CIMCIM

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Link to CIMCIM welcome page

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Information about the CIMCIM candidates:

President Eszter Fontana, current CIMCIM president, has been since 1995 the Director of the Musical Instrument Museum at the University of Leipzig. Born in Budapest, where she also earned her doctorate degree, she served as restorer and keeper of musical instrument collections at the Hungarian National Museum and has published numerous articles on the history of musical instrument making. A member of CIMCIM since 1974, Eszter served on the Advisory Board from 1992-1998 and helped organise CIMCIM meetings in Hungary in 1996 and Leipzig in 2000.

Vice President J. Kenneth Moore became head of the Department of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1999. Since the 1970s he has concentrated on the study of non-western instruments, organising several exhibitions, working with educators on the importance of organology in the study of world cultures, and working in professional societies relating to ethnomusicology. Ken has become increasingly involved with CIMCIM's working group on traditional music since the 1990s.

Secretary Corinna Weinheimer is since 1995 conservator for musical instruments at Ringve Museum, Trondheim, Norway. She studied conservation at the University of Applied Science in Cologne, Germany. Since 1997, she has served as co-ordinator of the CIMCIM working group in conservation, since 1998 as secretary of CIMCIM.

Treasurer Patrice Verrier joined the Musée de la Musique in Paris to head the museum's Documentation Center in 1992. Trained in library computing at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, he has computerized the museum's collections and has digitalized all of the collection's photographs. He works with AVICOM (another international committee of ICOM) and the International Association of Music Libraries on various documentation projects. A member of CIMCIM since 1996, he has actively collaborated with the communications working group and helped to organise the CIMCIM meetings in Paris in 1999.

Advisory Members

Carmelle Bégin is Chief Curator of the Cultural Studies Division of the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in Ottawa/Hull, Canada and curator of the Ethnomusicological Programme. She has organised exhibitions and published on historical and contemporary Canadian instruments. A member of CIMCIM since 1992, Carmelle has participated in the working groups related to education and exhibitions, and has served on the Advisory Board since 1998.

Alicja Knast has worked at the Museum of Musical Instruments in Poznan, Poland, since 1995. She lectures on musical instruments at the University of Adam Mickiewicz where she wrote her dissertation on the Polish violin school in the 17th and 18th centuries. She joined CIMCIM in 2000 and represents CIMCIM in the Polish ICOM National Committee.

Michael Lea is curator of music and musical instruments at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. During his 15 years there, he has worked on 14 exhibitions and numerous concerts and public programmes on such topics as Indigenous Australian music and dance and Australian musical instrument makers. A CIMCIM member since 1988, Michael has contributed to the education and exhibition working groups and was co-organiser of the 1998 CIMCIM meetings in Sydney and Melbourne.

Lisbet Torp became curator and director of the Musikhistorisk Museum og Carl Claudius' Samling in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1998 after joining the curatorial staff in 1994. With degrees in recorder playing and a doctorate in Folklore, she has lectured in the area of ethnomusicology and fieldwork methods and ethics and serves on the Executive Board of the International Council for Traditional Music. Lisbet has participated in CIMCIM meetings since 1998.

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The programme for the CIMCIM meeting during the General Conference will be as following. For the 30th of June Mr Roma Escalas from the Museu de la Música is organising a pre-conference tour to La Fontana, a private collection with folk music instruments from all over the world. From the 1st to the 6th of July the CIMCIM programme will be co-ordinate with the ICOM programme. A post-conference trip is being organised by Mrs. Beryl Kenyon Pascual. Full updated programme on the Web at:

Saturday 7th July. Travel from Barcelona to Ávila by plane and coach. There should be time to visit the small city museum in the late afternoon. Overnight in Ávila.

Sunday 8th July. Visit to the cathedral and one or more historic convents that have instruments, plus free time to explore the town. Overnight in Ávila.

