The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I went to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. It is located by Lake Erie and is open daily 10-5:30 and Wednesdays until 9 pm. Pictures are not permitted to be taken in the exhibits. Regular admission price is $22 for adults but there are different discounts available.  For more information, check out the website. http://rockhall.com/
Before you go to the museum, there are a few things you need to be aware of. First the museums is huge so prepare for a lot of walking and wear comfortable shoes. Depending on when you go, be prepared to be around crowds. I went on a Saturday and so it was busy. Also, each exhibit has a lot of reading. If you like to take your time and not deal with crowds, I would suggest going during the week.
The reason I wanted to go is because there is an exhibit called "Women Who Rock." The exhibit includes costumes from Madonna, Lady Gaga, Brittney Spears, Shakira and Joan Jett to name a few. For many people when you think of music, you don't always think of women. This exhibit lets the visitor see costumes from the early days of rock to costumes from today. The newest object to the exhibit is Lady Gaga's "meat dress" from the 2010 Video Music Awards. I do like some of Lady Gaga's music so I was curious to see what the dress looked like in person. It was smaller than I thought and it was disturbing. But, Lady Gaga does things like this to get noticed and she has made a huge impact on music. Some would even call her the modern Madonna.
In other exhibits, there were so many artifacts a music fan would be in love. There were many guitars throughout the museum and it interesting to see how they have changed since the 1950s. I was most awestruck by Kurt Cobain's guitar. Say what you will about him, but he was a true artist. I was humbled by everything I saw and couldn't help but wonder how music continues to evolve. Another thing I was thrilled to see was Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket and a Thriller mask he used on tour. I am such a huge fan of his music that I couldn't help but gasp when I saw the real jacket. Another thing that I found amazing was how many artist had handwritten lyrics to songs on display. It made me wonder what John Lennon or Jimi Hendrix had been thinking when they wrote their songs.
There are a few things I would like to change about the museum. First the museum is not very interactive. In my Public History course, we have learned about different ways to make museums interested. Because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is so massive, I know it is hard to staff but I would have like to see more people roaming around so that patrons can ask questions if they would like. Also, there is an exhibit that shows how listening has changed where see items from different decades but you are not able to see how they work or how they sound. It would be beneficial to patrons to be able to touch and/or hear the differences. It would also be interesting to have an exhibit on different technology/instruments that could be interactive. For instance, I would put multiple guitars and lets visitors strum them to hear a difference in sounds. This would help patrons see how the different sounds led to different music. The other thing I would like to change is the set up of the exhibits. As I stated at the beginning of the blog, there is a lot of reading. It can be difficult for patrons to read everything because there is so much there. Right away I would want to change the font size of the signs. For as much reading as there is, the bigger size would make it easier for the patrons to read. Another thing I would like to add is some information about why the specific artifacts were chosen. Artists have donated many items and so the museum has a lot of items to chose from. While I know this could take up room, I would find it to be beneficial. If the museum does not want to add that information to the signs, they could put signs throughout the museums directing patrons to the website.
While there are some things I would change about the museum, I overall enjoyed the atmosphere. If you are a music lover, this museum is the place for you. When you are at the museum, you get a sense of how music has made an impact on your life and society.