S14E06: Musical Instruments

The C Word (M4A Feed)

Liz and Phedra are joined by Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet as they talk about the conservation of musical instruments: from tuning and treatment considerations to ethics and philosophy. Also tune in (pun somewhat intended) for an interview from Solange with Emma Hardy, violin maker and repairer. There’s even some lovely music at the end!

00:22 More announcements!
02:26 Origin story
07:01 The perils and pleasures of working in a fishbowl
09:38 Tuning and a crash course in ‘temperament’
17:10 Working with musicians
19:29 To play or not to play?
23:04 Seeing the history of an instrument
27:55 Treatment considerations and the need for balance
31:07 A place for copies and reconstructions
37:17 Patreon appeal
37:42 Interview with Emma Hardy and music from Rosie Butler Hall

Show Notes:
– Nominate someone for the Marsh Conservation Awards 2024: https://www.icon.org.uk/impact/the-marsh-conservation-awards.html
– Join us at Icon24 in July: https://www.icon.org.uk/events/icon-2024-conference-conservation-for-change.html
– Get in touch with Jonathan: https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/jonathan-smb
– St Cecilia’s Hall Concert Room and Music Museum: https://www.stcecilias.ed.ac.uk/
– More about the St Cecilia collection: https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/
– ICOM International Committee of Museums and Collections of Instruments and Music (CIMCIM): https://cimcim.mini.icom.museum/
– St Cecilia’s Hall sound library: https://digital.eca.ed.ac.uk/soundlibraries/
– Hardy Violins in Sheffield: https://hardyviolins.co.uk/

More resources:
– To play or not to play: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-15/to-play-or-not-to-play-the-ethics-of-musical-instrument-conservation/
– Focus on historic musical instruments: https://www.akbild.ac.at/en/institutes/conservation-restoration/study-focus/objects-focus-on-wood-historic-musical-instruments
– Italian degree in musical instrument conservation: https://restauro.cdl.unipv.it/it
– On the conservation of musical instruments (CIMCIM): https://cimcim.mini.icom.museum/conservation-of-musical-instruments/
– Preservation Perspectives blog: https://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/conservation/

Support us on Patreon!

Hosted by Liz Hébert, Phedra Komodromou and Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet.

Intro and outro music by DDmyzik, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.

A Wooden Dice production, 2024.