Monday 9th July. Visit to the folk museum and study centre in Urueña plus a pre-lunch reception.* There will be a short sightseeing stop elsewhere en route. Travel from Ávila to Urueña and from Urueña to Madrid will be by coach. There will be free time in the late afternoon and evening to walk around the Old Madrid of the Hapsburgs, or visit the Reina Sofía Centre for Modern Art (the only museum open on Mondays) or go shopping.

Tuesday 10th July. 10 a.m. Visit to a temporary instrument exhibition in the Cerralbo Museum. (12.30 reception and music in another museum).*

End of organised tour. People may like to extend their stay on a personal basis.

(The Prado and the Thyssen Bornemiszen Museum are open all day until 7 p.m.)

* Social activities in Ávila, Urueña and Madrid are still being negotiated.

ÁVILA is a picturesque walled town in Old Castile with medieval churches, renaissance palaces and even some Roman columns. A number of interesting instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries (dulcians, harps, psalteries, etc.) have been found in the cathedral and some convents. They can be seen in their original settings. URUEÑA is also a picturesque walled town but much smaller than Ávila. The folk museum and study centre has a large display of traditional musical instruments (shawms, drums, pipes and tabors, castanets, etc.) from central Spain. Beryl Kenyon Pascual

The Museu de la Música, Barcelona The idea of setting up a music museum in Barcelona was first mooted at the beginning of this century. The project was to have become reality in 1933, but was left in abeyance due to the outbreak of the civil war and was not finally brought about until 1946, when it opened with a premises on the Barcelona's music conservatory.

It was transferred to the Casa Quadras, a Modernist palace built by the architect Piugi Cadafalch, where it still is. This palace exhibits a part of its collections: musical instruments, biographies and scores, which present us a way of learning about the music world and its history.

The permanent exhibition presents the instruments classified according to scientific and practical elements, making them easily accessible and being informative at all levels. Geographical frontiers are avoided in order to allow a comparison on the treatment of music in different cultures, a the same time the artificial division between folk an classical instruments is disregarded.

We must mention certain interesting and unique collections: organs, guitars and lutes, keyboard and mechanical instruments.

In order to definitively gather all the collection in a unique space and to offer a new lecture of them, the museum is engaged in a project of new installation in the building recently inaugurated "L' Auditori" by Rafael Moneo.

Characteristics of the museum

Held by: the Institut de Cultura- Ajuntament de Barcelona with municipal support

Priorities: European Art Music and Spanish Folk Music. Musical and biographical documents of Catalan composers (Albéniz, Granados, Malats, Pedrell)

Activities: Guided tours, temporary exhibitions, lectures, courses in organology, research

Staff of the museum:
2 administration personnel
2 curators
2 museum pedagogues
1 research personnel
2 cleaning personnel
8 guardians
2 positions for volunteers in research and education

The conservation works are carried out externally

Publications: catalogues, recordings, website

annual budget aprox: 80.000.000 pta

Annual number of visitors: 40.000 (80% groups)

Opening hours: 10.00 - 14.00 (from June 2001 possibly closed)

Museum de la Música av. Diagonal, 373 08008 Barcelona Romà Escalas

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New National and International Committee Websites

Please note that the updated version of the Calendar of ICOM Meetings and Events is now available at:

Appeal by ICOMOS and ICOM
Save the Cultural Heritage of Afghanistan

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and ICOM (International Council of Museums) learned with great shock of the new decree issued by the Taliban leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar ordering the systematic destruction of all statues in the country. This decision breaks the commitment made by the Taliban leadership in 1999 to protect all cultural heritage in Afghanistan and in particular the giant Buddha figures at Bamiyan.

Adding to the dishonour of breaking a commitment to preserve the ancient and diverse heritage of Afghanistan as part of that of the whole of mankind, such an act of destruction would be a total cultural catastrophe. It would remain written in the pages of history next to the most infamous acts of barbarity.

