Museum of Making Music traces a century of musicians and their instruments

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By Donald H. Harrison

CARLSBAD, California –The Museum of Making Music offers on a daily basis a concert of a century.

You can’t just sit in a theatre to hear it; you have to roam around the museum’s 6,500 square feet of exhibit space, pressing buttons, listening to recordings or watching a video monitor. And along the way, you’ll learn the history of the United States from a unique vantage point.

Listen to this partial list from the museum’s all-star line-up of vocalists. Depending on your age, they can bring back memories or introduce you to the singers your older relatives have been talking about: Enrico Caruso, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, Jimmie Rodgers, Sol Hoopii, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Josh White, Chuck Berry, Young Rascals, the Kingsmen, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Duran Duran, and The Eagles.

Prefer instrumental music? You can hear a Marine Band harmonica, introduced by M. Hohner in 1896; a self-playing piano patented by Edwin S. Valley in 1897, a brass sousaphone introduced by C.G. Conn in 1898 and a Gibson Mandolin, patented by Orville Gibson in 1898.

Or, you can listen to such jazz favorites as “Dark Town Strutters Ball” by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, “West End Blues” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, or to the Big Band sounds of Duke Ellington (“Black and Tan Fantasy”) or the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (“Mississippi Mud.”) And that’s just from the early years of the hundred under examination. The exhibit goes on to examine the Big Band Era of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, the emergence of rock n’ roll, the craze over Elvis Presley and later the Beatles, and the parallel sales and trends in the music products industry.

The century of music examined at this museum extends from 1890 to 1989. This is a century in which an electric zither made its debut, followed by electric ukuleles, electric banjos, and theremins. The latter led to the development of modern day synthesizers. All these instruments are among some 400 instruments on display for visitors who walk through the exhibits showing five periods of music: 1890-1909; 1910-1929; 1930-1949; 1950-1969, and 1970-1989.

Of particular interest are the narrative boards, telling the history of the United States from the unique perspective of the music industry.

In discussing the period 1890 to 1909, the narration informs that “the huge growth in U.S. population due to immigration drove musical instrument sales to new heights.” Owning an instrument was proof that one was advancing in social class. “A woman who played the piano was considered more marriageable. By 1899 pianos and organs were in rooms in over one million homes across America. They were even found in an occasional miner’s tent in Colorado …”

The period of 1910 to 1929 was described on another narrative board as “a long boom before the bust … Higher wages, shorter work week and easy credit terms resulted in increased profits for the music industry from 1910 to 1929,” the board said. “It was a period of great optimism. Everyone wanted a player piano or phonograph for home entertainment. Musical instrument sales soared as the dance craze and silent films created a need for thousands of theatre organs, bands and orchestras. Patriotic songs kept morale high during World War I, and the energy of jazz helped drive the 1920s. But as the 1920s ended, talkies had put musicians out of work in the movie theatres, and the electric radio had dealt a deadly blow to the player piano industry. The final shock came in 1929 when the stock market crashed, pushing many in the music industry to ruin.”

During this period, the museum narration informs, “the syncopated beat of ragtime fueled the dance craze. Women were cautioned that too much dancing would ruin their reputations, but few listened. Tin Pan Alley cranked out thousands of new popular tunes. The demand for bands and orchestras to fill ballrooms across America led to better organized, more professional groups and huge instrumental sales. Records and later the radio helped such bands as the Paul Whiteman Orchestra achieve musical acclaim. New Orleans with its black and white traditions gave birth to jazz. Unlike the strict structures of rag time, jazz meant improvisation. The New Orleans sound traveled up the Mississippi to such places as St. Louis, Missouri and Davenport, Iowa, eventually crossing over to Chicago. In the Roaring 20s, white audiences flocked to Negro nightclubs in Chicago and New York to catch the latest jazz…”

On the exhibit moves to 1930-1949, the years of the Great Depression, World War II, and gradual recovery.

