Journalism of Courage
Music is not meant to be just for your ears all the time. Music can also be immersive, interactive, innovative and also therapeutic sometimes. This description is not a fallout of any song or an album, but a unique musical museum that can take you to an immersive world.
Located south of Bengaluru city in JP Nagar, Indian Music Experience (IME) museum is believed to be India’s first interactive music museum. IME is a non-profit initiative supported by the Brigade Group. The vision of IME is to introduce the youth to the diversity of Indian music and to preserve India’s rich musical heritage.
The museum comprises hi-tech multimedia Exhibit Galleries, a Sound Garden, a Learning Centre for music education, and several performance spaces. Established in 2019, the museum is one of its kind that chronicles the evolution of music in different forms in India.
The museum is divided into three parts – the musical museum, sound garden and the learning centre. The museum actually greets you with a Sound Garden – musical installations that allows you to explore its distinct sound, material and vibration. Some of them include humming stone, singing stone, storm drum, melody chime, sound wave, sound railing, flower gong among others.
Preema John, museum director of IME explains the project has evolved over 10 years with inputs from diverse musical maestros. Speaking to IE.com, John says, “This museum, unlike others, is more of a touch and feel museum where you are allowed to experience some lifestyle instruments that helps you understand the origins of the sound and the nuances. The vision of the museum is to preserve the rich cultural history of Indian music through exhibitions and by capturing its history.”
The musical museum also marks a tribute to Brigade Road, which was once a hub for many musician bands of Bengaluru and also introduces to some of the Indie music famous in the 90s. The museum also takes you through the history of music explaining Hindustani classical and Carnatic forms of music. In addition, the museum also introduces you to the British era music that gave a new dimension to Indian music. In fact, a section of the gallery (Songs of Struggle) also takes you through the different kinds of freedom struggle songs that evolved during the British rule and how it was symbolic of bringing people together. The museum also houses memory boxes through which you can catch the evolution of Bollywood music over the years. The museum also has a very interesting interior that syncs with the musical galleries. The interiors vary in its color and themes depending upon the musical gallery of the museum.
Although the musical gallery and exhibition is one part of the museum, IME also stressing on music education. The museum houses a learning centre that focuses on imparting high quality music education across various disciplines via its diploma programmes to provide structured and curriculum based arts education. Learning centre classes are offered in Carnatic vocal, Hindustani vocal, mridangam, Bharatanatyam, keyboard and guitar.
The IME also conducts a series of online workshops for various school groups focusing on musical instruments. Through the workshops, students are exposed to the science of sound, evolution of musical instruments and the stories of renowned instrumental artists. The presentation also gives insight into some of the most unique objects at the IME, including the installations from the Sound Garden, the collection at the Instruments Gallery, and the artifacts from the Hall of Fame.
Besides these offerings, IME also embarked on its flagship community outreach project, Project Svaritha, targeting 550 children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and 100 children with neurodiverse needs (those with autism spectrum disorder, and diagnosed intellectual disability to help them learn music and be part of music therapy workshops.
“Music is such a vast subject and it is a big challenge to present it in a museum format. We have extensively worked with historians, musical experts, music colleges who were involved in the project in different stages. However there are some limitations to what we can actually capture. For example, we don’t have a section for tribal music and this is something we want to emphasize on and will be rolled out in the coming days,” said John.
Currently, IME and Manchester Museum have proposed a collaborative cross-cultural music festival – RhythmXChange. The project aims to promote musical understanding across borders with an emphasis on rhythm, through cross-cultural dialogue, collaborative experimentation, and a mentorship exchange. The project will take off at IME on November 25 and at the UK’s Manchester Museum on March 17, 2023.
