinaga]

That was fun !
Simple construction/simple mechanism.

[hankmoody]

I just bought my 6 month old daughter this for Christmas : )

[umajunkcollector]

Twinkle twinkle, chop sticks, little lamb, many of us kids did stuff like that.

[Astronomater]

I have an upright 37 key schoenhut. the top two octaves sound fine but the bass octave is a bit off. I like it as the 37 keys are enough to play two handed with. I plan on installing a 3 way piezo pickup in it just as an experiment. My schoenhut was 45 bucks shipped off of shopgoodwill and the pick up is 8 bucks on wish.

[AriKona]

I have a Schoenhut piano that has the black keys painted on the white keys and has only 6 keys on the piano. The sound it produced by a set of bars (like on a xylophone) struck by hammers. Don't know the circa, but guessing the 30's as it belonged to one of my parents. Which brings me to this: Reviewing the Schoenhut for what it is "a toy piano" is not a joke. While I started playing piano at age 6, I did plink on the Schoenhut (which may have sparked my interest in playing a "real" piano) at a much younger age. So, as an introduction, not to the piano, but to music creation through the pressing of "keys", I think the Schoenhut is a reasonable solution. That way, if they show no interest, you're not out the money of a "real" piano. I understand that you would prefer to have a better piano, both in sound and structure to play on and Schoenhut has those, too (check their website), but even $75 (the current cost of the piano you reviewed) may be a lot to spend on a child who has no interest in playing at all, but then again....

All in all, this was a good review and I believe you learned some things about these toy pianos which could account for the fact they have been in production since the 1800's. Even though I don't play mine, I still have it around for the sentimentality of it. To me, anything that makes music has at least one good quality to it.

P.S. I thought you were going to play "chopsticks" on it at first. Glad you didn't. 🤣

[stevenmayhew]

Listen to Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze", and every time it goes, listen carefully for the sound of a toy piano.