Members’ Musical Instruments Declassified

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Get beneath the surface charms of instruments and reveal their secrets in this event for Members and Benefactors.

Members and Benefactors are invited to join our Musical Collection curators Mimi and Saava Benjamin as they get beneath the surface charms of instruments and reveal their secrets.

Do instruments have a family life? How can raw materials like wood and wire become a portal to another time and place? Why are some museum instruments not for playing? What instrument is only allowed to be played by men?

On this tour of the Music Gallery before it opens to the public, we’ll demystify the magic and celebrate the ingenuity of musical instrument creators across cultures and centuries.

Music Gallery

There are more than 1,300 objects from the Horniman’s internationally-renowned collection of musical instruments on display in the Music Gallery. The largest number of musical instruments on display in the UK, the Gallery spans a wide range of instruments from around the world.