Acquisition
An important set of border bagpipes was purchased at part of the bagpipe acquisition programme "Enriching our Musical Heritage" supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. In the course of the year, the Collection was given instruments and other items by David Stevenson, Liz Peecock, and Kit Wolf. The "Sherlock" violin was lent by its maker, Steve Burnett. A small group of brass instruments was lent by Christopher Baines.
Documentation and catalogue publication
The cataloguing programme continued to advance: four fascicles of descriptive text were published: Post-horns, Cornets and Ballad horns (3rd edition) by Arnold Myers and Raymond Parks; Recorders and Flageolets (2nd edition) by Edwina Smith; Althorns, Tenor Horns and Baritones (3rd edition) by Arnold Myers and Raymond Parks; Saxophones (2nd edition) by Melanie Piddocke.
Conservation and Collections Management
A new air conditioning system was installed in the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments.
Educational Initiatives
The Outreach website Musical Instruments at Your Fingertips was completed, organised by Learning and Access Officer Emily Peppers. This educational website was funded by the Recognition Fund, part of Museums Galleries Scotland and can be accessed at:
Learning and Access
The "Doors Open Day" on September 25th was very successful in both Museums, with over 800 visitors welcomed by the Friends of St Cecilia's Hall and Museum and by a team of organology and other students.
The keyboard collection was well used for concerts and recordings throughout the year, in particular in the concert series organised by the Georgian Concert Society, the Friends of St Cecilia's Hall and Museum, and the Music Department (including the Sypert Summer Concerts). Recordings were made by Michele Benuzzi (Domenico Scarlatti sonatas using the 1764 Hass Harpsichord) and John Kitchen (the Delphian recording devoted to the Rodger Mirrey Collection). Delphian also published a recording by Gordon Ferries including pieces played on the c 1760 French guitar in the Collection.
Maintenance of the Playing Collection
John Raymond undertook all of the maintenance the keyboard instruments in the Collection, in particular keeping the instruments in good playing condition. The Anonymous c 1620 Italian harpsichord underwent work to repair several cracks in the soundboard, at the same time being documented for publication as a technical drawing.
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.
The most recent book in an occasional series The Historical Harpsichord was published, including an essay by Darryl Martin, drawing in particular on the harpsichords by Barton, Hancock and Slade in the Collection. The Galpin Society Journal for 2010 included an article by Darryl Martin on the Anonymous c 1620 Italian harpsichord.
Arnold Myers gave an invited presentation at the First Congress on Musical Research, Valencia, Spain, in February 2010 on "Research on Historic Musical Instruments" an offered presentation at the conference of the French Acoustical Society, Lyon in April and an invited presentation at Bridging the Gaps, 2nd ViennaTalk on Music Acoustics, international symposium, Vienna in September.
Postgraduate organology students Melanie Piddocke, Eleanor Smith and Lisa Norman gave papers at the AMIS conference in Washington in May 2010.
Further information about the activities of EUCHMI can be found on the website:
Arnold Myers, Chairman, 31st December 2010
[ Report for 2011 ] [ Report for 2009 ]
© Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, 2010.
This article was re-published on 23 December 2022