For many years, ICOM has alerted the world on illicit trade in cultural objects from Afghanistan. ICOMOS, in its 2000 World Report on monuments and sites in danger (see www.international.icomos.org), pointed out in detail the dangers to cultural heritage in Afghanistan, in particular the pre-islamic figures of the Buddha in Bamiyan. This decree of Mollah Mohammad Omar confirms the imminence of this danger.

As world-wide non-governmental organisations, ICOMOS and ICOM call on all people, governments, International Organisations and associations to take immediate action to prevent this cultural catastrophe from happening. A dialogue should be established with the Taliban leaders to ensure adequate protection of all Afghan heritage, whether pre-islamic or islamic. This is a matter of the highest importance and the greatest emergency. ICOMOS, 49-51 rue de la Fédération, 75015 Paris, France, Fax: 33 (0)1 45 66 06 22, secretariat@icomos.org

Museums on the Internet
The Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma, www.musedoma.org) has announced the approval of its proposal to establish .museum as a restricted top-level domain name on the Internet. The approval was made by the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit organisation that provides oversight for domain names. MuseDoma's plan will give museums the possibility of registering Internet addresses with a dot-museum suffix and will allow Internet users to recognise this as a sign of authenticity, ensuring that sources of information about cultural and scientific heritage are verifiable.

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Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments

Earlier this year the CIMCIM Microfiche Project advanced significantly with the publication by MMF of the first supplement to the original set of drawings on microfiche. The page Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments in Public Collections of the Worldon the CIMCIM website has been updated to include the new material. The original and supplementary lists have been integrated, and now give details of some 664 drawings published by 26 museums arranged by instrument type. See:

As well as providing information about the microfiche publications, the web page can be used to identify instrument drawings for those who wish to order them individually from the originating museums. CIMCIM is grateful to Rob van Acht of the Hague Gemeentemuseum, Netherlands, for steering this project and making the information available.
Arnold Myers

AMIS, Curt Sachs Award
CIMCIM wishes to congratulate Dr Gerhard Stradner, Wien who will receive the Curt Sachs Award 2001 from the American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS).

Historisches Museum, Basel
CIMCIM-L members should congratulate the Historisches Museum Basel on its new Musikmuseum. Veronika Gutmann and her colleagues have been working since 1995 on the complete re-display of the important Basel musical instrument collection, which has just opened. The Museum was fortunate to receive in 1980 as a legacy the important and extensive Bernoulli Collection of brasswinds and drums, and the new museum allows this to be shown to the public for the first time.

CIMCIM members were invited to a "private view" with other museum professionals on November 20th, and the invitation was taken up by colleagues from Europe and North America who enjoyed a day seeing the new displays, hearing a presentation of the museological and design decisions that had been made, and were given an excellent lunch.

The new museum is (to my knowledge) unique in being housed in a former prison block. This offers possibilities which have been fully exploited in the design: 21 cells contain wall-mounted themed displays and three larger spaces allow larger instruments to be shown, with keyboard instruments and harps free-standing on plinths and larger brass instruments in showcases. Most of the cells have a touch-screen computer terminal at which visitors can hear appropriate music (taken from commercial recordings), see excellent photography of details of the instruments, and read substantial textual information, mediated through software written on a Macromedia Director platform. The cells provide a reasonable level of acoustic insulation, so headphones are not used.

Some 650 instruments are now well-displayed in a centrally-situated attractive museum, which has more of the character of its origins as a medieval cloister than its more recent history as a penitentiary.
Arnold Myers

Musikinstrumentenmuseum, Leipzig
The museum of musical instruments at the University of Leipzig is moving out of its old building. A new, very small exhibition can be seen at Thomaskirchhof 20, opening mid April 2001. Opening hours: 11-17 (closed on Mondays) The exhibition in the main building is closed already. Telephone and postal addresses will be changed later, this will be announced in good time. After the reconstruction of the old building we will move back. We very much hope to be able to open the new galleries in 2005. The easiest way to contact us will be via e-mail. With best wishes
Eszter Fontana

