Posted by Jennifer Bennerotte on Mar 13, 2018
The City of Edina’s Parks & Recreation Department has ordered the musical instruments to be placed at Rosland Park as one of the Rotary Club of Edina’s signature projects for 2017-2018.
 
The Edina Rotary Foundation donated $10,000 to the Parks & Recreation Department for musical instruments at the park, 4300 W. 66th St.
 
 
Musical instruments are proven to be provide multi-generational, interactive play. They are durable, sculptural, perfectly tuned and designed for all abilities. Rosland Park is home to the City’s first ADA-accessible playground and officials believe the instruments will further enhance the park and community.
 
One of the pieces selected by the Parks & Recreation Department with help from Rotarian Mark Stageberg is “Serenade.” Passersby can read music without any prior knowledge and learn to play the chimes in two different ways – by color or by the annotated notes on the instrument and in the accompanying book. The 15 chimes are diatonic and sound so sweet that every note is pleasant. The songbook includes sheet music for such songs as “Happy Birthday,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Bingo,” “Row Row Row Your Boat” and “Rock a Bye Baby.”

Another of the pieces is “Flowers.” Each of the four flowers in the collection is a different size, height, color and has four different notes of very long sustain. They sound like sweet gongs. The flowers are so sculptural they will be enjoyed as soon as they are seen, but will enchant park patrons with their tones for additional delight.
 
The instruments will be installed by the City upon receipt and no later than June 30.
 
To see more photos of the instruments or videos of them in use, visit www.freenotesharmonypark.com. For more information on the project, contact Stageberg, part of the Community Service – Local Funding Committee, at 952-239-0249 or stageberglaw@cs.com.