On the Saturday, we all got an opportunity to visit a place or museum of our choice, and I picked the music museum. Initially we allowed Mrs Cashmore to lead us the wrong way a few times, but eventually we reached our destination. The beginning of the museum was an insight into the history of dances at balls with the Waltz and Polka, including footprints on the floor to show us the steps to take when waltzing.

Next up was a display of some obscure modern instruments, including Quartertone clarinets and piano, and synthesizers. The quartertone instruments were not particularly pleasing to the ear, as they sounded out of tune half the time. Nevertheless they fascinated me, as I wondered how the instruments worked; how one transcribes a quartertone, and when one would need it. Sadly we weren't allowed to try the instruments ourselves, but we could listen to recordings of them on headsets, as was the case with all the instruments we saw.

Moving on from the modern section, we saw the history of a whole variety of instruments, from hundreds of years ago. This included pianos and organs, string instruments, woodwind, brass and percussion. Mixed in with all the old instruments, were some experimental instruments, including a double sided violin, leaving us all baffled as to how and why you would play it!

Perhaps the most beautiful sounding instrument was the semitone harp, which I could have listened to for hours, as it sounded almost angelic. Sadly, eventually, we reached the end of the fascinating displays and we got lost again on the way back to find our supper.

Annie O'Neill