Phyllis found the toy piano in 2001 when she stumbled upon John Cage's Suite for Toy Piano. She fell in love with the instrument instantly and has acquired several toy pianos since then. Invented in the 1900's, toy pianos usually have a 2-3 octave range. They are built of metal rods and plastic hammers. The tuning is slightly different on each instrument.
After finding the toy piano, Phyllis has concertized on the instrument as a performer as well as a composer. As part of the Annual one-week ICE Festival in Chicago, Phyllis premiered twelve new duo/trio works for toy piano and orchestral instruments in 2004 by composers from around the world.
In March 2007, Phyllis premiered her own multimedia piece, The Memoirist, for three toy pianos, keyboard sampler, laptop, frying pan, music box, and video projection, with the help of video artist, Rob Dietz. Since then, the duo has been working together for upcoming concerts using toy piano, electronics, and video.
