WEATHERFORD —
Music has meant many things to many people and has constantly involved in the course of its history.
Some of the earliest prehistoric instruments can be dated back to 7,000 BC.
On Tuesday, the Doss Heritage and Culture Center opened its doors to a music exhibit of its own, titled “The Power of Music: Photographic Portraits of Americans and their Musical Instruments, 1860-1915.”
“The exhibit isn’t really about progress, its about what music used to be and what it meant at those tough times,” museum curator C.B. Williams said. “Music had a whole different meaning back then.
“It was work hard all day long, and when they took that break for music, it was like a B12 shot. It was their inspiration, and a way to keep their sanity through hard times.”
The exhibit includes various musical instruments and photographs of musicians that were produced by Smith Kramer.
“It was our opportunity to pull some instruments from that time period,” Williams said. “We rounded up some old instruments from that time period as well as phonographs and radios that are from that turn of the century.
“The photographs are from 1860-1915, but our three dimensional items are going through the 40s.”
The instruments come from an array of categories, including stringed, brass and woodwind, while the portraits, studio and outdoor, amateur and professional, depict the average person playing music.
“They are not famous people, they could be your next-door neighbor or someone you had seen around town,” Williams said. “It’s about the two guys next door that are twins and they play the piccolo.
“None of it is about famous musicians, its all about the local community and the average everyday home life. Some of the instruments were made by hand, and everybody had one in the family.”
While the exhibit serves the interests of the general public, the museum itself is gaining an advantage by having Smith Kramer, a full service traveling exhibition company out of Missouri, come in.
“We have done other venues from Smith Kramer and a few other places, but with funds a little tight, we chose to manifest our own exhibit,” Williams said. “Sometimes its really nice to get an exhibit from outside this area so that you can connect the people of Parker County with the surrounding areas, including the world.
“This is the only one we do where something from the outside is being brought in and it’s fun to connect the people and their instruments locally.”
The exhibit will run through Oct. 31. A reception for the exhibit opening is slated for Oct. 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Doss Center.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.
For more information, call the Doss Center at 817-599-6168 or visit their website at www.dosscenter.com.
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