Wilbur Wilde at Chord Struck launch
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Strike a Chord: The Science of Music exhibition opens at Scienceworks.
Approximately 250 people attended the exhibition's launch on Tuesday 31 July, where they were entertained by special guest speaker Wilbur Wilde. An Australian music industry icon for many years, Wilbur's amusing speech and saxophone performance wowed the crowd.
Guests were also entertained by a lounge singer and pianist who had the pleasure of playing a very special Yamaha piano. Currently on display in the Scienceworks foyer, only 30 Yamaha DC3 Neo Mark III Limited Edition Disklavier pianos were ever made, and this is the only one in Australia.
Featuring over 20 music-focussed interactive exhibits, Strike a Chord allows visitors to conduct their own virtual orchestra, record and produce their own digital music and play in an air band with friends, while looking at the physics of sound, musical composition and the physiology of hearing and singing.
Highlights include the Floor Piano, where visitors are invited to step on giant keys to create a tune, the Light Harp, an instrument that creates music from light beams, and the Tot Spot, an area of simple percussion instruments that children under the age of five can explore and play.
'This exhibition is all about looking at the many disciplines of science and using fun and exciting musical interactive exhibits to showcase how music is made, heard and experienced,' explained Genevieve Fahey, Manager, Scienceworks.
Strike a Chord – The Science of Music was developed by Questacon — The National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra and will be at Scienceworks until 25 May 2008.