We can easily spend a whole day at the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix Arizona and not even realize how quickly the time has flown. Especially, on a Signature Event Day. The link here provides the whole program of the Experience France event that I will be describing below.
Signature Events Days are a-whole-day long events - an experience of a country's music, musical instruments, dance, theatre, film; experience through concerts, interactive dance, music and craft workshops.
My day started early in about 9:30 am with crafting an instrument I had never seen before - chapeau chinois (bell tree). Yet, it was a popular instrument once in France. The craft station provided the materials, so I crafted my chapeau chinois, and headed to the Gallery to compare it to the original one and to learn more about it.
Chapeau chinois (bell tree) - hand-crafted and original instrument, and history of the instrument
What would a day be without a photo of the event?! The organizers have a photo booth with event props for us to take a photo with our crafted musical instrument.
Meanwhile the corridors of the building are filled with the live performance tunes of the talented strolling accordionist, playing French chanson (songs). From the trip to the Gallery, we know that accordions are a popular instrument for busking in Paris.
I was fascinated by the Medieval and Renaissance Music of Barthlomew Faire Band. Luckily the Book store had a DVD of theirs. The music is catchy, and I still hear it in my head, years after that.
Later in the day we watched a presentation on the Notre Dame French Musical Innovators; heard manouche jazz music and Paris Chansons. The French Saxophone performance by a Museum team member was very special!
These day trips to a MIM Signature Events are available every month at the Museum - lively, informative, interactive. We attend them regularly and look forward to the next one this October.
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