Music · Museum · Cafe

I have this brilliant idea...ok, not really brilliant (not sure if it's original), and it's more of a concept, but I'm getting all excited just visualizing it.

A few days ago, I was pondering over why we don't have a Singapore Music Museum. We have museums for visual arts (e.g. Singapore Art Museum), literary arts (National Library), but why not Singapore music? I had actually forgotten about it but today it came to mind again and I started developing it in my mind and the concept came while I was on my way home. Ok, here's the layout...

I'm envisioning this 2-storey space which is circular in design, with an atrium in the centre (i.e. the 2nd floor can look down into the centre space of the 1st floor). On the 2nd floor are the main exhibits about Singapore music. We can have displays on the rock-n-roll era, pioneers of Singapore music, NDP music, and the development through the years to the present day. The "through the years" display will likely be the permanent exhibit (though we will rotate the items being displayed), but we would also have a segment for special exhibits (maybe a special showcase of a personality in the Singapore music scene, etc.). I'm even contemplating using soundscaping for the "through the years" part where when someone steps into a certain zone, music from that era will play. (Hee...this was an idea I never got to use previously - the "envelop effect"). I think that's how music can be "showcased". It's not visual like the other art forms, so soundscaping is 1 of the ways.

Then downstairs, it would be like an interactive zone, or I would say activity zone.

There will be a small recording studio which people can rent to record their songs. A demo room/library, where singer-songwriters can deposit their demos and whoever's interested or talent scouts can come in to listen to these demos. Eventually, the old demos will be moved to become part of the museum's exhibition collection.

There will be a cafe selling some simple stuff. Ok, basically I'm thinking of selling some of my more successful culinary dishes like (my mum's) chicken curry, potato gratin & lasagne. And who can go wrong with toasted sandwiches? Of course with some coffee & tea, fruit juice and maybe some other drinks like soy bean milk as well. Don't need to serve too many things coz less variety sometimes means better quality.

And the best part is the centre area. It's part of the cafe (seating) but there is a stage on 1 side facing the bar/kitchen. So people can sit facing the stage & not be distracted by the kitchen. We can have open mikes, music talks, mini-concerts, etc. I think the circular design will also help with the acoustics and maybe create that "envelop effect" as well.

Feasible? Ok, if anyone wants to capitalise on this, you can, coz I myself will not have the resources to set up something like that. But if possible, leave a job vacancy for me. :)

PS: This is so much more dynamic, meaningful & cool than a book cafe, which I used to dream about. And I like the concept of creating spaces.