Acquisition
EUCHMI was awarded funding for a five-year bagpipe acquisition programme "Enriching our Musical Heritage" by the Heritage Lottery Fund (one of only 22 successful applications out of 95, and one of only three in Scotland) under the Fund's Collecting Cultures scheme to support acquisitions, development of curatorial skills, research and increased public involvement. The fund-raising was co-ordinated by Jacky MacBeath. The first purchase was made: a superb set of early 19th-century lowland pipes by MacDougall of Perth.
An important clarinet with corps de rechange by August Grenser from the Otto Himmer Collection was purchased with support from the National Fund for Acquisition and the Hope Scott Trust and with funds from the Shackleton Bequest.
A rare 17th-century violin without sides was purchased at auction with support from the National Fund for Acquisition. A pair of clarinets formerly owned and played by Frederick Thurston was received by bequest from the estate of Dame Thea King.
In the course of the year, the Collection was given instruments and other items by Judy Barr, John Falconer, Charles Foster, Thomas Hewat, Denis Lofthouse, Alisoun Morton, Robert Surgenor, and the executors of James Easton.
The remaining seven keyboard instruments of the Rodger Mirrey Collection were moved from London to Edinburgh, together with Rodger Mirrey's bequest of organological books and papers.
Documentation and catalogue publication
The cataloguing programme continued to advance: three fascicles of descriptive text were published: (1) Transverse Flutes (3rd edition) by Edwina Smith, (2) Trumpets (new edition) by Arnold Myers and Raymond Parks, and (3) Trombones (new edition) by Arnold Myers and Raymond Parks. The new editions are necessary not only to make available information about new acquisitions, but also to reflect ongoing research into established instruments in the collection. In addition to the printed editions, they were also published electronically.
A project to re-photograph much of the Collection was commenced by Raymond Parks.
Several sound recordings were made of EUCHMI instruments (high brass, clarinets, guitars and keyboard instruments) to document the instruments and provide recordings to the Sound Guide currently being prepared. This project was funded by Museums Galleries Scotland Recognition Fund. An experimental video recording session was held in cooperation with Peter Haigh.
Workshop Drawings
Four further technical drawings of important french horns were published, prepared by Raymond Parks. This brings the total number of instrument workshop drawings on sale from the Reid Concert Hall to 50.
Marketing and Publicity
Advertisements for the regular opening hours for the two museums were placed in a widely-distributed Edinburgh guide and resulted in an increase in visitor numbers.
The EUCHMI website was maintained and augmented.
Conservation and Collections Management
A new storeroom at the Reid Concert Hall was commissioned. It was equipped with boxes, a trolley and monitoring equipment with the support of a grant from the University of Edinburgh Collections Fund. A programme of condition monitoring and conservation of metal wind instruments was commenced by Panagiotis Poulopoulos with the support of a grant from the University of Edinburgh Collections Fund.
Educational Initiatives
Fundraising for the EUCHMI Education and Outreach Project was completed, allowing the new appointment of a Learning and Access Officer. Support for the project was provided or promised by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums and Galleries Scotland, The Russell Trust, Friends of St Cecilia's Hall and Museum, the Shackleton Bequest, and University of Edinburgh budgets. The fund-raising was co-ordinated by Jacky MacBeath.
The "Doors Open Day" on September 27th was very successful in both Museums, with over 1000 visitors welcomed by the Friends of St Cecilia's Hall and Museum and by a team of organology and other students.
An Early Keyboard Instrument Symposium (Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the opening of St Cecilia's Hall Museum of Instruments and the inauguration of the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments in 1968) was successfully held at the St Cecilia's Hall. 17 papers were presented and three concerts were given. The meeting attracted an attendance from 12 countries.
Museum Facilities
A series of large print guides providing interpretation for the galleries and public spaces at St Cecilia's Hall were produced by Emily Peppers with the support of a grant from the University of Edinburgh Collections Fund. A major programme of re-wiring and flooring renewal was completed at the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments: this necessitated closing the museum for two months in autumn.
Maintenance of the Playing Collection
The Barton harpsichord and the Tonini piano were re-strung by John Raymond, who also carried out all necessary maintenance, re-voicing and tuning of the playing early keyboard instruments used in concerts throughout the year.
Professional Development
EUCHMI hosted the 2008 CIMCIM (the International Council of Museums Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections) meeting at St Cecilia's Hall in October. Arnold Myers and Darryl Martin serve on the Executive Board of CIMCIM.
Teaching and Research
The Collection has been used for teaching purposes by University Staff, in particular for courses on Organology 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.
Arnold Myers presented invited papers at the conference of RIdIM (Répertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale) in New York, and at the European Acoustical Association meeting in Paris. Darryl Martin presented an invited paper at the Harmoniques conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. Four University of Edinburgh doctoral organology students (Pedro Bento, Matthew Hill, Eugenia Mitroulia, and Panagiotis Poulopoulos) gave papers at the American Musical Instrument Society conference at Calgary, Canada. Eugenia Mitroulia received the award for the best student paper at this conference. Emily Peppers also attended and participated in a round-table discussion on education in musical instrument museums. University of Edinburgh doctoral organology student Melanie Piddocke presented a paper at the 29th Symposium on Musical Instrument Building, History, Construction and Repertoire of Clarinet Instruments, in Michaelstein, Germany.
Co-operation
The University of Edinburgh is the lead partner in a bid for EU funding under the eContentplus scheme of the European Digital Library. The bid for project MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online) was co-ordinated by Norman Rodger. EUCHMI is co-operating in MIMO with museums in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Three international scholars and museum professionals spent short periods with EUCHMI as interns. Verena Barth (Sweden) and Richard Seraphinoff (U.S.A.) worked in brasswind documentation and Susana Caldeira (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) worked on early keyboard instruments in playing regimes.
Staffing and Planning Emily Peppers was appointed to the new part-time post of EUCHMI Learning and Access Officer in September. Eleanor Smith was appointed to a new part-time position as Curatorial Assistant in October.
Recognition and Esteem
Postgraduate student and EUCHMI Curatorial Assistant, Melanie Piddocke, received the Terence Pamplin Organology award for 2007-2008. The 2008 Galpin Society Journal published articles written by four University of Edinburgh doctoral organology students: Matthew Hill, Eugenia Mitroulia (co-author), Peter Mole, and Eleanor Smith.
Further information about the activities of EUCHMI can be found on the website:
Arnold Myers, Director, 31st December 2008
[ Report for 2009 ] [ Report for 2007 ]
© Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, 2008.
This article was re-published on 23 December 2022