Lute, Flute and Drum: Musical Instruments Around the World (Exhibition)

Exist Dates

1960 May 10 - 1961 January 31

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Exhibition. Opened May 10, 1960 and closed January 31, 1961. Located in Section 5, Floor 2 in the Corner Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. Lute, Flute and Drum: Musical Instruments Around the World featured more than 200 instruments from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the South Pacific and was curated by Colin M. Turnball, Assistant Curator of African Ethnology at the Museum with musicologist Theodore Grame.

Summary

Lute, Flute and Drum: Musical Instruments Around the World featured more than 200 instruments from Africa, Asia, the Americas and the South Pacific and was curated by Colin M. Turnball, Assistant Curator of African Ethnology at the Museum with musicologist Theodore Grame. The exhibition classified instruments, many of which had never been on view, into four groups according to the way they produced sound (1, p.1):

*Chordophones (vibration of strings)

*Aerophones (vibration of an enclosed column of air)

*Membranophones (vibration of skin)

*Idiophones (vibration of the instrument itself)

Highlights (1, p. 2-3):

*Tablas

*Sanzas

*Pipas

*Drums

*Horns and trumpets (including two from Tibet more than nine feet long)

*Pan pipes

*Mouth organs

*Flutes

*Whistles

*Reeds

*This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History. Press Release. "'Lute, Flute and Drum,' Special Exhibition of Exotic Instruments Opens at American Museum of Natural History.'" May 10, 1960. Departmental Records, DR 101. American Museum of Natural History Library.

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

American Museum of Natural History. Corner Gallery.
Location of exhibition 1960 May 10 – 1961 January 31 (1, p. 1)

American Museum of Natural History. Department of Anthropology.
Related department

Grame, Theodore C.
Curator of exhibition; musicologist (1, p. 1)

Turnbull, Colin M.
Curator of exhibition; Assistant Curator of African Ethnology (1, p. 1)

Related Resources

American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1959-1960: 18, 55-56.

American Museum of Natural History annual reports, 1902-2001.
"Report from the Chairman of the Department of Exhibition and Graphic Arts July 1, 1959 - June 30, 1960." [1960].

American Museum of Natural History press releases, 1933-1990s.
"Advance Information." May 10, 1960.

American Museum of Natural History Special Collections photographic drawers
Repository: AMNH Special Collections. [Black and white photo prints of exhibition on view]

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