This post is also available in: polski (Polish)

On Thursday afternoon, I enter the tenement house at Ruska 46A/101 in Wrocław, intending to visit the BWA Gallery. However, on the ground floor, my attention is drawn to the glass door and the sign “Toy Piano Gallery”. I open it and suddenly my breath is taken away. I can see several hundred small upright pianos and grand pianos. They look ancient. And, in contrast, to my left, the innovative Cristal Baschet with its large yellow tubes – its eyes.

Dominika Rekowska greets me at the door, offering a tour of this unique place.

It all started with John Cage’s “Suite for Toy Piano” in 1948, played on a toy piano. He never imagined he would launch the toy piano culture, she says.

I glance at the vinyl record of his composition. Then Dominika tells me the history of these musical toys, showing me each of the old unusual little instruments one by one.

Some upright and grad pianos are realistic, with correct white and black keys; others have only painted black keys or other colors. One has animals on the keys: a lion, a tiger, a monkey. 19th-century pianos appear serious, usually dark brown or black, with various decorations. One white and has leaves carved into the wood, or an elongated window with lace curtains.

I especially like French pianos. One of them has trees, a house, sheep, and an umbrella painted on it. Before the war, Victor Michel founded the Michelsonne Paris company in Paris and manufactured bell pianos. Their sound was more like striking bells than strings. They are among the best-sounding antique baby pianos in the world.

These toy instruments immediately remind me of my childhood, and the time when I would sit at the enormous oak table my grandfather found on the street after the war. I would close my eyes and pretend I was playing a grand piano.

The Toy Piano Gallery is the brainchild of composer Paweł Romańczuk, founder of Małe Instrumenty – Small Instruments. The artist has been exploring the sounds of unusual instruments for years. In 2010, he published the first study of the history of toy pianos. He also wrote the textbook “Home Experiments with Musical Instruments.”

In the gallery, I see a mysterious sound machine that looks like a Retro Robot. It’s an instrument created based on the imaginations of blind people. Tubes protrude from its back like hair, and a castanet from its side. All the elements, whether front, back, or side, can be played.

In the while I describe all this on my blog, I turn on “La Redécouverte” (“The Rediscovery”) by French composer Yann Tiersen from the film Amélie and reimagine the atmosphere I experienced at the Toy Piano Gallery. I feel the extraordinary feeling of being able to compose music on a toy instrument. And childhood dreams, creative endeavors, a certain magic we feel then exists and gives birth to beauty.

Dominika plays a few more notes for me on the strange, crystal Cristal Baschet. To play it, you need wet fingers.

It’s probably not without reason that professional musicians want to explore children’s instruments, as they are like blank slates from which you can extract everything and find joy of explorer.

Japanese pianist Naruhiko Kawaguchi – the prizewinner of the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments didn’t want to leave Wrocław until he had played the toy pianos at the Toy Piano Gallery.

There’s still much to explore at the Toy Piano Gallery. Visit it for yourself; it’s an interesting place and be amazed.