Usually, museums-experimentations are full of exhibits that demonstrate physical or chemical phenomena. But why not experiment with music? Adults and children are invited to listen to how 400 musical instruments sound and try to play them independently at the MIMMA Interactive Museum of Music in Malaga.
To avoid being shy in the museum halls, we suggest learning one phrase in Spanish: “Se ruega tocar”. Translated, it means “Please touch”, and such signs hang next to many of the tools in the museum. The colour will also help you find out which instruments you can play:
- The space for exploring the history of music is painted black.
- The area for playing music is red.
- The halls with giant musical instruments are white.
Children, of course, are most interested in the red halls of the Music Museum in Malaga. What to play first? On guitar, violin, cello, piano, electronic drum kit? Or maybe on a eucalyptus pipe didgeridoo or a clay drum oud, which looks more like a jug? The virtual teacher will explain how to handle each of the instruments, how to hold your hand and how to make a sound.
But even in rooms marked with mysterious black colours, children will find an application for their energy and curiosity. Here they are waiting for new experiments with sound. For example, in the "Laboratory", children will conduct several experiments and learn about what sound is from the point of view of physics, how sound waves propagate, and why some sounds seem pleasant while others hurt their hearing. Many halls are equipped with interactive panels: using them, you can hear the sound of instruments from around the world and find out what the predecessors of modern string, wind and percussion instruments looked like.
The interactive music museum promises more discoveries. For example, do you know when music appeared? What is the oldest musical instrument? Why does music evoke so many emotions, and what is music therapy? How many notes fit in the palm of your hand? The answers to these questions can be found in the museum halls.
One of the most intriguing compositions is devoted to sound recording and playback history. How different were the first phonographs and gramophones from today's multimedia devices? What a squeaky, distorted sound they produced! See how technology has improved in the century and a half since Edison invented the first device to record and playback sound.
Also in MIMMA, there is a hall dedicated to famous composers and an exhibition of Andalusian guitars: you must have heard their special sound during the performance of flamenco (if you haven't heard, we recommend taking another excursion to the Costa del Sol and visiting the flamenco museum in Seville).
On weekends, the museum hosts workshops for children. On them, children learn to listen to and feel the music, to understand musical styles and trends. Let's reveal another secret of MIMMA: in one of its halls, under a transparent floor, you can see a section of a defensive wall built in the 11th century. Next to the museum is the city park of Malaga, with playgrounds and attractions.
