‘Dragon Lady’ of avant-garde music writes her sonic memoir with toy piano

A good craftsman doesn't blame his tools. The saying holds especially true for Margaret Leng Tan, the Singapore-born, New York–based pianist who has played everything from toy pianos and tea pots to coffee cans on her way to becoming one of the world’s leading avant-garde musicians.

Also a muse to the legendary composers John Cage and George Crumb, Tan has been at the forefront of American experimental music for more than four decades, continually expanding the very definition of what can be considered an instrument.

"It was my mentor, the avant-garde composer (John) Cage’s lifelong conviction that one can make music with any object capable of producing sound,” Tan said in a written interview with The Korea Herald, Thursday.

"The conventional piano has a long history of tradition and expectations. With my newfound instruments there are no rules to be broken, my imagination can soar. "

A craftsman may not choose their tools, but that certainly demands greater effort. Like the Dada artist Marcel Duchamp’s credo that “poor tools require better skills,” she hones her pianistic technique on a humble toy piano and develops her percussion abilities by striking a row of coffee cans.

On Friday and Saturday, the 79-year-old artist brings to Seoul her deeply personal performance piece “Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep,” a sonic portrait of her life that weaves together music, text, voice recordings, images and an assortment of toys.

The title, she admits, is a kind of confession because the self-proclaimed, indomitable “Dragon Lady” says she literally has not shed a tear in 30 years.

“I think I have lost the ability to do so, even on such profound occasions as the death of my parents or my beloved dogs. (But) It’s not that I have lost the ability to feel, but those feelings are locked so very deeply within me."

The performance is filled with fragments of her memories and reflections, as if she is writing a memoir in sonic form, including her lifelong struggle with obsessive-compulsive behavior, a relentless leitmotif that threads throughout the entire play.

“I think it is important that the audience realizes I am not acting. Rather, I am simply being myself on stage. Since, by this time of my life, I have acquired a position of influence, I feel very strongly that I want to be open about my OCD to convey the message that it is possible to achieve despite having a handicap."

Although the subject matter might seem serious, her humor and childlike sense of playfulness are ever-present. Her signature toy pianos, along with a toy phone — a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that she has managed all these years without a mobile — a toy gun and other playful objects are all deployed with her characteristic wit.

"I have always wanted to be a sit-down comic. The toy piano encourages me to hone my comedic and theatrical talents in a way that the adult grand piano does not."

Tan hopes audiences will take something intangible home with them.

“It is my hope that a sound, an image, a phrase, a feeling, a thought will also linger with Seoul audiences. And what more painless and spontaneous way is there to be initiated into the world of the avant-garde than through the beguiling world of toys?”

"Dragon Ladies Don't Weep" is part of the 2025 Seoul Performing Arts Festival. Tickets are available through Nol.