Visiting the Musical Instrument Museum
Arizona Travel Guide visits the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale, Greater Phoenix, and finds a world class museum, one of the best museums in Arizona.
Visiting the Musical Instrument Museum was an absolute delight for us. We’re both life-long music fans, and both play musical instruments, so we knew we’d be in for a treat. It’s the biggest museum of its kind in the world with over 15,000 musical instruments and related objects, plus videos and audio recordings from over 200 countries.
Visiting the Musical Instrument Museum
They call it MIM for short, and to that we can only say WOW! The collection is so vast that they not only sell 1-day passes but you can buy a 2-day pass at the door as they know you’ll never see everything in one day. We can confirm that as we went for a day and as closing time approached we were racing around trying to fit as much in as we could. Next time it’ll be a 2-day pass for sure!
The ‘problem’ is not just that there are so many musical instruments on display, and all the videos to watch and recordings to hear, the information boards are absorbing and you really get drawn into learning more about the cultures from which the instruments grew.
Highlights of the Musical Instrument Museum
There were so many highlights for us that it’s impossible to list them all. But up there at the top was seeing Elvis Presley’s stage guitar. This was pretty bashed-up when it was discovered, with lots of damage on the back from constant slapping against his heavy stage belts.
The Elvis Presley Estate entrusted its repair to MIM, and there’s a fascinating film on how they fixed the damage without destroying the historic integrity of the instrument. There are also some of Elvis’s costumes, and other memorabilia.
Another highlight was seeing the piano on which John Lennon composed Imagine, though the piano tours the world so it won’t necessarily be there when you visit.
Arizona Musicians
There’s a special section devoted to Arizona musicians, and in case you didn’t know, these include Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, Duane Eddy, Marty Robbins, Charles Mingus, Stevie Nicks, Jordin Sparks, Waylon Jennings, Calexico, Buck Owens, and Glen Campbell. You could probably spend half a day touring this section alone, if you read, watched, and listened to everything.
Music Legends
There are displays with costumes, video and sound clips, and of course musical instruments from music legends including Taylor Swift, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, Joan Baez, Roberta Flack, and many more. These are in the Artist Gallery, and it’s not only pop and rock musicians. They happen to be the ones we were most interested in, but jazz and classical music is represented too, including displays on Pablo Casals and Tito Puente.
Bang a Gong
As we love music, another favorite of ours was the Experience Gallery, where you get chance to play a variety of instruments. These have to be robust as the gallery is naturally popular with kids – it was quite a cacophony in there, which we added to by beating drums, playing some of the instruments from a gamelan orchestra, and banging a huge gong hanging up on the wall. Great fun!
International Music
So far we’ve mainly mentioned the better-known pop and rock stars, but the museum is wonderfully international covering Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, Latin America, Europe, and the USA and Canada.
We loved the Recycled Orchestra, an orchestra of musical instruments made from recycled and discarded objects like oil drums, kitchen utensils, and water pipes. This was done by a youth orchestra that was founded in a poor area in Cateura in Paraguay.
There are drums made from enormous tree trunks, a 500-year-old Japanese mouth organ, a collection of bagpipes from all around the world (not just Scotland!), and the first Steinway piano ever made.
Other Galleries
There’s also a gallery featuring a collection of mechanical musical instruments, like barrel organs and automatons. The Collier STEM Gallery concentrates on the connection between music and science and technology, exploring how instruments work and how the human ear works too. There are lots of interactive displays here.
Planning a Visit to the Musical Instrument Museum
If you’re planning on visiting the Musical Instrument Museum but can be flexible on your dates, then check out the website first. There are changing special exhibitions, special events including workshops for children, and regular concerts. A lot of these sell out well in advance as the theater is an intimate 300-seater, although they do put on over 200 concerts a year. You might want to stay nearby overnight so you can take in a concert and finish your visit the next day.
Finally, you also need to allow time to visit the gift shop. It’s the best and most fun gift shop of any museum we’ve ever been to!
Visiting the Musical Instrument Museum
For up-to-date opening times and prices visit the website.
Visiting the Musical Instrument Museum
For up-to-date opening times and prices visit the website.
OUR PICK OF THE GUIDES
From that blues bar you haven’t visited yet to the desert hike you keep meaning to plan, experience something new right here at home with Moon 52 Things to Do in Phoenix & Tucson.
- Cool things to do in and around the cities: Kick back at a Spring Training game or squeeze into the grandstands of El Gran Mercado for some lucha libre. Bike the famed Loop in Tucson, kayak Tempe Town Lake, and lace up your boots for an urban hike in the Phoenix Mountains. Support local BIPOC writers at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore and taste what’s on tap at a women-owned brewery. Savor Sonoran-style food like tamales and carne asada or try authentic Tohono O’odham fry bread.
