Toys Taken Seriously

Serious Music for Non-Serious Instruments

Some instruments are born with a smirk. Too small. Too cheap. Too plastic. Too childish. The kazoo. The toy piano. The ukulele. The Otamatone. We call them novelties. Gimmicks. Toys that hide their potential.

But what happens when an artist takes those instruments seriously? What if the limitations become the point, and out of the so-called junk drawer comes something unforgettable?

This issue of Drop the Needle: Music That Matters is about that moment. When the plastic sings. When the joke never lands because it was never a joke. When sincerity sneaks in through a stylophone, or a chorus of children, or a half-broken keyboard.

Before you go further, take a second to subscribe. You’ll get themed playlists, commentary, and the kind of deep listening that makes music stick. Free and paid options are available.

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Twittering Machine (1922), by Paul Klee. A delicate balance of whimsy and unease, this ink-and-watercolor drawing captures the unsettling beauty of mechanical play. Housed at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, it echoes this issue’s central question: What happens when the toy starts to feel serious? Credit: Image hosted at <http://www.waggish.org/2010/paul-klee-twittering-machine/>, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16101517

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The Frame

We’re diving into music that:

• Sounds better than it should, given the tools

• Surprises with emotional depth from unexpected sources

• Reframes our assumptions—not just about sound, but about what matters in art

These aren’t ironic stunts. They’re testaments to what happens when musicians commit, no matter how humble the tools.

The instrument may be a toy. The music is not.

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One playlist dresses for the concert hall—formal, focused, meticulous. The other throws on headphones and heads to the gym, running on grit, charm, and circuit-bent chaos.

Plastic & Precision: Concert Works for Humble Instruments

A selection of formally composed or performance-context pieces that use “non-serious” instruments in serious, expressive ways. Includes modern classical, chamber works, experimental, and minimalism. (about 3 hours, 18 minutes)

Click here to listen to Plastic & Precision: Concert Works for Humble Instruments on YouTube.

Click here to listen to Plastic & Precision: Concert Works for Humble Instruments on Spotify, or click ‘play’ below.

Tracklist:

1. John Cage – Suite for Toy Piano
   A foundational work that takes the toy piano seriously as a legitimate solo instrument. Elegant, spare, and sincere.

2. Christopher Hobbs – Aran
   Uses repetition and restraint on toy piano to build a hypnotic, minimalist texture. Playful and focused.

3. Margaret Leng Tan – She Herself Alone
   Performed by the world’s premier toy piano virtuoso. Deeply expressive, showing how much nuance a child’s instrument can carry.

4. Karlheinz Essl – Kalimba
   Explores the tonal subtleties of a traditionally “simple” African thumb piano. Meditative and sincere.

5. Conlon Nancarrow – Study No. 21 (Canon X) for Player Piano
   Mechanical virtuosity via player piano. A machine interprets a score no human could play, turning a roll-fed novelty into an avant-garde marvel.

6. Pauline Oliveros – Sound Patterns
   Uses the human voice as a sound object. A reminder that the most “primitive” instruments, our bodies, can still surprise and move us.

7. Mauricio Kagel – General Bass
   Comedic, chaotic, and smart. Combines toy instruments in absurd ways while keeping a tight compositional grip.

8. Luciano Berio – Sequenza XII (for Bassoon)
   A masterclass in extended technique for an often-overlooked instrument. Turns the bassoon into a factory of unexpected sounds.

9. Julia Wolfe – Tell Me Everything
   Rhythmic density and layered texture from unconventional percussion. A serious workout built from found and playful sound

10. Steve Reich – Music for Pieces of Wood
    Uses claves¹ to create polyrhythmic precision. Pure repetition elevated to beauty through focus and control.

11. Alfred Schnittke – Moz-Art à la Haydn
    Deconstructs classical form using absurd orchestrations and intentionally “broken” sounds. Sophisticated musical parody.

12. George Crumb – Ancient Voices of Children
    Includes toy piano and amplified whispering in a haunting setting. Turns innocent timbres into something profound and spectral.

13. David Bedford – With 100 Kazoos
    Takes the ultimate gag instrument, the kazoo, and turns it into a full ensemble experience. Order in the chaos.

14. Tristan Perich – 1-Bit Symphony
    Generated entirely with 1-bit electronics. A self-contained circuit board performs a full symphony. Minimal tech, maximum ambition.

15. Gavin Bryars – Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet
    A found vocal loop from a homeless man becomes the core of a slowly evolving orchestral lament. Fragile, sincere, unforgettable.

16. Toru Takemitsu – From Me Flows What You Call Time
    Bell tones, tuned percussion, and atmosphere combine in a luminous, meditative closer. Ends the playlist with quiet conviction.