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, Vienna
Beatrix Darmstädter, born in 1972, started on March 1st in a new position as curator at the Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente. She finished her studies in musicology and philosophy at the University of Vienna with a Masterþs degree in 1994 and the Doctorþs degree in 1997. As musician she devoted herself to the saxophone, studying in Austria and France with A. Hager, E. Rousseau and A. Ghidoni. From 1993 on she taught at the Prayner-Conservatory and at the Gustav-Mahler-Conservatory. She worked as a teacher at the École dþorchestre Méru in France and as lecturer at the Kecskeméti Tanítóképzö Föiskola in Hungary. In addition to her work abroad she was invited as research-assistant and lecturer to the University of Vienna from 1998 to 2001. Her publications emphasise various musicological activities in the fields of medieval theory of music, philosophy of music as well as music of the 20th century. She obtained the "Würdigungspreis" (honours award) offered by the Austrian ministry of science in 1995 and the "Theodor-Körner-Preis" in 1998.

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Catastrophies and Catastrophy Management in Museums
Sarajevo, 17-21 April 2001

This congress is organised by the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck (Austria) and the Zemaljski Muzej, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Hercegovina). Both museums have suffered major disasters as the Ferdinandeum was hit by a bomb in 1945 and had a major flood disaster in 1985 and the Zemaljski Muzej was just 100 m from the frontline during the war 1992-1995 and received major destruction by grenades and infantry bullets. The experiences from these events show that it is absolutely essential for everybody who is responsible for buildings, staff and for collections and exhibitions to know how to prevent damage if a disaster happens, what to do in the case of a disaster and how to treat material after a disaster has happened and how to plan restoration and fund raising for long term programmes.

The congress is financed by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Art, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Government of Tirol, the City of Innsbruck, the Internationaler Hilfsfond in Brussels, the City of Innsbruck, ICOM, the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Kulturgüterschutz and private sponsors. The congress is also under the protection of the Ministry of Culture of Bosnia and Hercegovina.

The congress will take place in the Dom Armije, the house of the army, a historical building of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (former 'Offizierskassino'), in the centre of Sarajevo.

Registration: Congress Secretary: Mrs. Lidija Fekeza, Zemaljski Muzej, Zmaja od Bosne 3, BiH-71000 Sarajevo, Tel/Fax: +387 33 262 710, e-mail: z.muzej@bih.net.ba, Website: www.sarajevo-congress2001.org

Registration fee: 160 EURO, accompanying persons 50 EURO (includes the congress bag, fees for coffee breaks and snacks, all social events and a full day excursion to Mostar including meals).

AMIS 30th Annual Meeting
University of North Carolina at Asheville, 30 May - 2 June 2001 In 2001, AMIS meets for the first time under auspices of the University of North Carolina. The gala programme for this thirtieth annual meeting offers lectures on a wide range of topics by outstanding scholars, varied musical performances including a duo-harpsichord recital and an outdoor appearance by a Sundanese gamelan, visits to instrument makers' workshops and to a spectacular brasswind collection, an auction of music-related items, and related events of unusual interest. For further information please see the AMIS website http://www.amis.org/ or contact Laurence Libin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028 USA, Fax no. +1 212 650 2111, E-mail: laurence.libin@metmuseum.org.
Laurence Libin

FUNGI: A Threat for People and Cultural Heritage through Micro-organisms
Munich, 20-23 June 2001

Micro-organisms are able to damage and destroy works of art and to cause people serious health problems. The purpose of this conference is to sharpen the interdisciplinary view of this problem and to further develop the identification and treatment methods. The following topics are planned: Identification of fungi, bacteria, and micro-organisms; Health damage/health protection; Object damage; Prevention and treatment possibilities.

