RETIREMENT TRIP #6

     MIM IS MAX IN MUSIC    

                       October 2015                  

The Djembe actually has a
rubber tire around the bottom.

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix has been named the most recommended place to visit in the Phoenix area.  With a private tour guide, who has been named one of the top docents at the museum, there was no question we wanted to spend some hours at MIM.  Outfitted with ear phones and audio clip-on boxes, we toured the gorgeous museum.
Shannon started us in the History of Drumming exhibit, called "Beyond the Beat."

Shannon taps a beat in
time to the drum rhythm.

Rory gave us the introduction to a display of 30 different kinds of drums.  One of them was a Djembe, a goblet drum, with a rubber tire on the bottom.  "It just shows you people use anything they can find to make music," said Shannon.
Then Rory invited us to try the giant drum, 12-feet in diameter, that lit up with rhythms.  We banged away with sticks and mallets.
Shannon and Rory challenged us to find the oldest drum--actually the oldest object in the whole museum collection--and the drum made of a human skull.

The oldest piece in the
museum is displayed
under glass.

Andy found them both in the "Beyond the Beat" display area.  Under glass, the Paigu, hourglass drum, dated back to 4000 BCE, so it was 6,000 years old.
The Thäpa damaru from Nepal was from the 20th century.  This double-headed hourglass drum truly was double headed.  It was made of two human skulls--a man's and a woman's joined together and covered with human skin, silk, silver and turquoise.

The two-headed drum is
made of two skulls.

"Since this drum is pictured with monks, it is probably a respectful way to end one's life," I suggested tactfully, actually questioning if scalping had been involved.
"Oh, absolutely," said Shannon.  "It's definitely not murder but a way to keep serving religiously." 
Just imagine becoming a drum in the next life!
From exhibit to exhibit Shannon pointed out interesting instruments and told us her stories about the countries and their musical connections to the various instruments.  Beautifully presented, each area displayed the instruments and presented video clips of the instruments being played in historical and geographical perspectives. 

The handle on this drum is a flashlight.

At a display about the group Creedence Clearwater Revival, featuring Doug "Cosmo" Clifford, the musician explained how his cymbals had been adapted with 25-pound steel rims so they would stay standing through a performance.

Slit drums from Vanuatu
tower over our heads.

Shannon pointed out a lyre called a Nyatiti from Kenya. It was made of animal, skin, wool, metal and string by the Luo people and had a flashlight for a handle.
"People use anything they have to create music," explained Shannon.
The two slit drums from Vanuatu represented social status. 
"Walk around them, and count the number of faces on each one," ordered Shannon.
We did.
"Now I ask the children on tours which one is more important.  Most of them say the taller one."  She laughed.
The sign said, "The number of faces matters in this culture.  The shorter slit drum had more faces, so shortness had social status.
We hurried downstairs to the Mechanical Musical Gallery, a display area for mechanical instruments. At noon George demonstrated the DeCap Apollonia dance organ, made in Belgium in 1926.  The huge mechanical organ has 680 pipes with sounds that include drums, accordion and xylophone.  It was in use in Belgium through the 1980's in a dance hall and could play 300 songs using punch cards.  Now at MIM the songs have been mechanized.  George played a polka and a samba-rhumba for the large groups that had gathered for his noon show.

Gourds make music marimba-style.

Then we headed back upstairs to the galleries on the second floor.
 The marimba de tecomates was actually made in the 1920's of gourds that resonated like a xylophone.  The African slaves in Central America used spider egg sacs to cover the ends of the gourds.
Marimba doble required two people to play it with beaters.
"Next month the Recycled Orchestra will be here to perform," explained Shannon.

The Recycled Orchestra utilizes gas cans.

I took a picture of the instruments made of refuse from a landfill in Paraguay.  We watched some of the documentary.
"We saw that show on TV," Andy remarked.

Intricate sculpture in
ceramics illustrates the
story of creation and
life in Mexico.

Before we headed downstairs to the display area that featured donated displays by individual artists like John Lennon, John Denver, June and Johnny Cash and Taylor Swift, we looked at the huge ceramic Tree of Life: The Day of the Dead.  The intricate 2010 sculpture production by Adrian Luis González showed the role of music in Mexican life. Shannon explained the piece had been commissioned by the museum.  She asks her student tour groups to find the artist's likeness of himself.
With drum beats still pounding rhythmically in our heads, we stopped for an elegant Japanese-themed lunch in the cafeteria.  Relaxing in the outdoor gardens was out of the question.  Phoenix was getting a steady, gentle rain.
After another whole hour of browsing through the individual artist displays and the mechanical musical gallery, we were ready for musical dreams.
But we weren't too tired to try out the Experimental Room, the MIM pièce de résistance.   The whole room reverberated with percussion instruments for guests to try: the theremin, sometimes called the world's strangest and spookiest musical instrument; drums of every kind; as well as gongs, harps, and rattles.

Andy finds his musical talent.

We played "Happy Birthday," Three Blind Mice" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" like real musical artists. 
And then it was time to head back to Shannon's home.
It was easy to see why people say MIM is a "don't miss" in Phoenix.
Allow hours for the visit!