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Tom Nielsen with the Microsonics exhibit
Photo courtesy Children's Discovery Museum
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By Tom Nielsen
Tom Nielsen is an exhibit developer at the Children's Discovery
Museum in San Jose, California. What is it about sound, he asks,
that can delight us and stir our imaginations?
This exhibit called Microsonics is part of Alice's Wonderland:
A Most Curious Adventure, a traveling exhibition loosely based
on Lewis Carroll's classic children's book, which opened at the
Children's Discovery Museum, San Jose, in February 2002.
The exhibit is simply a tabletop wired with a few contact microphones
to amplify the sounds of some rather ordinary objects fastened to
it: a hairbrush, a comb, a zipper, a string of beads. A circular
oscillograph display appears in a "magic mirror," adding interesting
visual feedback.
Although only loosely connected to the Alice story line, Microsonics
was inspired in a very direct way by the closing lines of the book:
...and still as she listened, or seemed to listen,
the whole place around her became alive with the strange creatures
of her little sister's dream. The long grass rustled at her feet
as the White Rabbit hurried by—the frightened Mouse splashed
his way through the neighboring pool—she could hear the rattle
of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends shared their
never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering
off her unfortunate guests to execution—once more the pig-baby
was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed
around it—once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking
of the Lizard's slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed
guinea-pigs, filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of
the miserable Mock Turtle. So she sat on, with closed eyes, and
half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but
to open them again, and all would change to dull reality.
While we were prototyping Microsonics, a visitor
left a note in the suggestion box saying only "I love the sound
thing."
Listening to the sounds that objects make is something I have
done since childhood. But I am cautious about extrapolating, from
what intrigues me myself, to what might interest the range of
visitors to a children's museum. To my delight, many of them seem
to "love the sound thing." In particular, parents seem to enjoy
very much sharing it with their children, an outcome highly valued
in our work here. What I would like to understand better is why
sound can so powerfully imbue our imaginations.
 Children's
Discovery Museum
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