For further information please contact: Angelika Rauch, Fungi Conference 2001 Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum Burgplatz, 1 D- 38100 Braunschweig Tel: +49 531 1215-2660, Fax: +49 531 1215-2607, callforpaper@gmx.de

17th International Congress on Acoustics
Rome, Italy, 2-7 September 2001 At the International Congress on Acoustics (ICA) it is planned to have several sessions on musical instruments, including one on "Acoustics in the restoration and conservation of ancient musical Instruments". Details of ICA 2001 are at: http://www.ica2001.it/ This conference will be immediately followed by:

ISMA 2001, the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics Perugia, Italy, 10-14 September 2001. The leading theme will be Musical Sounds from Past Millennia, which will be accompanied with a leitmotif: The Preservation and Promotion of our Musical Acoustic Heritage. Details of ISMA 2001 at: http://www.cini.ve.cnr.it/ISMA2001/
Arnold Myers

CALL FOR PAPERS
2nd "DIEGO FERNANDEZ" International Symposium on Spanish Keyboard Music: The Piano in Spain until 1830. From the "Clavicordio de Piano" to the "Piano". Mojácar, (Almeria-Andalusia) 12-13 October 2001

The 2nd "Diego Fernandez" International Symposium on Spanish Keyboard Music will be held on Friday and Saturday, 12th-13th October 2001, at Mojácar (Province of Almería, Andalusia) as part of the 2nd International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music (FIMTE). The Festival, itself, will take place from 12th October to 15th October.

The Symposium will be divided into two sections: Friday, 12th October: The piano in Spain until 1830. Chair: Cristina Bordas Saturday, 13th October: Spanish keyboard music from 1740 to 1830: the repertoire and its interpretation. Chair: Luisa Morales.

Proposals for 15-minute papers are welcome. Abstracts of papers should not exceed 250 words and should be typed or printed. At the bottom of the abstract there should appear the author's name, institutional affiliation or city of residence and full return address, including e-mail address and fax number where possible. Official languages: English and Spanish

Deadline for abstracts: 15th July 2001

Symposium fee (including Symposium dinner): 12,000 pesetas.

For further information, please contact:

Luisa Morales, FIMTE, Apdo. 212 Garrucha 04630, Almería, ESPAÑA, Tel-Fax: +34 950132285, fimteleal@jet.es

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Florence, Italy
Musical instruments from the Medici and Lorena collections

From May 28th 2001 the Musical Instrument collection of the Conservatorio "Luigi Cherubini" of Florence will open to the public in a new area of the Galleria dell'Accademia. Fifty instruments from the Medici and Lorena collections will be on display, between them the tenor viola and cello built by Antonio Stradivari for Granprince Ferdinando de' Medici (1690), a Stradivari violin (1716) and a cello by Nicolò Amati (ca. 1640), a harpsichord entirely made of ebony and the recently rediscovered oval spinet (1690), both by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Musical instruments and paintings from the Medici and Lorena collections, with the aid of a multimedia system, will be displayed in the intent to reconstruct the cultural and musical ambient of the Tuscan court of the XVII to XIX cent. A new catalogue of this part of the Florentine collection will be published before the opening, as a result of the scientific researches conducted on the instruments.

The museum will open with a five month exhibition (May 28 - November 11 2001) with the title "Music at the Granducal court" that will also include instruments on loan from the Musikinstrumenten Museum der Universität - Leipzig, the Library of Congress - Washington, the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali - Rome, and the Museo Stradivariano - Cremona. All CIMCIM members are invited to attend the opening and to visit the exhibition. More detailed information will be sent to CIMCIM-L soon. For any information about the museum, the exhibition or the instruments of the collection please write to Galleria dell'Accademia, Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, via Ricasoli 60, I - 50122 Florence, tel./fax: +39.055.2388609 or to GalleriaAccademia.CollezioneCherubini@sbas.firenze.it
Gabriele Rossi-Rognoni

Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Palais Harrach
4 April - 1 September 2001
Dipingere la musica, Music in 16th and 17th Century Painting

The visual depiction of music is a subject that has fascinated painters since antiquity. At first glance, painting and music appear to be opposites - the transience of musical sounds as opposed to sensual impressions made permanent by visual depiction. Nonetheless both arts are closely related, as this yearþs Summer Exhibition þDipingere la musica - Music in 16th and 17th Century Paintingþ at the Palais Harrach will impressively illustrate.

