Create, Listen, Dance, and Learn at the Phoenix Musical Instrument Museum
I have been to many wonderful museums all over the world and I do enjoy most of the museums I have seen. But I have to say The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix ‘blew my socks right off!” 🤣
The MIM, as it appears to be called, is a mecca for music lovers of ALL kinds and cultures. It is HUGE, spanning two large floors and the best part is it’s interactive. The collection contains more than 7500 instruments from more than 200 countries around the world. WOW!!! At many, if not all, of the stations, there is a monitor with several options of videos and audios to enjoy. And the best part is your audio player does all the work for you. It senses when you are close to an exhibit and automatically starts playing as you walk around. If you want to view/listen to another option at that station, you can control that with your device. So easy! So interesting! So fun! There were many stations I would have walked past but then the video or audio or both would grab my attention and I’d learn something new. Unbelievable!!! This is what museums of the future will be like! I was super impressed! 🥰
And if this isn’t impressive enough, there’s a whole room devoted to trying out/playing various instruments. While I didn’t have time to visit that part of the museum, I am definitely going back to experience it. There were school groups when I was there and it sounded like they had an absolute blast creating their own music.
Famous musicians/bands/tunes of many musical types are featured in the exhibits. A special featured exhibit entitled “Acoustic America: Iconic Guitars, Mandolins, and Banjos” was on the first floor. A room of historical musical instruments and the music creation room are on the first floor. A musical instrument restoration room is also on the first floor. You may get to watch someone lovingly bring an historical or cultural musical instrument back to life behind the large windows. I watched for a bit and it was kind of fascinating.
The second floor is completely devoted to the music and instruments of many countries and cultures around the world. These are instruments that ordinary folks in that country or culture play, either currently or historically. As a former college social studies major (that may surprise a few people who know me-Yep, all 50 hours!), I was overwhelmed at the size and awesomeness of this. I didn’t even make it to the North American area, but mark my word, I will go back. You could go back 50 times and learn new things every time based on what audios/video clips you consumed.
So, what else? There are comfortable seats to rest while you enjoy the exhibits. The cafe on the first floor looks out on a beautiful courtyard with patio seating. Plus the food is absolutely wonderful. I had the best flatbread pizza ever (I shared with my mom) and my mom had a great hot dog (of all things!). They had a new pastry chef so we split a desert and both agreed it was wonderful. In fact, I stopped back at the counter at the end and personally told the staff that. It was a delicious, peaceful, and beautiful meal and pretty reasonably-priced to boot. It doesn’t get much better than that. 😉
Pardon the mess on the table (our making). 🙄😉🤣 The rest of the view was beautiful! 🥰
The museum sponsors many events, including hundreds of concerts of all kinds every year. Many of the musical artists I learned about in the museum are performing there soon or have performed there. One docent told my mom that between 100 and 500 students tour the museum every weekday. What a great experience for them!
Check out the awesome gift shop too!
Insider tip:
Because of the museum’s popularity, I would recommend you arrive the minute the door opens, whichever day you go. Go immediately to the music creation room and create your own masterpieces before things get busy with tour groups. You can easily spend all day at the museum. Next, head for the second floor and tour the North American area, as that area also tends to be busier. After that, visit any area where there isn’t a crowd of people. Take a break about 11:00 and go have a lovely lunch in the cafe or outdoors on the patio and then head back to the galleries either on the first or second floor, wherever the least busy area is that you haven’t seen. Last, if you have paid for it, visit the special exhibit if you haven’t already seen it. Trust me, this will work! You will see and enjoy more of the museum.
Above all, I’d like to encourage you to enjoy the museum with an open and inquisitive mind. Never seen anyone play a flute with their nose? Me either, until that visit. You will be amazed at what people around the world can make a musical instrument from. Music is universal and so is the ingenuity of all cultures and races.
As you might have guessed, I took hundreds of photos, some of which you see below. I did not take many videos because I was unsure about copyright. So, enjoy the photos! I’ll add more tomorrow, so stop back! Check out the link below for museum hours, events, exhibits, history, cost, and more. You can even tour a portion of the museum online!
