>>> John B. Bunch <[log in to unmask]> - 10/9/96 10:19
AM >>>
Query:  Anyone have anything of interest to address the question of
how/why/what kinds of music is instructionally or thematically
fitting to exhibits?  If you use it, what were the criteria for doing
so?  For selecting the particular music?
And what have been the visitor reactions, if any?
John Bunch
****************
Dear John:

We've used music in several of our temporary exhibits and have it in
our permanent galleries as well.  We pick interesting music from the
time period that is performed on original instruments, or try to get
original recordings.  For instance, for our Civil War exhibit, our
curator chose a recording of a tune called "Aura Lee."  It was an
interesting song because it was the tune Elvis used for "Love Me
Tender."  However, it is always a good idea to include a variety of
tunes, because even though the visitors liked it,  after 7 months, we
had very irritable security guards.

Next spring, we're doing an exhibit on the 1950s and our AV archivist
found a set of CDs of 50s music.  We'll choose from that, and he'll
rig up an old, broken juke box to play the CDs.  I believe that there
are catalogs of this music.  If you're interested, I can look into it
for you.

One concern in the galleries is the volume of the music (this is more
true of videos, though).  We have docents who complain if the music or
video is too loud to talk over, but many of our elderly "visitors"
(and I choose this word with care) can't hear if the volume is too
low.  It's hard to make everyone happy, but I think the music adds
quite a bit to create an atmosphere.

Christine Mouw
Assistant Curator
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum
West Branch, Iowa  52358
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