Music, Movement, & Sound

Music is math; music is science; music is language; music is history; music is in all things.

The concept that music reaches deep into our lives and community is at the core of our exciting new exhibit Music, Movement, and Sound: An Exploration of Clark County’s Musical Roots.

This display is a family-friendly, educational, and inspirational exploration of Clark County’s musical roots and our community’s vibrant musical culture today.

We feature local and national artists and community groups, such as, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Chinook Indian Nation, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Friends of the Carpenter, The Responding, 204th Army Band, Battle Ground Community Band, Vancouver USA Singers, Washington Old Time Fiddler’s District 10 Players, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Diane Schuur, Ceremonial Castings,  Amber Sweeney, Doug Smith, Gary Hobbs, A.M.E Zion Community Church, The Juleps, River Twain, Lincolns Beard, Part Time Perfect, Harvest Gold, and many, many more.

Our exhibit also features Clark County’s Covington Piano, which is the first piano brought to the Pacific Northwest. After departing Europe by ship, the Covington Piano braved South America’s tumultuous Cape Horn before arriving in the Oregon Territory in 1846.

This 1830s Playel upright had been a wedding gift to Richard and Anne Covington, who were both recruited by the Hudson’s Bay Company to serve as educators at Fort Vancouver. On their overseas journey from London, England, the musical twenty-somethings brought with them a violin, guitar, and what is now a revered piece of regional history, the Covington Piano: the first piano to arrive in the Pacific Northwest.

We use interpretative panels, historical objects, and new interactive stations to create an exhibit where visitors can not only discover the living history of music, dance, and radio in Clark County and Southwest Washington but engage with it. 

We want to give a heartfelt thanks to our exhibit sponsors BNSF, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Realvest, Clark County, Wager Audio, and The Brickhouse Bar and Grill. Their support made this possible. Additional support was provided by Hammersmith Rock Institute. We also want to thank artist Anni Furniss for her amazing artwork for our exhibit.