I don't have galleries so can't comment on personal professional
experience.  

 

But more and more it seems we are losing museums as a place of
reflection and discovery.

 

I really love music.  For that reason, music in a gallery unrelated to
the theme or purpose of the exhibit would be very distracting to me.
Music is powerful - it is never "just background."   I can't ignore it -
I can't choose whether or not to hear it. 

 

Do you know why your director wants to have the music? If it's to
promote the regional music, then it deserves a space of its own. Is
he/she is uncomfortable in a quiet atmosphere?  Would offering ipods or
nanos to loan with the music on it work?

 

Would your director consider placing video monitors in the exhibits
showing locally produced videos, or local crafters, or local
personalities? That would certainly be distracting to visually oriented
people - it can be the same for music.

 

One of the reasons that my husband and I both like to shop at Target is
that they don't play music or make announcements.  Makes for a much more
peaceful shopping experience!

 

Cindy Boyer

Director of Public Programs

The Landmark Society of Western New York

133 S. Fitzhugh St.

Rochester NY  14608

(585) 546-7029 ext. 12

[log in to unmask]

Fax:  (585) 546-4788

 

The Landmark Society:  Revitalizing Yesterday, Protecting Today, and
Planning for Tomorrow

 

www.landmarksociety.org <http://www.landmarksociety.org/> 

Confessions of a Preservationist: The Landmark Society blog
<http://landmarksocietywny.blogspot.com/>  

Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12149056258>  / MySpace
<http://www.myspace.com/landmarksociety> 

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Lisa Chastain
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 11:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Music in exhibits

 

Listers, 

 

My director has put to me a request for 'regional music' in all of our
exhibits. Now, as I curator I balked at the idea of breaking themes of
my galleries with random music that has nothing to do with the exhibit
ie. A military exhibit or a doctors exhibit. I was wondering of your
opinions concerning music in galleries/exhibits, do you have music, have
you rejected the idea and why? 

 

Any opinions would be helpful!

 

Thank you!

 

Lisa 

Curator of Collections and Exhibits

 

 

 

________________________________

To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 


=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).