By depicting musicians, musical instruments and music, painting is able to bestow visual permanence on the transient experience of music. In return painting, still considered merely a craft at the beginning of the Renaissance, is ennobled by the depiction of music, which was endowed with a high social status as one of the classical septem artes liberales . As some painters were also musicians and others were very close to musicians, their intimate knowledge of music and music making permeates many paintings.

At the beginning of the exhibition, the visitor experiences the direct confrontation of the painter with music - from playing different instruments to allegorical depictions of music as an intellectual and divinely inspired art. Of particular charm is the juxtaposition of contemporary musical instruments with paintings depicting them. During the 16th and 17th century, stories from the Bible or classical antiquity were particularly popular pictorial subjects. The second and third section of the exhibition display such paintings. Apollo, Marsyas and Pan as well as Orpheus, whose singing charmed even the gods of the underworld, are particular favourites taken from classical mythology. The most important musical figure from the Old Testament and also the most popular pictorial subject is King David.

Three more sections will present secular depictions of music, a topic newly developed during the 16th and 17th century. On the one hand, sentimental painting, depicting love as the moving force uniting music and poetry, became popular. Equally well-liked were depictions of groups of people making music, a favourite pastime for people from different social backgrounds. The exhibition will end with musical still-lifes full of symbols of vanitas and the transience of earthly pleasures.

Over one hundred paintings, thirty contemporary musical instruments and numerous prints and books will document the close interaction between music and painting. The exhibition is limited to the 16th and 17th century because during these two centuries music was a particularly popular pictorial subject. Furthermore music itself underwent a far reaching change that laid the foundations for 19th century classical music during that period. In the 18th century, artists lost interest in music as a subject for paintings. A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. For more information please contact: Abt. f. Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Kunsthistorisches Museum, A-1010 Vienna, Burgring 5, Tel.: (+43 1) 525 24/403, 404, 407, e-mail: info.pr@khm.at, www.khm.at
Rudolf Hopfner

Ringve Museum, Trondheim
20 April - mid September
Take next stamp and travel with us to Cuba, Mali and Korea Music on stamps - a summer exhibition at Ringve museum, Trondheim, Norway

Have you ever thought about how much a stamp can tell us? In April Ringve Museum, Norway's museum for music and musical instruments, will open a small summer exhibition where stamps will be shown from a new point of view. Beautiful and interesting motifs will be woven together with the instruments in the museum's exhibitions. We will have a rendezvous between two various modes of collecting things: the philatelic and the museological.

"Skolekorps" In 2001 it is hundred years since the Norwegian movement of marching bands in school, skolekorps, started. The Norwegian post department celebrates this by publishing two new stamps on this occasion. The first part of the exhibition therefore puts focus on marching band instruments and milieus.

Ambassadors on letters and postcards Not anyone will be selected to be glued onto a letter. It is like getting a prize of honour to be a stamp motif. We show stamps with instrument motifs that represents a region or country and function as cultural ambassadors on letters and post cards. Take the next stamp and travel with us to Cuba, Mali and Korea.

An unique album For the first time Ringve Museum shows its own stamp collection, consisting of a wonderfully decorated album with composers on stamps. Hand-written comments in gold letters and music examples make this a very special item of the collection. The album was made by Theis Westergaard, Trondheim.

