Michael Bradke grew up with music at home, and he’s taken it on the road for more than three decades to democratise it for all ages with his Mobiles Musik Museum. He’s made the instruments himself from PVC, wood, bones, metal and bamboo.
“Most important for me is to engage kids and adults alike to overcome “I am not musical” through positive experiences, fostering self-empowerment,” Michael says.
His first version of “Tone Tubes” from PVC came in 1992, composed of 15 drums. “The huge success inspired me to build Monster-Flutes, giant Slam-Organs, Helipipers and Tubular-Bells, so now over 50 people can play continuously.”
That’s how he’s involved at least 1 million kids and parents playing this installation at festivals, museum exhibitions, science centres and public playgrounds for the past 30 years. Check out the videos online from this one-man dynamo: https://www.youtube.com/@MobilesMusikMuseum
“I thought, why not use daily visible material like sewer piping to build instruments with technologies used for thousands of years by cultures all over the world?,” Michael says. “Up-cycling and recycling are a big help.”
Since 2015 he’s gone electric, using an array of sensors and microphones “to create a huge sculpture with manyfold electronic instruments for indoor exhibitions.”