A Visit to the Musical Instrument Museum
Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona for the first time to meet with the education team about a tentative event that we are planning for 2025. What an INCREDIBLE place. If you are a music educator, musician, music lover, or human being, you MUST visit this unique and gorgeous collection whenever you are in the area - and I dare say that it is worth a special trip from wherever you are. I spent about 2 hours walking around the exhibits and I was blown away by the vast collection of musical instruments on display, the way they are displayed, the mindful architecture throughout that reminds you of various musical instruments, and the many hands on spaces for young and old alike to make music. It is incredible.
The MIM opened in 2010 with a goal of creating a musical instrument museum that celebrates the global musical human experience. It was founded by Bob Ulrich (the CEO of Target at the time) and has a collection of more than 7,500 musical instruments from more than 200 countries. The second floor galleries are arranged by geographic location and a tour around the second floor is literally a tour around the world. I started in Africa and made my way around to Europe. Along the way, I saw thousands of musical instruments, contextualized with videos, photos, artifacts, and of course, audio recordings. Here is a gallery of the pictures I took along that tour. MIM also has a wonderful YouTube channel where you can see recordings of all types of events and exhibits.
A keen eye might notice Miles Davis’ trumpet, Clara Rockmore’s theremin, Louis Armstrong’s cornet, Benny Goodman’s clarinet, Prince’s purple piano, David Grisman’s mandolin, and Thelonius Monk’s piano. The galleries throughout the second floor are simply overwhelming. Here are a few photos to illustrate that:
The first floor of the MIM is for temporary exhibitions, and I was lucky enough to see the Acoustic America exhibit, filled with all sorts of guitars, banjos, mandolins, and more played by American roots musicians. The first floor also has an incredible concert hall (see below) that hosts over 300 musical performances a year. In addition to welcoming those audiences to diverse musical programming, tens of thousands of students from around the greater Phoenix area visit the museum each year where they engage in tours, STEM programs, and general musical fun! There are classes on the weekends and PD events for teachers.
I am so happy that I made the trip to the MIM and I urge you to consider a visit the next time you are anywhere near it. My hosts were amazing, and I am very much looking forward to hopefully coming back in early 2025 with MusicFirst!
