I enjoy special days because they encourage me to focus on things I might not otherwise. They provide me an opportunity to ask questions on topics other than the weather. They encourage me to think of music I might otherwise forget. National Museum Day (September 28th) is one of those days.
The Webster dictionary defines a museum as:
“an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; also : a place where objects are exhibited.”
What would you put in a museum?
There are all types of museums. The Smithsonian is a great example of the variety. Yet, I imagine no one museum has equal appeal to all.
We generally think of museums being filled with masterpieces of art, or relics from the past.
Use the definition to guide your answers.
- What has lasting interest in your life?
- What is of lasting value?
- For those things wish aren’t tangible, how would you include them in a museum?
- What objects would you share?
What musical items would you include?
(You knew I would work music in, so let’s go!)
These 2011 posts on Museum Diary have songs about museums – Part 1 and Part 2.
Here are some questions to ask.
- What instruments do you think belong in a museum?
- What music do you think needs to be shared with future generations? Why?
- What musical equipment has become a relic in your lifetime?
Hi JoAnn,
When I read your headline I thought to myself…’I already am'(in a museum).
A couple of years ago one my young students was asking a lot of questions about instruments, the piano in particular. I have the multi-volume set of Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians next to the piano so I told him to look it up in the music encyclopedia.
He looked at all the books on the shelf and said, ‘You mean all those books?…That’s kind of like Wikipedia’.
Yes, I said, except they were around before Wikipedia.
He thought about it for a while and looked up at me and said, ‘Are you older than the internet? Wow…that’s old!’
Love the story, Susan. You and I are both pre-internet age. My the changes we have experienced.