Visit time: July 2005
現代音樂中心位於巴黎市東北方的維萊特公園裡，是一座兼具演出、教育與展示功能的大型綜合活動中心。巴黎高等音樂院就在咫尺之距，因此這個區域，也是許多巴黎音樂人的活動範圍。Situated in the La Villette Park at the northeast of Paris, the Cit'e de la Musique is a center for performance, education and exhibition. The Paris Conservatory is just nearby, so this is actually a popular area for music people.
音樂博物館一直是我很努力蒐集資料的領域，還記得幾年前的巴黎行，在離開以後才因緣際會知道了這座博物館的存在，心裡頭還為了自己一時不察錯過了參觀機會而懊惱不已，當時就發誓，下次到巴黎的時候，一定要去走一遭。
It’s been some years that I started collecting materials about museums with music as its major theme. I still remember that I got to know this museum in 2002, when I just returned home from Paris. I was sorry that I didn’t do my homework before I left for the trip and decided that it’d be one of the must-go for the next trip to Paris.
出發之前曾經到音樂博物館的網站上看過，平時活動頗多的博物館似乎正進入淡季，大概因為學生們都放暑假的關係吧！然而，再怎麼說，這間博物館也屬於世界上樂器收藏最豐富的博物館之一，雖然這次仍舊無法一窺博物館活動全貌，只有參觀展示區的份兒，不過要飛到巴黎也不是件難事，這次姑且先走馬看花，也不至於讓自己有所遺憾囉！
I visited the official web site before I left for Paris. It seemed to enter a “low-season” because students were on their summer vacation. In any case, it is one of the museums rich in collections of musical instruments. Though I could not have a complete idea of the activities of the museum in this visit and could only visit its exhibitions, it’s not difficult for me to arrange a trip to Paris. So I decided to have a general look of the museum first so that I wouldn’t leave any regret this time.
抵達博物館已是下午四點以後的事。嫂子對現代音樂中心其實頗為熟悉，這地方其實是她留學時期常常流連忘返之處，只是多年以來，對裡面的博物館總是過門不入，對我這個博物館迷來說甚是可惜；不過留學生的生活忙碌，連我自己在倫敦住了一年，也沒有走遍倫敦市內的所有博物館，現在回想起來雖然有些後悔，不過當時也真的沒有什麼空閒時間，畢竟在博物館學的課程之中，也排滿了大大小小的校外參觀交流，週末倘若沒有特意安排，其實也都是在讀書寫報告中度過。
My sister-in-law and I arrived the museum at 4PM. She is quite familiar to the center because it’s one of the places that she often visited when she was studying in Paris. However, for all those years she’s never been to the museum, it’s quite a pity from my point of view. I could understand that one could be extremely busy for school. I was in London for a whole year and didn’t visit all museums in London. I regret a bit but in any case I didn’t have that much free time for visits. After all, the program of museum studies also took us to various field trips and weekends were mostly left for writing reports and studies.
算了算，我們大概只有不到兩小時的時間，不過以我自己參觀博物館的經驗，兩個小時其實還算適當，加上國際博物館協會的會員可以免費參觀（註一），我們便還是走了進去。
We had about only two hours. From my past experiences, two hours for visiting a museum is quite enough because more than that my brain starts to feel the “burden”. Also, with the ICOM membership card I can get in for free, so we still entered the museum.
驗票區是個擺滿無限耳機的櫃檯！工作人員問道：「你們要耳機嗎？」我原本心想，語音導覽還要額外付費，這次的時間又不多，正想要拒絕的時候，她加上一句：「免費的喔！」那當然二話不說，欣然接受。我要了英文，嫂子要了法文，調整音量以後，我們就踏著有些沉重的步伐進了展示區（註二）。
The entrance of the museum is a counter full of headphones. We were asked, “ do you want it?” I was thinking that we might have to pay extra for the audio-guide and there wasn’t enough time. When I was about to say no, she added, “it’s for free.” So why not?! We took it with gratitude. I asked for English guide and my sister-in-law asked for the French one. After adjusting the volume, we went into the exhibition area.
