{"id":10332,"date":"2011-09-14T21:09:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T21:09:29","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-09-17T03:09:19","modified_gmt":"2011-09-17T03:09:19","slug":"Piano-woman-Tiffany-Lin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=10332","title":{"rendered":"Piano woman Tiffany Lin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Piano player, Tiffany Lin has been sitting at the keyboard fumbling for the right notes since 1986. Influenced by her classical training during her formative years, Tiflin now plays music in many genres expanding her language as a musician and as a pianist.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Born in Taiwan and raised in the Central Valley of California, Tiflin resides in Seattle, WA where she plays a variety of solo and ensemble projects using Casio keyboards, toy pianos, pocket pianos and regular pianos. She teaches, performs and composes.<\/p>\n

Asiance: Tiffany, how did you first get started in music? <\/h3>\n

Tiffany:<\/b> Well, I\u2019d have to blame it on my mom. I was one of those kids whose parents were a little insane on the extracurriculars – gymnastics, tap, ballet, painting, piano, cello, and orchestra.<\/p>\n

Those were my activities for a few years until it became clear that piano was something I was better at than the rest. I did do a pretty nice cartwheel though.<\/p>\n

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\nI felt that it would be an interesting thing to take some of the free pianos and see how instrument designers could manipulate them into other objects\/instruments.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tiffany Lin<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Asiance: You perform solo but also with \u201cThe Toy Boats\u201d and \u201cCrosstalk.\u201d Can you tell me about these groups? <\/h3>\n

Tiffany:<\/b> The Toy Boats is a quartet made up of small and\/or toy instruments. We play original pieces as well as arrangements of Hungarian\/French\/Polish Folk Songs and some Nino Rota and Bregovic film scores. The idea originated from a funny idea I had of an ensemble playing the funeral march on toy instruments for a kid\u2019s pet funeral where we are all fitting in a bathtub. You know the kind where the goldfish gets flushed down the toilet? Anyhow, since most parents don\u2019t hire a funeral band for their kids pets, The Toy Boats are playing some more uplifting songs in venues that don\u2019t have toilets. Not to say that we wouldn\u2019t if you needed us to.<\/p>\n

Crosstalk is made up of a more traditional instrumentation (clarinet, piano, upright bass, drum set). It\u2019s mostly a blend of traditional jazz, chamber music and sound art type compositions mostly by the clarinetist of the group, Jesse Canterbury. There\u2019s notation mixed in with improvisational elements in each piece, and that\u2019s what makes this group interesting. Also, the best part for me is I\u2019m working with three other performers who have a rich history in jazz and improvisational styles and getting a chance to flex my reading skills and improvise with these guys is a real treat.<\/p>\n

Asiance: You are presently working on the \u201cTiny Song Series\u201d where you perform arrangements of piano pieces on toy pianos. How did you begin playing on miniature instruments? <\/h3>\n

Tiffany:<\/b> I get asked this question often, and I\u2019ve formulated a couple of answers. But, the best answer is that I just got excited about toy pianos. They\u2019re small, they\u2019re mostly affordable, the old French ones sound great, and I get to play using just one finger sometimes. You can keep track of my Tiny Song Series (which includes ordering your very own tiny song) on my blog.<\/p>\n

Asiance: Your performances, at times, seem to bridge musical performances and sight and sound. Like \u201cThis Old Piano\u201d where you deconstructed an old piano to create a new instrument or your audio and visual piece \u201cHas Fallen Into the Well\u201d where you had a paper-constructed box bolted to the wall with a hole in the bottom for the viewer to \u201cstep into the box.\u201d Tell us about these projects. <\/h3>\n

Tiffany:<\/b> I have a real love for visual art, so sometimes I try to combine my music practice with some of that. This Old Piano was a project in response to my frustrations in acquiring a piano. Instruments are, basically, objects and they range from being free to being almost unaffordable because they are so expensive. The piano is one of those instruments, so expensive sometimes but also largely free because they become cumbersome to maintain and house. And compared to other musical instruments, they are massive, with beautiful pieces of wood and sometimes ivory keys, etc. So, we all know what happens to those really expensive pianos. But what about the free ones that seem useless? I felt that it would be an interesting thing to take some of the free pianos and see how instrument designers could manipulate them into other objects\/instruments.<\/p>\n

\u2018Has Fallen into the Well\u2019 was a quite a challenge. I\u2019ve never done 3D installation work before. The general idea was to make a simple device which reflected some of my childhood memories – mainly the idea of only using what I had on hand. In this case it was paper, glue, tape. Then I positioned the box so that it would be perfect for me to step into and view. Of course this made it either awkward or difficult for others to \u2018step into\u2019 the box. I wanted to talk about flexibility and awareness with this piece.<\/p>\n