Discover Why Music Is the Language of the Soul
Instruments in the John and Joan D’Addario Orientation Galleries and the stories they tell set the stage for the incredible variety of items and diversity of cultures guests will experience in MIM’s Geographic Galleries.
Featured Exhibits and Objects
Object Highlights
No instruments found.
Acquisition of the Month
Stop by to see this month’s exciting new instrument!
A rare violin from a legendary electric instrument manufacturer
Electro String Instrument Corp.,
Los Angeles, California, USA, c. 1935
This rare Electro Violin is an original example of the pioneering electric instruments manufactured by the Electro String Instrument Corporation in the 1930s. It has a solid molded Bakelite plastic body instead of a hollow, resonating wooden body, so it relies exclusively on the electric pickup reacting to string vibration and projecting its sound through an amplifier and speaker.
Two ornately decorated conch shell trumpets
Nepal, 16th to 17th c.; India, 19th c.
Each of these śankh shell trumpets is richly decorated with symbolic imagery that emphasizes its divine potency. The Nepalese trumpet is profusely engraved with depictions of the Hindu deities Vishnu and Garuda and inscriptions in Newari and Nāgarī scripts. The Indian example, fitted with elaborate brass work, features a makara (a mythical sea animal) spewing a watery form, with a yali (an elephant-lion creature) striding across its head.
Video Highlights
The Oldest Known Surviving Full-Size Guitar
Installing the Robjohn Pipe Organ at MIM
