Greetings, hep cats!

If music be thy food of love, then take thyself to the MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM- 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, AZ.

Here, you can find a large variety of things (meaning more than just instruments… but plenty of those, anyway!). Seriously, this place is huge and I am having a hard time narrowing down what pictures to include. There’s the Geographical Gallery, featuring instruments from every country in the world.

By “every country,” I mean EVERY country is represented here. This means instruments from England, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Solomon Islands, Belarus, Ghana, Burma (I panicked), Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan (and all the other “stans”), Iceland, Vanuatu, and every other country you have and have not heard of in between.

They also display many prominent dance costumes or props.

There’s the Artist Gallery of different famous musicians and their costumes or instruments.

 

They also have a Conservation Lab, where they restore instruments, the Mechanical Music Gallery of instruments designed to play themselves, the Experience Gallery which allows visitors to play a variety of instruments. There are also some Special Displays that show different manufacturing processes, such as a Steinway piano or a Martin Guitar.

I recommend setting aside at least (but probably more than) a couple of hours for this museum. It’s worth it, walking through and letting the realization hit you that, despite the differences, every corner of the world has created music in some form.

… the world is round, I know, no corners, stop arguing!

Besides basic communication, music is a necessity for the human race for self expression, connection, and relief.

Your self-guided tour includes a headset that will automatically connect to whatever TV you walk up to and play samples of that exhibit’s music.

I highly recommend this museum for all ages, levels of knowledge, and music tastes.

Until next time, dahlings…