Children's Museum of the East End Wins Competition, Bringing Music and Butterflies to Young Visitors

The Children's Museum of the East End, located in Bridgehampton, New York, has recently received a new musical ensemble as a result of winning a competition. Percussion Play, in partnership with the Association of Children's Museums, offered a free set of musical instruments to a children's museum in the US. The competition was held alongside the ACM's annual conference in New Orleans, and Leah Oppenheimer, the Director of Community Outreach at the museum, was selected as the winner in a random drawer. The result has provided children in the nearby area with the opportunity to learn and play music in the great outdoors.

The prize was the Rainbow Trio Ensemble, which consists of the Rainbow Bongos, Rainbow Metallophone, and Rainbow Chimes. These instruments are tuned to the pentatonic scale to create a safe musical haven for exploring new sounds in the fresh air. The prize also included a Penta Post, which is a cluster of five rainbow-colored chimes attached to a single stainless-steel post. The Rainbow Trio Ensemble is a customer favorite due to its bright colors and versatility in terms of the range of instruments included.

The instruments were recently installed in August and have been an instant hit with both museum guests and employees. Situated next to the butterfly garden, the museum team’s offices look over the instruments, resulting in a melody of tunes drifting up to the office to be heard throughout the day.

Leah Oppenheimer, Director of Community Outreach, comments, “We now have music to listen to all day thanks to the position of the ensemble of instruments. Not only are they a hit with our guests- both children and parents, they’re a hit with the entire team here! What’s great about the instruments is that parents are interested in playing them too, so children and parents play together. Thanks to the instruments being on the pentatonic scale, you can never play a bad note, so every tune played is beautiful to listen to. It’s such a joy to hear children and parents jamming together; in my book, every children’s museum should add these to their offering!”

For more than 20 years, Leah has been teaching music-making to both local and immigrant families. Her classes cater to infants, toddlers, and children, helping them discover the joy of music-making. Leah prefers using the instruments from Percussion Play because they enable players to create beautiful melodies that are always in tune.