Rock and Soul Museum
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
Rock and Soul Museum
191 Beale Street
Memphis, TN
901-205-2533
Admission: $10 adults, $7 youth (5 to 7), free for 4 and under. Open daily 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Bottom line: Stax is better, but the Rock and Soul museum is pretty awesome.
We took advantage of free museum day and paid no dollars to check out the Rock and Soul Museum, which, “tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world.” At first blush it seems like a tall order for a small one-story structure that sits in the shadows of the FedEx Forum.
On Saturday, the museum was staffed by two twenty-something uber hip boys who were surprisingly kid-friendly. They start you off with a 15 minute movie that overviews the progression of music in Memphis. After that you get headsets that allow you to punch in the number of the exhibit and the accompanying text will automatically play. This allows for self-exploration of the museum in any order you choose. At the Civil Rights Museum, the headphones take you through in the exact order the museum is laid out, which can lead to bunching.
The uber hip guy took in the kidlets and offered to set up a contraption that allows two headphones to be plugged into the same headset — which at the time seemed like a good idea. In addition to the history of music type exhibits, there are also several jukebox exhibits that allow you to listen to actual songs. The music was my personal favorite (go Nia Peeples) and it kept the children entertained for about five minutes. They kept demanding to punch in the numbers and then didn’t have the patience to listen to an entire song.
The museum is divided into seven galleries: Rural Cultural Gallery, Rural Music Gallery, Coming to Memphis Gallery, Sun Records and Youth Culture Gallery, Social Changes Gallery and the Beat Goes On Gallery. These galleries are more like small rooms or portions of a wall, but they include tons of interesting information. Have you heard of WHER or have you heard Scott Heron’s original recording of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” in its entirety? I also got a secret thrill out of touching the organ “Suspicious Minds” was composed on. These are some of the gems strewn about the museum.
The history of how the Rock and Soul musuem came to be, is pretty interesting and explains a lot about the place. The more I learn about Memphis, the more I think that its economic future rests on how well the city embraces and supports its musical and art history. The Rock and Soul museum does a fine job of doing just that.
As much as we enjoyed our visit, I must warn you that there are not too many hands on activities for children. Unless your kidlets have a super love of soul, I’d wait until the kidlets are at least 10 years old before taking them. Hubby and I plan on going back when we aren’t being pulled and pushed by toddlers to hurry up.
They strongly discourage photos inside the museum, but they do highlight some of their exhibits on the website.