In August of 2014 The Birthplace of Country Music Museum opened its doors for the first time. To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we have asked two of our longest serving volunteers, Mary Geiger and Barbara Smith, to reflect on their time as docents at the museum and share some of their favorite memories from the last ten years. Mary and Barbara were part of the first class of docents for the museum. Docents are museum volunteers who have been specially trained to provide tours.
The new Birthplace of Country Music Museum was sparkling and we six “brand spanking new” docent graduates were brimming with enthusiasm. Our docent education was intense and in-depth, and we could not wait to share with visitors all that we learned of the museum story. Each docent created their own unique method of presentation; however, brimming with naiveté, it quickly became clear that there wasn’t visitor interest or time to share all our knowledge. A sure sign we had gone too far was the audience’s eyes glazing over! Thus began the 2nd phase of docent education, the mental exercise of paring down one’s knowledge to critical, but manageable information while also aiming for a personable yet interesting presentation. This lesson is an ongoing process even ten years later.
Content and pared down information were not the only challenges, another challenge was managing to be heard! In our music museum, the docent is almost always talking over background music from carefully placed “sound clouds” in the gallery. While these sound clouds direct the sound into specific spaces of the museum, docents often have to be heard by crowds of thirty or more people that can bleed over into different sound cloud zones during a tour. Luckily, many of our docents were once school teachers and are blessed with “foghorn” voices which can be heard over the loudest clamor! Those of us with softer voices found alternate methods to ensure we can be heard, such as using portable microphones.
A delightful reflection is the experience of watching those artists featured in the museum exhibits react to seeing their contributions. It was fun watching Scythian mimic their poses on the back wall in the Immersion Experience or Crus Contreras, during his tour, encouraging an artist staff member or Paul Thorn and his drummer Jeffrey, both south paws, simultaneously autographing the Green Board.
The Alfred Karnes family has held two family reunions in the museum. While talking to Karnes’s last surviving daughter and succeeding generations, we learned more about this fascinating, deep-voiced Baptist minister who married five times, with his 5th wife perhaps last in possession of his never-seen-again harp guitar.
Recently the two of us shared the joy in touring the Eastman Chemical France Division employees, with Barbara performing the introduction in French!
Our final reflection is the reward in meeting so many diverse visitors over the years, most particularly those who arrive not knowing the museum story or even liking country music and then departing with a newfound appreciation for both. Those are the most enjoyable tours.
Guest Bloggers Mary Geiger and Barbara Smith are volunteers at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.