The MIM

There is  a new museum in Phoenix, The Musical Instrument Museum.  Right up our alley.  We went yesterday and were there for almost 2 hours and could have stayed much longer.  When you cam in you were issued a head set.  When you came to a monitor, your headset automatically connected to it.  It was very interesting.  My favorite instruments were the violin modified to project better in the early days of recording, it was a neck and strings, but instead of a body to resonate it had a horn bell.  So it was like a violin-trumpet.  There was one of the drums that was plated in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, with the performance on the display.  A piano that might have been the one John Lennon played "Imagine" on. I say might because the display sure made it look like the exact piano but I couldn't find anything that said it was or wasn't THE piano.  Hazel says her favorite part was playing the harps. She played a very heartfelt rendition of Mary had a little lamb on the guitar.  Nate liked the big thing and the demonstration of the goblet playing.  Big thing being the giant Chinese Gong, that you got to hit (one hit per visitor).  Christian commented that he felt bad that Snug didn't have headphones because it made him feel guilty enjoying the sounds with out her.  She was probably just as happy smelling people's smelly socks!

Abby in front of a theatre organ.  Notice the saxophones that are part of it. You can see the drums that are above her head, in the monitor below.

 Here is Truman and Nate watching the theatre organ playing.

 Kenneth played a little Gershwin on these African marimbas.

 Nate and Hazel giving a demonstration of these gong type instruments.

 This is a really primitive marimba made of planks of rough cut wood, pvc pipe, string and some packing tape. I told Kenneth that it gave me hope that our marimba would play.  He frowned at me :(

 I loved these harps.  There were several from different parts of the world.

 Sydney in the room of mechanical instruments.  The collection included player pianos, music boxes, phonographs, mechanical birds, and the theatre organ.

Christian and Rebekah and Snug waiting in the lobby.