The Musical Museum — Attraction in London

A Magical, Mechanical, Musical Tour...

OK, lets start with the name of this museum. It's Musical as in Musical boxes, musical devices, self playing pianos and all things Mechanical that make music and not the history of the theatre form "Musicals".

So, with that out of the way, let me tell you why you should definitely make the journey to Brentford to see this amazing collection of all things musical.

Firstly, you will never experience anything like this in the world. This is the foremost collection of these types of instruments anywhere, with often one of the last, or in some cases even the last of it's type on display.

And everything is functioning here (this isn't a come look at museum, this is a come see, gawp & listen museum) and you'll be moved to tears, if you have just one emotional cell in your body..

Like so many museums, houses & pubs that exist in our city, this is yet another, that exists entirely because of Londoners. It gets no public funding whatsoever (It had some assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund to build it's new home in this purpose built establishment having moved from a make-shift museum in a church a bit further down the road) and like most of our museums began it's life as a personal collection (in this case Frank Holland's) & only survives because of the amazing London Volunteers who keep it going.

So, whilst the entrance fee of £11 maybe surprising in a City with so many FREE ENTRY museums, you need to think of this as a paid exhibition in one of those establishments, where you'll easily pay £18.00 plus and it want be anywhere near as exciting.

It's absolutely essential you do a tour (which is included in your ticket price) as this is what brings this place to life and makes the experience so unbelievably special. Check the website to confirm times, but the museum is currently open Tuesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday with tours at 11am & 3pm on Tuesdays and 11am 1pm & 3pm on all other days.

The volunteer I had on my tour was a musician named Steve (Lewig - I think from his name badge in the photo below), who's passion for the instruments on display was palpable.

This is a collection of how people listened to music through the ages and to hear instruments played live instead of recorded makes you wonder why we haven't maintained these traditions.

From the musical broaches made by watchmakers in the 1600's, to the early devices of His Master's Voice (HMV) from the on street barrel organs too the huge presence of the Orchestrions which literally seemed to house an entire orchestra (horns, strings, timpani, keyboards) and of course played itself.

But the star for me was the Rachmaninoff roll. We stood and listened to his ghost perform at the piano (If you're a fan of the West World Television series you'll absolutely adore this place as many of the pianos, are roll music played are similar to the one in the opening sequence) and I've never been more moved by a piece of music played by a device in my life.

Rachmaninoff recorded the roll by playing directly onto it and it was only released when he'd signed off the final roll for public purchase ensuring it was his exact performance and it felt like he was actually in the room with us.

The sound, displays and mechanics of all these devices are completely jaw dropping and makes an iPod seem like a kindergarten toy by comparison.

It genuinely is a magical place. Your even given an opportunity to sit and perform (by pedaling and adjusting tempo & volume) on one of the instruments yourself.

This is truly unlike any experience you can have in London (or indeed as mentioned, anywhere else in the World) and is worth the trip to this part of town on it's own (but there's also lots else to do in area like Kew Garden's, the Steam & Water Museum & even take a boat ride from Westminster to Kew Pier.

Whatever you chose, don't miss this magical musical palace, it really is a life changer and will lift your spirits whatever your mood, as our guide Steve says, it's impossible not to leave here with a smile on your face and he...

Asked on the day by tour guides to give positive reviews. Yet we were being rushed around the tour because they had another function that night.

A bit sad about this - I understand they couldn’t be late for another function but we had booked a party of us for my father’s 70th birthday on a Saturday night and many people had come from around the country to be with us that evening, and the musical museum was a big part of that.

Excellent tour guide, very interesting artefacts, however it was cut short by an old bloke who came in and tapped his watch at the tour guide.

Said in front of everyone “we’ve got to wrap it up now”. We had barely been going for long and had seen approximately 30% of all the instruments which I was sad about as you can’t just wander around the museum without the guide - not that kind of place.

So being rushed really ruined it for me.

However I only have very positive things to say about our youngish tour guide who handled this embarrassing interruption with incredible diplomacy. This chap was knowledgeable, charming, and interesting, and I just wanted to hear more from him. So sad it was cut short and that we couldn’t see instruments in more detail.

We literally looked at two of the approx 50 instruments in the last room. Gutting.

I think the reason was that we were due to have a Wurlitzer tour at the end, which was fantastic, but we kept on being reminded that the chap doing the Wurlitzer bit couldn’t be with us for long as he had rehearsals for something else that night.

Also I tried to sit in a seat near the back of the hall and was told I couldn’t sit there because they were rearranging the room for a function that night, this all happened around us whilst we sat in the final part of our tour. Can’t believe this as my dad had booked our time for his 70th birthday!

I only wanted to sit at the back because of an annoying screaming toddler (not in our party) ruining it for me.

Finally, my father had booked, and checked multiple times throughout the preceding weeks, for me to play some tunes on the Wurlitzer but the guy doing the last part of the tour simply didn’t make this an option.

I understand most of the people in our party were late, which is why I understand they missed much of the instruments in the first room, that’s their fault. But I was personally sad that I didn’t get a chance to see way over half of the beautiful instruments in this museum, especially the second room.

I recall they said our tickets gave us entry again at a later date if we wanted to come back, so hopefully I’ll find the time to do this and update my review...

An enjoyable and enthusiastically presented tour of the world of automated music.

Having lived locally for many years, my previous impression of the Musical Museum was that it was never busy and a bit dull.

How wrong I was.

Included in the entry fee (£11 adult, £5 child, £25 family) is a guided tour. I joined the first tour a bit late, but was welcomed in. There were around 20 people there, which surprised me.

The volunteer tour guide was wonderful. Enthusiastic, friendly, informative, presenting plenty of interesting facts and explanations, without ever losing the visitor's interest.

The museum is a collection of automated musical machines from about the 1700s to modern day. That also, I didn't expect.

Many of the machines are in full working order and the tour includes plenty of interesting demonstrations. Again, these were never too long, but sufficient to get a real idea of the machines capabilities and range.

The tour takes between 45 - 50 minutes. It finishes upstairs in the auditorium with a demonstration of an original Wurlitzer cinematic organ.

Visitors are then free to explore the museum themselves, or visit the café on same floor.

If, like me, you missed the start of the tour, you can join the next one. I did this and again, there were around 20 people. I only had to wait just over five minutes for the same guide to start the next tour. I'm glad I did because I'd missed some interesting demonstrations.

The whole building is very modern, fully accessible and step free. If you don't want to use the lift, there's stairs between the floors.

Parking is limited to around 11 spaces, plus two spaces for disabled visitors.

A very worthwhile...