The Inside Story: Tricia Dawn Williams and TINY KEYS BIG SOUNDS

TINY KEYS BIG SOUNDS from Tricia Dawn Williams reimagines the toy piano as a concert instrument, revealing its surprisingly expressive depth across 13 contemporary compositions. Commissioned as part of Williams’ ToyPiano+ project, the album blends acoustic and electronic elements, jazz and classical influences, and sonic experimentation.

Today, Tricia is our featured artist on the “Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn about her passion for classical music, cooking from scratch, and her six cats…

Tell us about your first performance.

My very first performance happened when I was 7 or maybe 8. I remember me wearing a long pale blue dress to perform a simple piano arrangement of the Radetzky March originally composed by Johann Strauss. I can just remember me waiting my turn as other students played before me. I don’t think I was anxious, too young for that. I do remember the audience clapping to this familiar tune as I played and I hated them doing that because they were not keeping in tempo with me and I complained about it to my teacher afterwards.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?

I would be a figure skater. Figure skating always fascinated me. I’m very much into sport and I love dance as well so this combines the two. In Malta this is not a sport we practice, but for a few years we did have an ice-rink and my “dream” came true for as long as the ice-rink stood there as I was practicing this sport and even had a Russian coach. Unfortunately the ice-rink shut down after a few years… but I still have my white boots :)

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

I love collaborating with different composers… and I’m already doing that. This album is the result of such collaborations. I also enjoy collaborating with dancers and have had various opportunities… so yes, if I had to choose, I would love to collaborate with the Hervé Koubi Dance Company.

What advice would you give to your younger self if given the chance?

To be honest I’m not sure what advice I would give my younger self. Any advice will definitely change what my life is now and honestly I don’t have any regrets because even through the worst choices that I might have made, something good came out anyway and all my choices forged the path that brought me where I am today. I’d rather go into the future to check that my older self is not angry with me for something I might be doing in the near future.

Take us on a walk through your musical library. What record gets the most plays? Are there any “deep cuts” that you particularly enjoy?

At the moment the top ones are The Miraculous Mandarin (arrangement for two pianos) by Bela Bartok. I would love to play that. Also, Meredith Monk’s Piano Songs and Schnittke’s Piano Concerto. Then anything I’m going to perform myself will get quite a few “deep cuts” if I manage to find a recording.

What emotions do you hope listeners will experience after hearing your work?

Curiosity, mainly after listening to this album. Not many people take the toy piano seriously and so are not aware of its capabilities which I must admit are limited but still there’s a lot one can do and the 13 composers on this album are proof of that.

How have your influences changed as you grow as a musician?

As a 16 year old I was only interested in classical music, especially the works of Chopin and Rachmaninov. As I grew older I was attracted more to the likes of Bartok, Hindemith, Stravinsky, and Ligeti. Moving on I experienced Crumb, Cowell, Cage, Reich, and others. These days, amongst my favourite contemporary composers whose works I play regularly are John Psathas, Stephen Montague, Scott McAllister, Atau Tanaka, and of course my fellow Maltese composers. I’m very interested in including electronics and video in my performances both chamber and solo.

Where and when are you at your most creative?

When I’m doing my long run in the very early morning on Sundays. It’s when I’m the most relaxed so I start getting ideas about anything from a piece of music I would like to learn or a new project I want to work on. As soon as I returned home I would dictate some notes quickly to my phone before I forgot.

What are your other passions besides music?

Food and cats. I love food, but not in the traditional manner. It’s not the taste of food I’m after but rather the power food has over our minds and bodies and how it can transform a person. I cook all my meals from scratch and I must admit it is very time consuming but it’s become almost a ritual for me. Cats on the other hand are my beloved companions. I share my home with 6 beautiful cats (and my partner). The only room they’re not allowed in, and in which they’re always trying to sneak, is my studio that has a grand piano, an upright piano, and 10 toy pianos. So that’s really a danger zone.

What’s the greatest performance you’ve ever seen, and what made it special?

The 100-year anniversary of the Rite of Spring occurred on May 29, 2013. This date marks a century since the ballet’s original premiere at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. This centennial was widely celebrated and I was present for one of the performances.