by Ted Robbins
January 5, 2011
NPR Music News

The Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix, which calls itself the largest global instrument museum, is quiet — but only at first.

“It’s one of the most quiet museums you’ll ever be in,” museum director Bill DeWalt says. “Everyone is listening to the sound through the headphones.”

With roughly 10,000 instruments from more than 200 countries, the place would have been cacophonous if they were all playing out loud. Instead, wireless headphones activate when you walk up to a display, which has the instrument itself as well as a video showing a musician playing it in its native setting.

Read the full story and listen to the radio broadcast here: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/05/132089395/museum-hosts-musical-instruments-of-200-countries