Toychestra is an all-women

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

group from

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

that plays toys. They use toy musical instruments and other noise-making toys to perform their own compositions as well as interpretations of works by other artists, from Dvořák to Black Flag. Toychestra have performed at several venues in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

and have toured Europe three times. They have released three CDs, including a collaborative album, '' What Leave Behind'' with English experimental guitarist

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

History

Toychestra began as a once-off experiment in 1996 at a women's festival of

at Hotel Utah in San Francisco. Among the original members were Mary George, Paula Alexander, Lexa Walsh and Shari Robertson. Walsh described their first rehearsal: "we got together and brought our regular instruments, and I brought some toys too. We tried both, and the toys definitely won." They started

improvising Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

with the toys and within a two weeks they had put together a

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

. Toychestra played at a variety of venues, from experimental music spaces and rock clubs, to schools and community centers. They arranged and performed "symphonic miniatures" using toy musical instruments, including tiny pianos, recorders, bugles, drum sets and xylophones, plus other noise making toys, like pink zoo trains and jack-in-the-boxes. They also used a variety of

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

s for percussive sounds.

Contact microphone A contact microphone is a form of microphone that senses audio vibrations through contact with solid objects. Unlike normal air microphones, contact microphones are almost completely insensitive to air vibrations but transduce only structure-bor ...

s were attached to each "instrument" for amplification and the feeds were mixed live during their performances. They dressed up in "dime-store costumes: bridal gowns, superhero outfits, and cowgirl regalia" with "future-shock hairdos and fluorescent wigs". The ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016. History The ''Bay Guar ...

'' described Toychestra as an "ongoing experiment in naïve sound." Composer Dan Plonsey from the San Francisco Bay Area Improv Scene first got to know Toychestra in 1998 when he booked them at his Beanbender's music venue in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. He liked their eccentric style and decided to combine their creative talents with those of fellow Bay Area Improv Scene member and experimental guitarist,

. Plonsey wrote a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

for electric guitar and toy orchestra for Toychestra and Frith to perform, and it was recorded and released in 2004 on a CD, '' What Leave Behind''. Toychestra went on to tour Europe several times, playing for the first time in large concert halls, and became quite popular in France. Later they began incorporating more conventional instruments like the melodica and kalimba to counteract the "shrillness" of the toy instruments. Since their inception, Toychestra went through a number of personnel changes with founding member Walsh remaining at the helm. Their first two releases were both

self-published Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

, an eponymous 7" vinyl

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1999, and a CD, ''Live in Leipzig'' in 2000. This was followed by three CDs on the French label, S.K. Records, including ''What Leave Behind'' with Frith.

Discography

Albums

*''Live in Leipzig'' a.k.a. ''An Evening of Charm'' (2000, CD) *''Sassy Pony'' (2002, CD, S.K. Records, France) *''My Good Side'' (2005, CD, S.K. Records, France) ;With

*'' What Leave Behind'' (2004, CD, S.K. Records, France)

Singles

*"Toychestra" (1999, 7" vinyl)

References

External links

Toychestra homepage
*. {{Authority control American experimental musical groups American all-female bands Musical groups established in 1996 Toy instruments and noisemakers 1996 establishments in California Musical groups from Oakland, California History of women in California