PHOENIX, ARIZONA: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM – Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Miniature glass orchestra from Murano, Italy, at the Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ

My friend and fellow children’s book writer Caroline Hatton visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix in April of 2016 and sent me this fascinating report along with a few of her photos.

Phoenix had long been on my list of weekend getaway destinations because I wanted to visit Taliesin West, which was the winter residence of legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. When the trip became reality, I wondered, what else is there to see or do? Online search results pointed me to the Musical Instrument Museum.

Burmese wooden string instrument

Normally I spend no more than one or two hours in a museum before I get saturated. Therefore, I was stunned by the fact that I spent three hours at the MIM and delighted by how much I enjoyed it.

Afri-can guitar made by recycling a car-engine-oil can

The museum includes the following:

- Geographic Galleries (with displays organized by continent and country)

- a Mechanical Music Gallery

- an Artist Gallery (about individual performers)

- a gallery for special exhibitions (you have to pay extra to see it)

- an Experience Gallery (where you can experience the noise made by kids pounding drums—those in the room and those in your ears)

- a Conservation Lab (where experts repair instruments)

- a Store

In the geographic area, I was most attracted to the displays about a few countries to which I have an emotional attachment based on personal history. I went straight to the exhibit on Mongolia, because my heart still lingers there, galloping on a spirited horse over the infinite steppe under the eternal blue sky, after a trip of a lifetime there less than a year ago. Like the displays on other countries, the one about Mongolia featured traditional instruments and costumes, engaging photos and paragraphs, and captivating video clips of songs, dances, and instrumental music.

Left to right: Fiddle horse heads from Inner Mongolia (China), Mongolia, and Kazakhstan

The Mongols prize their horses, so it’s no wonder they make and play a horse-head fiddle with horse hair strings called morin khuur, decorated at the top with a horse’s head sculpted out of wood, ready to get your pulse pounding with the intoxicating rhythm of hoof beats racing the wind. I looked for other horse-head instruments made by Mongols living in neighboring countries and found examples from Inner Mongolia (the part of China just south of Mongolia) and Kazakhstan (west of Mongolia).

New Zealand Maori trumpet used as a megaphone to shout insults at enemies

The world-wide diversity of instrument types, materials, designs, sounds, uses, and the emotional impact of their music on me was mind-blowing. So many things were so much fun to discover! I loved hearing Australian country singer Slim Dusty croon about his father Noisy Dan, and watching a wedding party in New Zealand perform a Maori haka (traditional ancestral war dance and cry). Other memorable examples appear in my photos.

Malaysian nose flute

I did not spend much time in galleries other than the geographic ones. The most interesting part of the Allegro Cafe, for me, was the courtyard cacti and succulents, not to eat, but to photograph.

Since I saw less than half of what the MIM offers, I’ll go back if I ever return to Phoenix. To broaden my horizons beyond horse’s heads, I’ll look for all the instruments that include horse hair as strings or decorations.