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This weekend, Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum swaps centuries-old instruments from across the globe for synthesizers, sequencers and enough electronic magic to make Kraftwerk jealous.
MIM’s Celebrate Electronic Music event on Saturday, Aug. 8, and Sunday, Aug. 9, features two days of live performances, hands-on demos and interactive exhibits exploring how musicians have used machines to create sonic artistry.
MIM patrons can create their own instruments, try vintage synthesizers and learn how technology has shaped modern music over the decades during the event.
Mike Silvers, MIM’s curator of education, says Celebrate Electronic Music is more than just a weekend of bloops, bleeps and beats, though.
“We’re trying to tell a global story about electronic music, but that one that’s fun and accessible and that bridges the science aspect with the compositional aspect or the dance music aspect,” Silvers says.
It’s also very much in MIM’s wheelhouse.
“The interesting thing about electronic music, from MIM’s perspective, is that it’s how people are making music all over the world,” Silver says. “Everywhere you go, people are still playing traditional instruments, but they’re also combining them with electronics and computer music.”
Talks, tunes and technology
Celebrate Electronic Music’s schedule includes activities both cerebral and celebratory.
On Saturday, Arizona State University professor and electroacoustic composer Fernanda Aoki Navarro will discuss electronic music’s history over the last century, while MIM curator Rich Walter explores the vintage synthesizers from the museum’s collection.
AZ Beat Lab will also lead an interactive beat-making workshop on Saturday where visitors can use digital samplers to create their own electronic music.
Each day wraps up with EDM-fueled dance parties featuring local DJs, including Midnite Club and Casey Zanni.
“We’re exploring and celebrating the breadth of electronic music in all its forms,” Silvers says.
DJs won’t be the only artists providing the soundtrack at the event. Arizona musicians and bands like Navarro, Phoenix-based electronic jazz composer Garrison Jones and Prescott indie pop duo Dutch Holly will play sets throughout the weekend.
For Dutch Holly’s Tres Ikner and Jen Juniper, electronic music is a creative tool, not a genre. Ikner says many people mistakenly think electronic music begins and ends with DJs and EDM.
“There’s a whole bunch of different ways you can be an electronic act without ever touching a turntable,” Ikner says.
Case in point: Dutch Holly incorporates glowing synths, pre-programmed beats and looping effects beneath Juniper’s indie pop songwriting stylings to craft a more cinematic sound.
“Being able to employ orchestral sounds or tablas or guitars or other kinds of sounds gave us the freedom to make something that was closer to the vision of what our songs wanted to be,” Ikner says.
The duo, who have performed at venues throughout Arizona since 2015, will bring that approach to the MIM on Saturday.
“They didn’t have to tell us to be electronic,” Ikner says. “We already came that way.”
MIM’s Celebrate Electronic Music. Saturday, Aug. 8 and Sunday, Aug. 9, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd. Free with regular $10-$20 admission or for MIM members.