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Cheap Sounds, Real Beats

This one lives in headphones, bedrooms, subway stations, and small venues. These are tracks that use inexpensive or childlike instruments to devastating or delightful emotional effect. (about 1 hour 44 minutes)

Click here to listen to Cheap Sounds, Real Beats on YouTube.

Click here to listen to Cheap Sounds, Real Beats on Spotify, or click ‘play’ below.

Tracklist:

1. Detektivbyrån – Om Du Möter Varg
   Glockenspiel and toy-like timbres drive a cinematic folk-electronic sound. Sophisticated play.

2. Regina Spektor – Music Box
   Built around a literal music box. Intimate, eerie, and emotionally direct.

3. Pomplamoose – Mister Sandman
   Ukulele and lo-fi layering create warmth and charm without irony.

4. Beirut – Elephant Gun
   Melodica and ukulele bring gravity and sweep to what feels like a backyard orchestra.

5. Andrew Bird – Imitosis
   Whistling and glockenspiel used as musical anchors. Earnest and intricate.

6. Architecture in Helsinki – Heart It Races
   Plastic sounds and junk percussion meet big melodic hooks. Childlike without being childish.

7. Ingrid Michaelson – You and I
   A ukulele love song played straight—small instrument, honest emotion.

8. Tune-Yards – Bizness
   Loops, claps, and vocal layering showcase how DIY textures can still hit hard.

9. Pomplamoose – Beat It
   A faithful reimagining of a pop classic using melodica, mouth trumpet, and clever restraint.

10. Micachu and the Shapes – Lips
    Raw, detuned, and percussive. Pushes the boundary of toy and trash into musical form.

11. TheRealSullyG – Dance Monkey (Otamatone Cover)
    The Otamatone as lead voice—absurd, yes, but performed with clarity and control.

12. They Might Be Giants – Clap Your Hands
    A rhythmic chant using body percussion and toy-like instrumentation. Infectious and sharp.

13. The Blow – Parentheses
    Simple synths and delicate vocals build tension from bare essentials.

14. The Books – Take Time
    Collaged samples, found sounds, and glitch textures become oddly spiritual.

15. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
    Lo-fi orchestration with toy pianos and layered harmonies. Earnest, expansive.

16. Jacob Collier – In the Bleak Midwinter
    Toy bells, breathy vocals, and complex harmonies make this hymn shimmer.

17. Dan Deacon – When I Was Done Dying
    Cartoonish sound design, real emotional storytelling. Chaos with purpose.

18. Zappa – The Black Page #1
    Originally a percussion etude, here showing precision through near-impossible rhythmic density.

19. Laurie Anderson – O Superman
    Vocoder and minimalist electronics build something meditative and haunting.

20. Lemon Demon – Cabinet Man
    Chiptune pop with emotional arc. A literal arcade cabinet protagonist never sounded so tender.

21. CocoRosie – Lemonade
    Children’s instruments, tape hiss, and fractured storytelling. Raw and surreal.

22. Shugo Tokumaru – Rum Hee
    Layered toy instruments in a perfectly balanced arrangement. Delightfully intricate.

23. The Langley Schools Music Project - God Only Knows
    A school chorus on a cassette recorder delivers one of the most emotionally disarming covers ever made.

24. Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You in the End
    Lo-fi tape recorder and simple chord changes become a vessel for genuine hope

25. Radiator Hospital – Our Song
    Bedroom pop that’s rough around the edges and emotionally exact.

26. The Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Want to Get Over You
    Casio keyboard and deadpan delivery make heartbreak strangely elegant.

27. The Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else But You
    Childlike phrasing and toy guitar strums become the soundtrack to awkward truth.

28. Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek
    A harmonizer transforms voice into polyphonic cathedral. Still devastating, still innovative.

29. Harry Nilsson – Coconut
    A nonsense song made memorable by its sparse arrangement and straight-faced delivery.

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Closing Note

This music works because the artists mean it. The melodicas. The stylophones. The children’s instruments. They aren’t treated as jokes. They’re treated as possibilities.

Somewhere along the line, we started believing that only expensive tools make real art. That polish equals purpose. That perfection is the point. These playlists say otherwise.

Sometimes all it takes is a rusty toy piano or an antique store kazoo to remind you: music doesn’t need to be expensive, impressive, or even logical. It just needs to land.

If this issue made you rethink a sound, or feel something unexpected, share it.

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“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”
— Oscar Wilde, The Nightingale and the Rose (1888)

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Bonus Feature for Paid Subscribers

Playing with Found Instruments

Percussionists are an eccentric bunch, capable of long stretches of amazing focus. Ask anyone who’s played the snare drum part in Bolero.