The Musical Instrument Museum in Arizona

Music is the Language of the Soul....

The Musical Instrument Museum

The artistry, diversity, and movement of musical instruments

from around the world, are on display at this interesting museum 

 

I got a chance to visit this museum this week, and since I am not really a musical person....I can't play any instrument or even sing, I thought I might be bored....far from it.

 

 

The museum includes collections of instruments from around two hundred countries and territories in the world. Some larger countries such as India, China, Russia, the United States, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and others have multiple displays with subsections for different types of ethnic, folk, and tribal music.

 The instruments have both historic and artistic merit

 

Guests are given wireless headsets to wear throughout the museum. As they approach each display, they can hear the instruments being played, either solo or as an ensemble.

Many of the instruments were strange, to say the least...

But my favorites were the ones that were made out of

 whatever people could find,

Such as these oil can guitars

Or this one made from tin pie plates

 and this one made from a cigar box

 

Illustrating perfectly, the innate nature of music...

that it exists in us from birth and we are drawn to it on a soul level

 

And then there is the Artist Gallery

 

This signed harmonica display

The Lyrics to Pretty Woman, as written by Roy Orbison

A guitar played by Elvis Presley

and John Denver's "This Old Guitar"

Or Taylor Swift's Dress and guitar from a recent concert

 

And then the gift shop....

Where cut up License Plates would be my favorite thing

 



Beautiful Arizona

 For the next few months we will be writing this blog from Arizona.  Linda, my assistant is visiting family there.  

The miracles of modern technology have made this possible

(Warning: the miracles of modern technology

do create some hair pulling but we

got it figured out)

Arizona has many wonderful attributes but one of my favorites is it's love affair with rusty metal

 

These are just a few of the items on my sister, Karen's, property

I'm sure that before I leave, in March,

 I will be showing you a lot more of the fabulous selection

 of rusty metal available here. 

(I always end up shipping home a box of it)

 

Many people ask me if Arizona is

"brown and dry"

The Bougainvillea is always in bloom when I come in the winter.  It comes in many colors, including white, purple, red, orange, yellow, pink and magenta.  Originally from South America, it is sometimes called Paper Flower 

The combinations of desert plants and brilliant flowers always leave me in awe

 

The Cacti are interesting and beautiful even when they are not in bloom

Most of the trees are wispy and don't offer much shade, which surprised me

 

 

  Citrus grows here beautifully and I love going out in the morning

to get an orange, grapefruit or some lemon for my tea

 

Arizona is anything but brown and dry

 

I am extremely lucky

to be able to spend most of the winter here

Sherron is gracious enough to let me go

 (without it jeopardizing my job)

and my sister has a fabulous piece of property

that can accommodate us

(we stay in her  2 bedroom guest house with my Dad....

who actually built it in 2005 - 2006 when he was 76 years old!)

 

I also have a son, daughter in law and 3 grandchildren here, so being able to be in their lives for more than 10 days at a time is a true blessing