Located south of Bengaluru city in JP Nagar, Indian Music Experience (IME) museum is
believed to be India’s first interactive music museum. IME is a non-profit initiative supported
by the Brigade Group. The vision of IME is to introduce the youth to the diversity of Indian
music and to preserve India’s rich musical heritage.
The museum comprises hi-tech multimedia Exhibit Galleries, a Sound Garden, a Learning
Centre for music education, and several performance spaces. (Express photo)
Music is not meant to be just for your ears all the time. Music can also be immersive,
interactive, innovative and also therapeutic sometimes. This description is not a fallout of any
song or an album, but a unique musical museum that can take you to an immersive world.
Located south of Bengaluru city in JP Nagar, Indian Music Experience (IME) museum is
believed to be India’s first interactive music museum. IME is a non-profit initiative supported
by the Brigade Group. The vision of IME is to introduce the youth to the diversity of Indian
music and to preserve India’s rich musical heritage.
The museum comprises hi-tech multimedia Exhibit Galleries, a Sound Garden, a Learning
Centre for music education, and several performance spaces. Established in 2019, the
museum is one of its kind that chronicles the evolution of music in different forms in India.
The museum is divided into three parts – the musical museum, sound garden and the learning
centre.
The museum is divided into three parts – the musical museum, sound garden and the learning
centre. The museum actually greets you with a Sound Garden – musical installations that
allows you to explore its distinct sound, material and vibration. Some of them include
humming stone, singing stone, storm drum, melody chime, sound wave, sound railing, flower
gong among others.
Preema John, museum director of IME explains the project has evolved over 10 years with
inputs from diverse musical maestros. Speaking to IE.com, John says, “This museum, unlike
others, is more of a touch and feel museum where you are allowed to experience some
lifestyle instruments that helps you understand the origins of the sound and the nuances. The
vision of the museum is to preserve the rich cultural history of Indian music through
exhibitions and by capturing its history.”
The musical museum also marks a tribute to Brigade Road, which was once a hub for many
musician bands of Bengaluru and also introduces to some of the Indie music famous in the
90s. The museum also takes you through the history of music explaining Hindustani classical
and Carnatic forms of music. In addition, the museum also introduces you to the British era
music that gave a new dimension to Indian music. In fact, a section of the gallery (Songs of
Struggle) also takes you through the different kinds of freedom struggle songs that evolved
during the British rule and how it was symbolic of bringing people together. The museum also
houses memory boxes through which you can catch the evolution of Bollywood music over
the years. The museum also has a very interesting interior that syncs with the musical
galleries. The interiors vary in its color and themes depending upon the musical gallery of the
museum.
Established in 2019, the museum is one of its kind that chronicles the evolution of music in
different forms in India.
Although the musical gallery and exhibition is one part of the museum, IME also stressing on
music education. The museum houses a learning centre that focuses on imparting high quality
music education across various disciplines via its diploma programmes to provide structured
and curriculum based arts education. Learning centre classes are offered in Carnatic vocal,
Hindustani vocal, mridangam, Bharatanatyam, keyboard and guitar.
The IME also conducts a series of online workshops for various school groups focusing on
musical instruments. Through the workshops, students are exposed to the science of sound,
evolution of musical instruments and the stories of renowned instrumental artists. The
presentation also gives insight into some of the most unique objects at the IME, including the
installations from the Sound Garden, the collection at the Instruments Gallery, and the
artifacts from the Hall of Fame.
Besides these offerings, IME also embarked on its flagship community outreach project,
Project Svaritha, targeting 550 children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and 100
children with neurodiverse needs (those with autism spectrum disorder, and diagnosed
intellectual disability to help them learn music and be part of music therapy workshops.
“Music is such a vast subject and it is a big challenge to present it in a museum format. We
have extensively worked with historians, musical experts, music colleges who were involved
in the project in different stages. However there are some limitations to what we can actually
capture. For example, we don’t have a section for tribal music and this is something we want
to emphasize on and will be rolled out in the coming days,” said John.
Currently, IME and Manchester Museum have proposed a collaborative cross-cultural music
festival – RhythmXChange. The project aims to promote musical understanding across borders with an emphasis on rhythm, through cross-cultural dialogue, collaborative
experimentation, and a mentorship exchange. The project will take off at IME on November
25 and at the UK’s Manchester Museum on March 17, 2023.