Roland LIVE at the GRAMMY Museums
Interactive Displays in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Mississippi Bring Music Making to the Masses
Authors: Corey Fournier and Jim Bybee
Roland is pleased to announce that our ongoing educational partnership with the GRAMMY Museum continues to evolve and grow. Since 2009, Roland LIVE has been a popular exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, and it’s been recently refreshed with the latest gear and new interactive displays. Just last month, the GRAMMY Museum opened a new location in the heart of blues country—Cleveland, Mississippi—and Roland LIVE can be found there as well. In addition, the museum invited us to install a new Roland LIVE exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum Gallery, which is part of the Musicians Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville.
About Roland LIVE
Roland LIVE main stage at the GRAMMY Museum Gallery in Nashville.
Each year, the GRAMMY Museums host thousands of students and music lovers, where they gain a greater knowledge of the music artists who have influenced art, film, media, and culture through their groundbreaking recordings and performances. As part of this experience, Roland LIVE installations provide a hands-on environment for education and music making, with real musical instruments used by GRAMMY artists in studios and on concert stages throughout the world.
The interactive displays in Roland LIVE offer access to a diverse range of Roland and BOSS music gear, including guitar effects pedals, the HPi-series digital piano, the VE-5 Vocal Performer, V-Drums and Handsonic percussion, and even an AX-series keytar. Each instrument area is fully interactive and does not require any prior experience or musical ability.
Roland LIVE main stage at the GRAMMY Museum in Mississippi.
The guitar area in Roland LIVE explores the enduring pursuit of guitarists from every generation: creating the ultimate tone. A special guitar that anyone can play is connected to a series of landmark BOSS guitar effects, which have been used by numerous stage and studio artists to create some of the most iconic guitar sounds of all time. By pressing the buttons on the guitar, guests can “play” famous guitar riffs while turning pedals on and off to experiment with different types of tones.
Interactive guitar display with BOSS pedals at the GRAMMY Museum.
With the microphone in the vocal area, anyone can take center stage and sing lead vocals, complete with harmonies and other exotic sound effects. The BOSS VE-5 Vocal Performer provides the vocal processing, and users can explore all types of different effects to captivate the crowd.
Of course, no stage would be complete without a drum kit. The TD-11KV V-Drums set allows drummers and non-drummers alike to sit down and experience the rich history of drums, from early instruments and orchestral percussion to classic jazz and rock sets and newer sounds used in modern pop, hip-hop, and electronic music styles. Even hand percussion is represented with Roland’s HandSonic HPD-20, where users can play a huge range of mainstream percussion like congas, bongos, tambourines, and shakers, as well as world percussion instruments from India, Africa, and Asia.
MV-8800 and HandSonic HPD-20 displays at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.
Roland HPi-50e interactive piano display at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.
With a history spanning more than 300 years, the piano continues to be a major influence on many styles of music. Roland has played an important role in the development of modern piano technologies, and the HPi-50e at Roland LIVE lets visitors enjoy a top-class digital piano, complete with a built-in display for music notation. For keyboardists who want to venture out from behind the piano and go mobile, they can step up to the Lucina keytar and go downstage with all types of cool synthesizer sounds.
The story of hip-hop and dance music can’t be told without legendary Roland rhythm machines and synths. Each Roland LIVE exhibit features a dedicated electronic music stage complete with a selection of Roland’s popular AIRA instruments, all ready for action! With all the gear on display to make booming beats, monster bass lines, soaring synths, and ear-bending vocals, visitors can rock the club with grooves and sounds from old-school to modern and beyond.
Roland LIVE electronic music stage at the GRAMMY Museum Gallery in Nashville.
Roland LIVE electronic music stage at the GRAMMY Museum Gallery in Nashville.
The new GRAMMY Museum Gallery exhibit at the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville also includes the Roland LIVE Studio, which allows visitors to step into the inspiring experience of creating music in collaboration with others. This room is outfitted with a complete band backline so musicians can rehearse, create, and jam together with no holds barred. There’s a bass with ME-20B multi-effects, a guitar with ME-80 multi-effects, an RD-64 piano, a TD-11KV V-Drums kit, and a mic with VE-5 vocal effects. Everything is routed into the HS-5 Session Mixer, so everyone can hear one another with their own custom mixes on headphones.
Roland LIVE Studio at the GRAMMY Museum Gallery in Nashville.
In addition, the Roland LIVE Studio features two V-Drums kits that are dedicated for interactive drum lessons with none other than Ringo Starr.
In Nashville, Roland LIVE attendees can sit down at the TD-11KV V-Drums and take an interactive drum lesson with Ringo Starr.
The GRAMMY Museums are living music libraries, bringing artifacts and interactivity together in a celebration of the art and artists that form the fabric of our musical heritage. Teachers, students, and lifetime learners of all ages—plan a trip to one of these great museums, and make sure you leave plenty of time to enjoy Roland LIVE!
Learn More About the GRAMMY Museums
To get more information and find out how to visit one of the Roland LIVE exhibits, check out the following sites:
Visitors rock out on the Roland LIVE main stage at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.
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