Vienna is a city with a long pedigree of prestigious museums. Art museums abound, of course, as well as
Ruthie at House of Music, Vienna
technical, natural history, clocks, etc. But in 2000 a very different sort of museum was launched — the House of Music (Seilerstatte 30) near Karlsplatz. It is in the same house where the first Viennese Christmas tree was displayed in 1816.
The museum is a marvelous gift to us singers. The few museums I have visited that are music museums, or have music exhibits, have focused exclusively on musical instruments — other than the human voice. But not so here! To be sure, there ARE rooms here where one can learn about the lives of some major composers with ties to Vienna such as Mozart, Schubert and Mahler, an area where the science of acoustics is demonstrated, and the occasional harpsicord.
But what sets this museum apart –for me– is that the human body and voice and are the main focus of this experience. Not the ‘human body and voice’ in general, but YOURS!
One of my favorite areas was the “singing tree,” which is a not really a tree, but rather a pole with a sort of drapey piece of plastic that you stick your head into (they call it an ‘acoustic hood’), with headphones and a microphone to sing into. Depending on the sound quality of your singing, the computer will orchestrate with you — harmonies, dissonances, surging waves of sound washing over your voice, amplifying your voice but never overpowering it, diminishing as you get softer. It is a delightful way to improvise and a welcome oasis for a singer visiting in a city where she knows no one to sing with!
Rhythm Tree
The “Rhythm Tree” was great fun for percussion. Each uniquely molded sensor pad makes a different percussive sound and you can have a blast playing alone, or with others. And, of course, I sang along with the percussive track as well!
I couldn’t get a few of the exhibits to work — the “sensor chair” which reportedly measures the electricity in your body and turns your gestures into music, the future music blender and the harmonic driving machine. Perhaps you’ll have better luck with those!
This museum provides a sensory ‘rush’ from the start (literally, as it seeks to recreate the sound environment for the fetus in the womb) to the finish (I ended by ‘conducting’ the Vienna Philharmonic). Wherever you are today I hope you will take time to seek out ways to open your mind and experiment with your own voice and environment.