由於博物館創建的時間並不久，整體裝潢設備都非常新穎，環境條件控制得宜，所以在我一踏入展示區的時候，心裡馬上有了「嗯！不錯！」的想法。整個展示是以年代為主軸，呈現出十六世紀至現代的樂器與音樂。在年代之下，再以樂器種類為劃分，以簡短的解說文字輔以語音導覽，道出各種樂器大致的發展。透過語音導覽，參觀者還可以聽到各種樂器的聲音，以及館方特別挑選出的代表性作品演出。即使因為感應器與解說播放的關係，參觀者可能會在解說到一半的時候中途插入，得要耐心等待，才能從頭聽到始末，不過解說與音樂品質俱佳，也因此舒緩了因為無線耳機所造成的不悅。很多時候，我和嫂子常常因為音樂太美，而放慢了參觀的角度…The museum is quite new. No matter the facilities or environment control meets standard. When I stepped into the exhibition, I was feeling good. The exhibition follows chronological order, presenting music and instruments from 16th century to present time. Under the time period, it’s further divided into categories following types of instruments. There’s short description to accompany the exhibited pieces. Along with the audio-guide, the history and developments of the musical instruments are told. There’re also sounds and selected music pieces of various instruments in the audio-guide. However, for the sensor of the guide and the way of broadcasting, one could possibly pop in an explanation in the middle and has to wait for its beginning. In any case, the quality of the interpretation and music is rather good that the uncomfortable feelings caused by the headphone and broadcasting can be stood, even ignored. Sometimes we even slowed down our pace just to enjoy the music!
當然，期間也讓我們看到不少「新奇珍品」，例如各種尺寸與式樣的魯特琴、笛子、提琴、鋼琴等，實在也不是三言兩語就能夠敘述出當時的驚喜之情。然而可惜的是，雖然館方已經很努力地試著滿足參觀者，讓參觀者聽到各種樂器的聲音，不過館內仍然有些漏網之魚未被納入，加上有關記譜法的部分，並沒有像我以前參觀過的其他博物館一樣，拿出許多原稿讓人加以觀賞比較，這反而成了嫂子的遺憾之一！而我的遺憾，則是因為安排的參觀時間太短，在我看完前三分之一的時候，看一看手錶只剩不到四十分鐘，而博物館賣店向來是我參觀博物館的重點之一，說什麼也得留個二十分鐘去逛逛，因此接下來的三分之二，我幾乎是快步拍照走過，同時也不小心遺漏掉了有關電子樂器的部分，甚是可惜。
We saw quite a lot “curiosities”, for example, various sizes and styles of lutes, flutes, violins and pianos. These surprising feelings and joy couldn’t be expressed through a few words. It’s a pity that not all sounds of the exhibited instruments are included, and there’re not too many original manuscripts as we expected. My regrets lied at the fact that the visiting time was short and I spent more than one hour in the first one-third of the exhibition. When I realized it, there’s only 40 minutes left. The museum shop has been always one of my focuses and I had to leave at least 20 minutes for it. So I walked through the remaining two-third of the exhibition in 20 minutes, taking quick photos and unintentionally skipped the part dedicated to electronic instruments.
事實證明，我們想要兩個小時看完這座博物館，實在是不可能的任務！如果仔細聆聽音樂與解說，大致上至少得要花上三個小時的時間…既然沒法看完，那麼就帶一本博物館導覽手冊回家吧！只是，館方竟然沒有出英文版的手冊，對看法文就像看外星文的我來說，也是個惡耗，不過，憑著我的義大利文程度，我還是不願意放過這本書，終究還是被我牽回家，等有時間再來玩「猜猜看」的遊戲吧！
It proved that it’s mission impossible to finish visiting this museum in two hours. If one listens to the music and explanation carefully, it’ll take at least three hours. Since I didn’t finish the exhibition, I was thinking to bring back home a guidebook with me. However, there’s no English version available and the French language is just too foreign to me. It’s a bad news… but I wouldn’t leave it there so I still bought it and decided to “guess” when I have more time to read.
註一：巴黎市內大大小小的博物館，對國際博物館協會ICOM的會員可說是非常禮遇，幾乎所有博物館都免費參觀，有些博物館賣店還可以打九五折，工作人員的服務態度也是超讚！
註二：連續逛街的結果，其實我們的腿都已經快廢了！只是為了看博物館，這樣的犧牲也是值得的。
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