The Musical Instrument Museum: There’s Music Everywhere
Photos by Garrett Martin
Almost anything can be a musical instrument. A horse’s jawbone? A couple of rocks, a stick, and some string? An armadillo shell? A box with a constantly buzzing antenna sticking out of it? Something that’s not quite a sitar, not quite a violin, and not quite a guitar, but also all three at once? As Mr. Music sang in John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch, there’s music everywhere, especially at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, where you can see everything I just mentioned.
Since opening in 2010, the Musical Instrument Museum has exhibited the largest collection of instruments anywhere in the world. From guitars and pianos to rubabs and ngombis, the museum staggers not just with the size of its collection but the variety. Its sprawling main exhibit displays instruments from dozens of cultures, letting guests see not just the differences in how music is made internationally but the similarities, as well. As distinct as a sarangi is from European instruments, it’s still clearly a stringed instrument—something in the same general family as a lute or guitar. It looks different and sounds different, but operates on some of the same fundamental concepts, reminding us that we’re all in closer harmony than we might realize.
Most of the museum’s second floor is occupied by that global survey, with instruments from a plethora of cultures from all five major regions of the world. It’s a genuinely overwhelming showcase, and could easily take an entire day (or more) to fully explore. And the instruments aren’t just on display; audio and video clips let you hear and see them in action, highlighting the startling diversity of music throughout the world. If you’re remotely interested in the sounds made by people, you’ll easily lose yourself within these spacious halls.
If you’re less interested in instruments than the famous people who’ve played them, rest easy: the museum’s Artist Gallery is full of instruments played by some of the most important figures in music history. From early country, blues and bluegrass pioneers, through mid century superstars like Elvis, John Lennon, and Carlos Santana, up to current phenom Taylor Swift, you can get up close to stage- and studio-worn instruments by some of the biggest legends in music. Two of my personal faves were Duane Eddy’s double-necked Howard guitar, which has a sleek, aerodynamic design that makes it look like an early ‘50s sports car or even an art deco art piece; and the colorful, personalized pedal steel guitar of Bud Isaacs, who helped create post-war country by making the pedal steel one of its signature sounds on Webb Pierce’s 1954 hit “Slowly.” So much of what we think of as country today was born by the notes Isaacs summoned from this pedal steel—or at least another one very much like it.