We were headed to the crypt to see the Imperial tombs, when we passed by the Haus der Musik museum. I had heard it is a really fun museum and interactive for kids, so we decided to check it out instead of the more creepy crypt option.
In this section you can throw dice, and each number represents a measure of music. When you are finished throwing the dice six times or so then the game plays for you the music you “composed”. I think Oliver and Elora just liked throwing the dice, but Ollie enjoyed listening to the music too.
There is a section on different conducters from the Vienna Philharmonic where you can read about and see this great statue of some famous conducters.
The kids liked listening to the CDs for sale of the Philharmonic. I wanted to buy one of the concert DVDs, but they were 26 Euro! And we are too cheap… maybe we can find some clips on youtube.
Oliver is a huge fan of music, so anytime there were headphones with music to listen to, he was pretty excited. There was also a little theater you could sit in to watch a video of the last Philharmonic New Year’s concert.
Marion slept through most of the museum, but there was a section that explored different sounds, and the way the ears work, and other interesting aspects of sound. She woke up in the room that simulated the sounds of the womb, and she was completely calm the whole time we stayed in the room. Must have still seemed familiar!
In this room when the kids ran in a circle it made sound. I think this was one of Oliver’s favorite places because it was the only spot we weren’t telling him to stop running…
There are a whole bunch of different stations where you can experiment with sound. I think this museum would be great with kids who are about 8 years old or so, because they would be able to understand better what to do. It was really interesting, but with small kids present I was never able to finish any of the activities before the kids got bored…
Here is a room with tons of different spots to listen to interesting noises. One area had the sounds of different cities all over the world, one had sounds from space and different planets, one had different people noises like yawning and burping (Elora liked this area best)…
Elora loves the little audio guides. These were for a section on famous composers from Austria. It was actually really interesting from what I heard… Elora stole my audio guide so I missed most of the information and had to ask everyone to fill me in. One of these days I will learn to get her an audio guide of her own.
Elora and Oliver were so excited when they found one of the puppets from the Marionette Theater on display. I think that is still one of their favorite things they have ever done in Vienna.
More interesting sounds to listen to. There was a whole section on how we hear sound, and it was filled with activities that confuse your brain….
Elora saw this bench and said, “They took one of the benches from the Schonbrunn! Why did they take one of the benches?” I don’t know why it was there, but it almost felt like we were outside in the gardens of the Schonbrunn while we sat there and listened to Mozart.
At the very end you could conduct the Philharmonic. You got to pick the song, the conductor gave tips on how to lead the song you chose, and then there was a conducting stick and music stand for you to follow along. Then when you did a bad job the conductor would insult you… since Oliver had no interest in letting Chris help him lead, he had a hard time keeping the right tempo – but he was so excited to lead the music and cried when we had to leave. 
This section was the music lab where you got to experiment with strange games that had to do with sounds. Here is Chris saying, “What is the point of this weird part of the museum?” But the kids loved this part.
Each of the weird buttons made a sound when you pushed it.
Grampy enjoyed this conducting game.
I am glad we got to try out this museum. It really would be better when our kids are older, but they still had a fun time and it was a little different than most museums where you are supposed to be quiet!
