The Grammy Museum is a building dedicated to the history of music and the artists who defined their generations. The new exhibit, which opened today, aims to use the voices of the past to inspire the next generation with the same passion for music.
Sonic Playground is a permanent exhibit bridging the past and future gap. Jasen Emmons is the mind behind this new addition, serving as the museum’s Chief Curator and Vice President of Curatorial Affairs. He hopes the tools provided in this new exhibit will pave the way for visitor artistry.
“The idea was basically to create a space that’s inviting, that encourages people to make music, regardless of whether they know how to or not. It doesn’t require any skills and doesn’t require any pre-knowledge,” said Emmons. “And to create a space that’s sort of a springboard that gets people to make music together in particular, really trying to connect people through music, then also sort of showing them opportunities that exist in the music industry.”
Sonic Playground hosts 17 stations, each offering a different venture attendees can take into the spheres of music creation. There are four main sections: the Songbuilders Hub, The Roland Stage, Moodmakers and the SoundTrax Career Wall. Each section holds separate devices that offer unique purposes with their usage.
“We were really cognizant of the fact that sometimes asking people to make music causes anxiety,” said Emmons. “So it was, ‘Okay, how can we remove that?’ So we created two experiences in the center of the exhibit where there’s no right or wrong, and what we’re calling sort of unconventional instruments. And the primary one is what we’re calling the ‘Electric Forest.’”
Located in the Moodmakers section of the exhibit is the Electric Forest, the centerpiece of Sonic Playground. The space features 16 interactive columns of light and sound that react to movements. Similar to other installations, visitors can experiment and watch their musical ideas manifest into reality. The music for Electric Forest was created by composer Shaun Chasin, who crafted the 19-minute music composition.
“We really wanted to give users the ability to discover the music instead of just saying this is what it is. We wanted to empower, especially young people, to feel they could have some amount of control over music in a way that they might not ever have had,” Chasin said.
The other experience that Emmons explained has no right or wrong usage is the Beat Nexus installation. Four people can control the different parts of an instrumental track together – the rhythm, bass, harmony and melody. Visitors can hear each other’s contributions as they play with the interfaces. This is set up to encourage the creation of music together without needing musical skills.
The Songbuilders Hub includes booths where visitors can record themselves on instrumentals from different genres, like rap and pop. Within each booth, visitors are digitally coached by artists in the industry, such as Prince Paul, Big Tigger, Leslie “Big Lez” Segar and H.E.R. The Roland Stage is an opportunity for visitors to play around with instruments together on a stage equipped with guitars, a keytar, a keyboard and drums.
Every aspect of Sonic Playground is dedicated to the legacy of musician Jim Long, who played a larger role in the music industry throughout his life. The Long Family Trust, a private non-profit organization, made the exhibit possible through a donation from his wife, Deborah Long.
“Jim Long, among the many things he did in the record industry, was music production libraries, which not very many people know about,” said Emmons. “And so his wife, who helped fund this project, said, ‘Could you help young people understand the breadth of how many different roles there are in the music industry.’ So behind us, we created the soundtrack wall with eight categories and 125 jobs to help people imagine how they could be involved.”
The SoundTrax Career Wall interactively allows younger guests to view the many jobs and careers possible within the music industry, with interviews and advice from those working there. Emmons stressed the goal of this new exhibit: to reach younger audiences, even making admission free for those 17 and younger. He brought on youth advisors for the project to help better understand what younger audiences are looking for.
“We were all in a board together, so we all gave our input and perspective from being youth just to come up with all the different activities here, along with the design and what it’s going to look like,” said youth advisor Kayla Pincus. “We were just doing everything we could to help the team here make it come alive.”
Sonic Playground is located on the museum’s second floor and opens to the public on Feb. 14. More information about the Grammy Museum can be found on their website.
