In the course of the year, the Collection was given instruments by Robert Axtens (a basset horn by Ottensteiner), James Bertram, J.L. Boase, Simon Carlyle, Maurice Checker, Edgar Hunt, John King, Reginald Tritton (including a soprano sarrusophone by Distin), and Aberdeen City Council.
One further technical drawing has been published, of the tenor recorder from the Renaissance period, possibly by the Bassano family, prepared by Tom Lerch. This bring the total number of instrument workshop drawings on sale to 43. With support from the Hope Scott Trust and the University of Edinburgh Collections Committee, a replica of this recorder was made for EUCHMI by Tom Lerch (Berlin) and Margret Löbner (Bremen). This facsimile was made as close as possible to the present state of the original in all acoustically significant respects. A paper, The Research Reconstruction of a Renaissance Recorder, was presented by the Director/Curator at the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics (ISMA 2001) at Perugia in September.
The Director/Curator represented the University at the Triennial General Assembly of ICOM (The International Council of Museums) and the concurrent conference of CIMCIM (the International Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections) in Barcelona.
The Director/Curator presented a research paper, Unnatural selection of brasswinds: Survival of the fittest ? at the Conference on 19th-Century Music at the Royal College of Music, London, in July, and an invited paper Acoustical Aspects of Preserving Historic Musical Instruments at the International Congress on Acoustics in Rome in September.
One of the devices from the Sound Laboratory was lent to the Musée de la Musique, Paris, for their exhibition Un musée aux Rayons X, dix ans de recherches au service de la musique. In connection with this, the Director/Curator gave an invited presentation, "Les Collections Publiques au Royaume-Uni", at the colloquium L'Atelier du Musicien organised by the Musée de la Musique, in Paris, in May.
A number of stringed instruments were lent to the Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen, for the exhibition Fiddles: high and low from 6th July to 28th September.
The Collection has been used for teaching purposes by University Staff, in particular for courses in the Faculty of Music on Organology, Ethnomusicology and Musical Acoustics. Several parties made organised visits, and various scholars and instrument makers have visited to study particular instruments. An increasing number of enquiries were answered, many by e-mail.
A new environmental monitoring system has been purchased with the help of a grant from the Scottish Museums Council.
Research based in and around the Collection formed a strong component of the return from the Faculty of Music to the higher education funding councils' Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2001).
The application for renewal of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council Recurrent Grant for Museums, Galleries and Collections was made successfully.
Written submissions and an oral presentation were given by the Director/Curator to the University internal review of Collections.
Contributions were made to the Faculty of Music's Strategy Document in February.
Input was prepared for the Audit of Scottish Museums, administered by the Scottish Museums Council.
Information was provided for the National Fund for Acquisitions Audit in April.
Further information about the actvities of EUCHMI can be found on the website:
Arnold Myers, Director and Curator, 31st December 2001
[ Report for 2002 ] [ Report for 2000 ]
© Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, 2001.
This article was re-published on 23 December 2022