The music 100 Exhibition

Music 100 is the title of a unique travelling exhibition created to celebrate EMI's Centenary. Music 100 will tell the fascinating story of recorded sound through the eyes and ears of EMI and its artists, combining the technical and artistic evolution of the music business with EMI's own company history, against a background of social and economic change in the 20th Century.

Designed as a 45-60 minute walk-through experience, the visitor will be guided through specially constructed sets and tableaux, interspersed with sound and interactive sites and exciting displays of historic artifacts and memorabilia. This journey takes in the original music hall entertainers; through the 1st world war and into the jazz age; through the 1930s up to the second world war; and into the 1950s, with Rock 'n' Roll and the emerge of 'the teenager'. The exhibition, then expands to take in the swinging sixties and one of EMI's biggest bands, the Beatles; the glam 70s and the advent of punk through to the new romantics; Band Aid in the 80s and up to the present day.

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'Gateway to a Century of Sound'
- the entrance to music100.

From the trenches of the First World War to the achievements of Live Aid, from the revolution of the flat shellac disc to the compact disc, from The Beatles to Blur, from Dame Nellie Melba to Roberto Alagna, from pianola to punk, the importance of recorded music to the lives of people over the last one hundred years will be shown in a way that will be exciting, entertaining and informative.

At various points throughout the exhibition there are focal points which concentrate on key areas bringing them to life in a spectacular fashion, these include:-

• What is Sound? An explanation of what makes music, how it travels, how frequencies work and how we can listen to it.
• Nippers Corner. The world famous 'His Masters Voice' logo with the dog listening to his masters voice on a gramophone is still in use over 80 years after its origination. The story of how this came represent the most famous record company in the world is an intriguing one.
• Abbey Road. Quite simply the most famous music recording studio in the world and so much a part of the Betles' life.
• Sound and Vision. A look at how images have been used over the century as a means of promoting artists and their music, eventually leading to the development of the pop video.
• Road to Fame. Every great band and artist starts somewhere and being discovered is every musicians dream. The journey from obscurity to public adulation (and sometimes back again) is always fascinating.
• Tomorrow's Sound. How will we be enjoying music in the future? Only 20 years ago videos were unknown and CDs, which swept vinyl aside, only really took over in the late 80s. The multi-media possibilities of tomorrow are enormous.

Written by Tim Gardom, the man behind The Dinosaurs Gallery at the Natural History Museum and The Fantasy Factory Show at Cadbury World in Birmingham, and technically realised by Nick Fraser, whose credits include Legoland at Windsor and the Hazard Dome at Eureka, Music 100 will amazingly be the first ever exhibition dedicated to the most exciting business in the world.

Music 100 is due to open on 15th February 1997 at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh and is one of several initiatives that The EMI Group have organised as part of their centenary year. The exhibition shop will feature a carefully selected range of merchandise items, including gifts, CDs, books and clothing.

Allied to the theme of the exhibition, and forging an important link with schools, EMI is producing TUNE IN - a dedicated education pack for the 7-11 age group. This pack, free to schools, will provide teachers with vital aids to the music, art, design and technology, and science curricula. Produced by teachers and already hailed a success in preliminary tests, TUNE IN comprises hard-wearing work sheets which can be freely copied for school use, as well as photographs and CD examples. The subject matter also links with Music 100 as it enables school parties to have a specific curriculum focus while enjoying the exhibition.

Whatever the visitor's personal interest in music and whatever musical era evokes the strongest memories, they will be found at Music 100 - a unique and unforgettable experience.