KEN MOORE: Welcome to Mapping the Art of Music. I’m Ken Moore, Curator Emeritus of Musical Instruments. This gallery explores how geography impacts music in the lives of people around the world. How does the interaction of various cultures express itself in music? How does music adapt and change? What are the different, but related, forms of musical instruments that grow out of the interplay between diverse regions?

You’ll discover the answers in the instruments themselves. Some of them we might associate with a specific place, but actually there is origin in another. There are also instruments on view that traveled from place to place through trade - like those taken along the Silk Routes by merchants.

Some of the instruments on display have complex histories related to war, migration, and enslavement that we can consider with fresh eyes.

So welcome to an introduction of vast musical worlds! Keep your eyes open for the ingenious use of surprising materials and for the hidden meanings and symbols in unique decorative styles. Whether they’re used in royal courts, rituals or in everyday entertainment, these elements each complement the sound of instruments used around the world. It’s your turn to listen.