TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- The Challenger Learning Center is preparing for a celebration of America's musical roots. Saturday is the official opening of the special program, America's Musical Journey.
The blues, jazz, and 80's rock are just some music genres that helped define America as it was growing. But it was more than that. The music, no matter the genre, brought us closer together. That's exactly why the Challenger Learning Center is adding America’s Musical Journey to it's IMAX lineup.
"You get to visit all these cities and they tell you all about the musical heritage," explains Samantha Reaves , the sales and resource development manager of the Challenger Learning Center. "The diversity that really birthed the music genres that we all know and love today. The overall theme is how music brings us all together."
The music born from others throughout the nation and the diversity of Tallahassee has impacted local musicians, encouraging them to pick up an instrument and play the first note.
"The punk scene, the kind of the local alt-kid-slash-hipster scene," says
Scott Bell, president of Cat Family Records. "There's so much fragmentation. Now you're seeing, I think a lot more fluidity, right. People going across the aisle and working together. So you're seeing a blend, I think."
Scott Bell, the president of Cat Family Records, says Tallahassee's music scene is a mix... but it all starts with Gaines Street.
"There's this process of growth and gentrification," continues Bell. "And you have the college that's kind of spilling over into this more traditional community, which is this recurring theme."
The local diversity may help shape the music, but it's the personal experiences that are often times expressed in a song.
"Unfortunately when it comes to music and art in general, a lot of that experience is typically negative," describes Bell. "People like to focus on the negative and just kind of express that out. I think music and art is a therapeutic way to do that."
And Tallahassee, much like the rest of America, has a rich music history and its own story to tell.
Again, America's Musical Journey opens Saturday at the Challenger Learning Center with shows at 11 am and 12 noon. so bring the whole family!
Also happening Saturday, the center will be hosting it's Kids Free Day where the focus will be on music and having the kids express themselves through it.
