If you click on the links in this post, we may earn money from the companies mentioned in this post, at no extra cost to you. You can read the full disclaimer here.
Make sure your next trip to Phoenix hits all the right notes by making sure it includes a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum! After all, it was rated by TripAdvisor as the number one attraction in Phoenix and one of the top twelve museums in the United States by TripAdvisor. It was also won best museum by the Best of the Valley Awards in 2021.
This is an amazing place with interactive features and instruments – in fact, there are see more than 6,800 different instruments here!
We’ll tell you about some of the great galleries that make the Musical Instrument Museum so popular. And then we’ll tell you how to save money on your ticket with a coupon!
Geographic Galleries
See, hear, and experience different musical traditions from everywhere around the world. It focuses on the major world regions:
- Africa
- See instruments like a large African xylophone that plays gyil music of the Dagara, Ghana
- Asia
- Learn about instruments like the historic Japanese Sho mouth organ
- the Middle East
- Learn about instruments like the kamancheh, a Persian bowed string instrument made by Karam Khan
- Oceania
- Learn about instruments like towering slit drums carved from large tree trunks that are played at special ceremonies & gatherings in the island nation of Vanuata
- Europe
- Learn about instruments like bagpipes from all over Europe, including Scotland of course but also France, Slovakia, Spain, Croatia, and Sweden
- Latin America
- See great displays like the recycled orchestra created by a youth orchestra from Cateura, Paraguay
- United States/Canada
- Learn about instruments like the Steinway grand piano
Artist Gallery
The Artist Gallery has nearly 40 displays where you can see instruments and artifacts from some of the GOATs in the music world. You can see and hear instruments played by artists like Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Maroon 5, the Carter Family, Tito Puente, Roberta Flack, and Glen Campbell.
Experience Gallery
Seeing all these instruments may make you want to play an instrument yourself. And you can do just that at the Experience Gallery!
Kids and adults will enjoy playing unique instruments you wouldn’t find just anywhere. Instruments you can play here include a West African djembe, Javanese gamelan, a Peruvian harp, and a theremin.
Mechanical Music Gallery
The Golden Age of Mechanic Music was a period between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There was a huge increase during this time of self-playing instruments in Europe and the Americas. The era ended when other forms of entertainment, like film and radio, became more popular.
But you can learn more about these instruments at this gallery. You can see the technologies used to create these instruments like pinned cylinders, electromagnets, and paper rolls.
And you can also see some of these instruments like barrel organs, cylinder music boxes, mechanical zithers, disc players, and automatons.
Collier STEM Gallery
Learn the connection between music and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the Dr. Donald W. Collier STEM Gallery.
You’ll learn about concepts like amplitude, sound waves, wavelength, frequency, timbre, and more. You’ll learn more about the physics of sound creation through interactive technology, original video, and instruments from around the world.
Conservation Lab
The Musical Instrument Museum is dedicated to conserving instruments and music-related artifacts. They strive to keep these items’ structural integrity and preservation so future generations can enjoy and learn from them, too. You can see this conservation process through a large viewing window.
Coupon
Looking for a coupon to help you save money at the MIM in Phoenix? Click here and you can automatically save mone on your ticket, no coupon code or promo code needed!