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We are surrounded by sound: the noise of machines, the melody of voices, the cries of animals resounding in cities or in nature. But what, in fact, is sound? Sound is simply air vibrating!

This first set of installations dedicated to sounds and sound phenomena invites the children to a sensory and immediate approach to sounds produced by materials, mainly natural (wood, stone, metal...). With this installation, the child is invited to listen in a different way, and thus discovers that the ear is not the only organ through which we can perceive a sound.

This world also features everyday sounds so that children can rediscover them and change their perception of their environment.

Experience the Philharmonie des enfants

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Today, Friday, 11 October 2024, the Philharmonie des enfants is opened.
Sound vibration
Without ears

Listening to music with your skeleton? Really? Even though no sound is perceptible to the ear in this hut, structural plates can be used to listen to a piece of music directly through the bones of the elbow or the skull thanks to vibratory transmission.

Sound pitch
Highs and lows

Sound can be deep, like the roar of a tiger, or high-pitched, like birdsong. Generally, large objects make deep sounds and small objects high-pitched sounds.

Sound visualization
Seeing sound

Sound can not only be heard, but also seen. That is because sound is a vibration. It travels through air, but also through water and materials. So much that it can move things around us! Sound vibrations are usually tiny and invisible to the naked eye, and that is why experiments have been developed to observe them.
Shall we try one?

Tone
Listening to materials

Sounds change depending on the material. A wooden object does not make the same sound as a metal one. Like our voice, each sound has its own tone, called timbre. There are many timbres around you, you simply have to listen. We have amplified the sound of the materials so you can hear it clearly.

Soundscape
Hunting for sounds

A landscape is not only made up of the things we see.
If you close your eyes and take time to listen, you can hear all that makes up the ’sound landscape’ of a place: rumbles of thunder, squealing tyres, bubbling water and an owl hooting in the forest. We can piece together these soundscapes just by listening!