The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments

Imagined instruments reveal how we shape music—and how music shapes us.

The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments is a guided tour through centuries of instruments that never existed. From ancient myths to futuristic media, these imagined devices appear in literature, theory, video games, and art, at times echoing real instruments, other times pushing far beyond the bounds of technology. This book presents a wide-ranging collection of such creations, showing how they reflect changing ideas about sound, invention, and the limits of the possible. At once a cultural history and a study of creative thought, it uncovers unexpected links between music, design, and the human urge to make meaning through sound. These are not just fictional artifacts; they are windows into what music might mean, even when it cannot be played.

Deirdre Loughridge is professor of music at Northeastern University, Boston. Her previous books include Sounding Human: Music and Machines, 1740/2020.

Thomas Patteson is a teacher, writer, and musician based in Philadelphia. He is the author of Instruments for New Music and cofounder of People’s Music Supply.