“The Great Depression devastated every segment of society,” the narration states. “For 40 million people, poverty was a way of life as unemployment reached 25 percent. Half a million businesses failed including hundreds in the music products industry. Those that survived adopted a “we’ll try anything” approach. By the mid 30’s, President {Franklin} Roosevelt’s National Recovery Act was turning the nation’s economy around. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The production of most consumer goods, including most musical instruments stopped as the country retooled for war production. By the time World War II ended in 1945 the pent-up demand for goods sent sales soaring. The decade ended on a high note.”

Among the tunes one can hear illustrating this period are “King Porter Stomp” performed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra; “One O’Clock Jump” by the Count Basie Orchestra, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” featuring Ella Fitzgerald and the Chick Webb Orchestra. Frank Sinatra sings “I’ll Never Smile Again” with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, while Bing Crosby croons Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” In the field of folk music, Woody Guthrie performs “John Henry,” and cowboy singer Gene Autry sings “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds” while “Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys” give us “San Antonio Rose.”

According to the narration: “The early days of the Depression sent authentic jazz underground but in 1934 a kid named Benny Goodman formed a band to bring real jazz back to the public. At the last set of a disappointing cross-country tour, a frustrated Goodman told his sidemen to ‘let it swing.’ His audience at the Palomar Ballroom in Hollywood went wild, ushering in the swing era and big bands. Swing was a variation on a traditional Dixieland beat, staccato jazz style. It had four smoothed out, even beats to a measure….”

Next the exhibit introduces us to the 1950s to the 1960s and you know who –“Elvis Presley gyrated on stage to give millions of teenage girls a shot of rhythm and blues mixed with good ol’ boy delivery. Groups like Bill Haley and the Comets, Beach Boys and the Supremes soon followed, becoming household names. Guitar sales climbed. Then came the Beatles in 1964. Their creativity, wit and charm often generated hysterical enthusiasm. Guitars, amps and drums flew out of the doors of music stores to outfit thousands of garage bands started by teenagers wanting to create their own piece of British sound. At the same time, the folk movement pushed acoustic guitar and harmonica sales to new heights. By the late 1960s, the psychedelic sounds originated in San Francisco climaxed with Jimi Hendrix’s blistering electric rendition of the Star Spangled Banner played to thousands of flower children in the muddy fields of Woodstock, New York…”

A special exhibit explores the development of the theremin by music engineer Bob Moog during this period, leading to the development of synthesizers capable of playing chords by Ikutaro Kakehashi of Roland Corporation.

Nevertheless, 1970 to 1989 was a tough era for the music industry. The narration explained: “The baby boom {of children born after World War II) was over and spending was down.” The OPEC oil embargo, the Vietnam War, the economic recession, and new competition from Japan all buffeted the music industry. “Bankruptcy rates mirrored those of the Depression.” However, new digital technologies were on the horizon.

One moves on eagerly anticipating the current period in music history, but, the 100-year journey has come to a conclusion. The museum’s executive director Carolyn Grant says an exhibit covering 1990 to 2009, that is the era just ended, is planned, but it still needs financing.

Before leaving the museum, however, one sees a hint of things to come – the democratization of the music industry with more kinds of people—especially women—becoming mainstream rock musicians. Credit is given to Daisy Rock Guitars, founded by Tish Ciravalo.

She believed that “guitars on the market prior to Daisy Rock prevented many girls from becoming guitarists and bassists because of the instruments’ size, shape, and most importantly, weight. By altering the traditional guitar and bass designs to make slimmer, lighter instruments featuring unique dazzling designs, Daisy Rock became the first manufacturer making guitars and basses specifically for women…. It was not just a guy’s guitar painted in a girly color. The guitars are actually designed to better fit girls’ bodies. For example, the neck is slimmer thus more comfortable for girls with smaller hands to play.” Weighing six pounds, it is half the weight of an average electric guitar.

Besides its standing exhibit, the Museum of Making Music at 5790 Armada Drive has a full schedule of lectures and demonstrations by top music makers. More information is available on the museum’s website, www.MuseumofMakingMusic.org