A program on Saturday will show off instruments that used to be common in American parlors and have mostly gone silent since.
The Benton County Genealogical Society presents “Antique Musical Roadshow” with collector and musician Brent Bunker from 11 a.m. to noon Nov. 14 on the second floor of the Philomath Museum. Admission is free.
Bunker has gathered about 100 instruments, and he taught himself to play many of the unusual ones. The program will include the lute harp, harpolyre, harp guitar, marxophone and tremoloa, along with a collection of uncommon harmonicas.
Before radio and television, families and neighbors made their own entertainment, often with instruments like these. Many of them faded away when people stopped playing them.
Bunker started out on the five-string banjo. By age 15, he was teaching it at a music school. He has since played the Irish pipes in Ireland and the Highland pipes in Scotland. He learned the hammered dulcimer in Arkansas and studied with John Doan, who is widely considered the modern-day father of the harp guitar.
Music has been a lifelong pursuit for Bunker, but it wasn’t his career. He worked as an anesthetist for about 40 years before retiring. He and his wife, Pamela, have eight children and 30 grandchildren.
A wheelchair ramp is at the northeast corner of the museum building. Organizers ask that visitors not bring food or drinks into the museum.