NEWS
diversity of cultures and global musical practices. To date, MIM has collected more than
12,000 instruments and objects, and plans to
display 3,000 items at the grand opening.
“Building this collection isn’t just a curatorial mission, it’s an adventure,” said MIM
President and Director Bill De Walt. “Our
curatorial team has literally searched the
world to collect diverse instruments that will
spark the imagination of our guests, demonstrating the breadth of our musical heritage.”
Musical Instrument Museum
to Open in Phoenix
Phoenix, AZ – The Musical Instrument
Museum (MIM), the first truly global museum
of its kind, is gearing up for its grand opening in Phoenix on April 24, 2010. The museum has completed construction of its new
building and is now applying interior finishes
to its galleries and public spaces, including
exhibition installation of the Geo-Galleries,
five expansive galleries that focus on different regions of the world, and the Artist
Gallery, where unique stories of musical icons
will be told through their instruments.
galleries will feature advanced wireless technology and high-resolution video screens,
enabling museum guests to see instruments,
hear their sounds, and observe them being
played in their original settings—
performances that are often as spectacular as the
instruments themselves.
MIM’s vast collection will be highlighted
in Geo-Galleries that focus on five global
regions, as well as in a special Artist Gallery
that features noteworthy instruments played
by many of the world’s leading musicians. The
five Geo-Galleries are African and Middle East,
Asia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America and
the Caribbean, and United States/Canada.
MIM will celebrate music by exhibiting instruments from every country in the world. The
museum has already acquired more than
12,000 instruments and objects for its core
collection, representing musical traditions
from folk and popular to ritual and courtly.
MIM’s diverse collections will be installed on
two floors of spacious, light-filled galleries.
The new building also will feature a classroom,
garden courtyard, performance hall, recording
studio, restaurant, café, and store.
In contrast to the other Geo-Galleries,
exhibits in the United States/Canada gallery
will be organized by musical genre. Ranging
from West Coast Taiko drumming to East
Coast hip-hop, the 36 displays in the
United States/Canada gallery will explore
traditional and popular sounds from the
Arctic to the Mexican border. Guests will
experience the diverse array of instruments
that shaped the North American musical experience, including the Appalachian
dulcimer, sousaphone, ukulele, and electric
guitar. The music of native peoples in the
United States and Canada will also be highlighted in eight displays exploring old and
modern musical traditions, with instruments
such as the water drum, raven rattle, and
the Apache violin. Special displays will also
highlight iconic American musical instrument manufacturers, including Fender guitars, Martin guitars, and Steinway pianos.
“The new museum taking shape before us will
become a new landmark for Phoenix,” said
Bob Ulrich, MIM Founder and Board Chairman.
“Our team has made enormous strides toward
creating a museum like no other, where guests
will see and hear how people everywhere share
their experiences through music.”
This 1952 Les Paul goldtop is one of the instruments that
will be on display at the museum.
In addition to the thousands of heirloom and
hand-crafted instruments on display, MIM
will also present instruments that guests can
touch and play, insider’s views of how instruments work, and workshops that detail the
instrument-building process. Additionally, the
The Collection
The instruments in MIM’s collection, represent-
ing every country in the world, were selected
for fine construction, the reputation of their
makers, special provenance, or connections
to famous performers. In addition to acquir-
ing objects through purchase and gifts, MIM’s
curatorial staff has traveled extensively to col-
lect instruments and artifacts that convey the
MIM’s Artist Gallery will feature musical
instruments linked to world-renowned musi-
cians and music innovators, as well as video
of concert footage, photographs, costumes,
and other special items. Highlights will
include the piano on which John Lennon
composed “Imagine,” a guitar and stage cos-
tume from world music superstar King Sunny
Adé, and an oud from Palestinian master
musician Simon Shaheen. “King of the Surf
Guitar” Dick Dale’s rare collection of Fender
amplifiers, keyboards, and transformers will
be on extended loan, as well as the trumpet
he used in the solo played on “Miserlou.”
