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Mackie and the Museum
The rumbling, rambling, colorfully rambunctious Experience
Music Project in Seattle is having its first birthday this
year. The first exhibit is Sky Church, an oblong chamber with the
largest indoor video screen in the known world – and
a ceiling that literally reaches to the stars (when visiting,
look WAY up and you’ll see what we mean). A dozen or
so video and sound shows are in rotation throughout the day,
with a Mackie Digital
8•Bus governing all the audio gymnastics. They’re
spectacular. Upstairs is Sound Lab – where the lines between “virtual”
and “reality” are mysteriously erased. Even if you’ve
never played an instrument, you’ll surprise yourself
while wrapping limbs and digits around a real guitar and following
the flashing lights on the fretboard. Go ahead! Strum, pick,
or pop the strings! (But please don’t play it with your
teeth. Even Jimi had sense enough to smash his guitars after
chewing on them – purely for sanitary reasons, of course.) Also in the Sound Lab you’ll find Demo Lab – a small theatre for live and multi-media events. One video is hosted by Mackoid Keith Medley. He does a superb job explaining the concepts of mixing, aided by all sorts of fun and nutty video special effects (Bill Nye the Science Guy should be quaking in his cathode tube). Controlling the audio in Demo Lab is another Mackie Digital 8•Bus. Keep a look out for it – but remember, it’s not one you can “play with.” It’s too busy doing very important things. Extra-curricular school activities and field trips were never quite like this. Or looked like this. Or sounded like this. Which is something that’s been lost in all the hype. Experience Music Project is bigger than the building, bigger than the exhibits. It’s an educational philosophy put into practice. Education at EMP “As a cultural institution dedicated to exploring the creative process and promoting critical thinking, education is a core focus for Experience Music Project.” – Bob Santelli, Deputy Director, Experience Music Project. Along with being a first-class tourist attraction, EMP is also an international educational center. During the first year, over 70,000 teachers and students (along with over 800,000 of us regular folks) have shimmied through the museum proper, stopping along the way for on-site artist-led workshops, master classes, lecture and film series, educational concerts, and other performance and classroom-based activities. EMP’s education staff works with musicians, ethnomusicologists, performers, and other professionals to create world-class, hands-on educational opportunities for kids, adults and families. The Real EMP Grand Opening: Experience Arts Camp Balloons! Glitter! Stale Popcorn! Music! Mayhem! Famous People
Standing Next To You! But the real opening was two years before, in the summer of 1998. Experience Arts Camp admitted its initial slam of students. “It was the first tangible component of Experience Music Project,” says Alycia Allen, Director of Education for EMP. “It’s what people saw and heard about first. And now, it’s an icon – an integral part of EMP.” Since then, the camp has evolved and expanded. For two weeks
(and two sessions each summer), students can “major”
in various subjects such as Animation, Glass, Musical Instruments,
Music Vocals, Drama, Photography, Film, and Drawing &
Painting. They start their day with hands-on activities and
projects in their chosen area, and then go on to mini-workshops
in Watercolors, Stage Makeup, Drumming, Mime/Improvisation,
Photoshop, Creative Writing, Capoeira (martial arts movement
exercises), or Dance. “And this year, we had an Artist’s
Apprenticeship program!” Alycia exuberantly mentions,
obviously with the same enthusiasm as the kids had participating.
“Our older students, ages thirteen to sixteen, were put
in groups of five or six, and were mentored by master artists
in various fields. They received private voice lessons, composed
music, built a sculpture, did oil paintings… then after
the apprenticeships, there were seminars about how to apply
for grants, how to put together a portfolio, how to apply
to a college… and for our next session, we’re hoping,
Mackie will come out (…Oh, how we love GUILT! It’s in the works, Alycia. And it should be easy. We won’t even have to lug along any mixers. Experience Arts Camp has a bunch of ’em.) While the education department at EMP continues to form alliances with local socially-active organizations like The Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers and Sisters, WCIC (Women’s Community Impact Consortium), the long range plans include wider participation with national and international students, mentors, and teachers. One way they’re rolling the word out is with the… Electric Bus: A Traveling Cornucopia of Melody, Rhythm, and History At first glance, you might think EMP’s Electric Bus (sponsored by Microsoft Jobs, in association with the Grammy® Foundation) is a roving promo for the museum, what with its bellowing baubles of sounds and enticing interactive techno-trinkets. But this ain’t no side show, folks. The synergistic exhibits are layered, deep, and weighty – methodically examining history and sociology through song. “After it’s set up, there are five hexagon tents linked with smaller tents,” John Morrison, Director of Touring and Logistics, explains. “We take up about 10,000 square feet.” The theme of the bus is Making It Up As You Go: Song, Songwriters,
Songwriting. Mackie mixers (The Official Mixer of EMP) are used in all live demonstrations, and in coordinating much of the complex audio on Electric Bus. But they’re also used as valuable teaching aids in many
educational venues at EMP. When listening to music, untrained
ears often hear a blob of sound behind vocals. By muting and
isolating various channels, students discover the many elements
that contribute to a song and/or recording. (Think of an Electronica
or Hip-Hop version of ‘Peter and the Wolf’.) (...Okay, we like the frills ‘n chills, too.) |
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