The exhibition will be open between the 20. April and mid September. It is produced in co-operation with the local stamp society in Trondheim, Nordenfjellske filateliforening. For further information please contact Mats Krouthén, tel: +47 73 92 24 11 or e-mail: mats.krouthen@ringve.museum.no.
Mats Krouthén

Paris, Musée de la musique,
24 avril au 12 aôut 2001
Un musée aux Rayons X, dix ans de recherches au service de la musique L'exposition temporaire des nouvelles acquisitions est, pour chaque musée français l'occasion de montrer, d'étudier et de documenter ses collections récentes. C'est aussi le moyen d'illustrer aux yeux du public le plus large le caractère dynamique et évolutif que partagent les travaux entrepris en interne et les collections elles-mêmes. Répondant au souhait de Fréderic Dassas de proposer un tel événement au Musée de la musique pour le printemps 2001, il nous est apparu indispensable de l'accompagner d'un volet scientifique et technique fort, centré sur les activités de recherches et de restauration du laboratoire. C'est à n'en pas douter le moyen d'intéresser un plus vaste public et deacute;viter la monotonie qui pourrait résulter d'une présentation linéaire d'instruments par ailleurs difficile à structurer par thèmes. Pendant la durée de lxposition, il faudrait prévoir une animation spécifique de la rue musicale. Elle devrait être conçue comme une introduction attrayante, pour inciter le public à la visite et faire ainsi partie intégrante de l'ensemble de l'opération
Patrice Verrier

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International Meeting on the Promotion of Local Music Heritage in the Age of Globalization
Amman, Jordan, September 2000.

This conference was organized by the Noor Al Hussein Foundation, the National Music Conservatory, and the International Music Centre, and was held in the new City Hall in Amman, and at the Hyatt Hotel. The conference was a well constituted blend of traditional music from around the world, and presentations by educators, administrators, academics, and the musicians themselves. It was divided into eight sessions, each dealing with an issue relevant to the conference theme. Papers were presented predominantly in English or Arabic with simultaneous translation.

The intention of the first session was to deal with the role of youth in the promotion of local music heritage. This session never addressed the issue, but dealt instead with the entirely different topic of gender issues in education and instruction of the classical Western repertoire. It was unfortunate that the topic of education in traditional music was sidelined because this is central to the issue of protecting and encouraging the promulgation of cultural expressions.

The second session was a discussion of the critical issues in the transmission of musical knowledge and practices. Much practical advice and thought on the processes of education and musical apprenticeship was provided by two of the speakers. A third speaker struck a bizarre note by discussing the effects of heavy metal music on mice, and the output of bakeries having piped-in piano music, and left the delegates confused as to his intentions, and scratching their heads over his choice of metaphors.

The third and fourth sessions were highly successful, comprising lecture/demonstrations on such instruments as the sitar, sarod, and tabla of India; Arabian percussion and the oud; the dodo, or musical bow, from Côte dþIvoire; Trinidadian steel pans; Bolivian flutes; African drums; and a jazz band from the southern United States. Without exception, the players gave astonishing demonstrations of musical virtuosity, and followed these with discussions and observations upon their methods for training younger musicians and thus passing on the traditions. The overall impression gained from this session by the majority of delegates was that traditional music was alive and well. The workshops by master musicians, in the master class format, was immensely rewarding to the delegates. The piano presentation was unfortunately allowed to be dominated entirely by a young pianist already on the concert circuit, while Jordanian children stood vainly in line for an hour with their music portfolios tucked under their arms. This was sad.

Session five focused on the role of the media in disseminating musical information. By choosing three video presentations of Middle Eastern music viewed from a western television perspective, the organizers presented the delegates with choices and approaches for discussion. This was followed by presentations from three panellists. It is rare in my experience to encounter such a brilliantly successful and stimulating session, and it could well act as a model.

The sixth session, on meeting the technical and professional requirements, presented a fascinating and diverse array of topics, each of which focused on the musical traditions of a particular region or genre, and the ways in which these were understood and taught. Running through this whole session was the concept of authenticity, how it is viewed and interpreted, and how the transmission of such musical knowledge is accomplished.

Session seven dealt with the future of traditional music, touching upon the topics of the identity of music, the instrument as an icon, supply and demand for instruments, and the challenges facing the instrument maker. I presented a paper in this session on the use and preservation of historic musical instruments. The final session gave wide-ranging insight into the impact of religion on the transmission of musical knowledge and practice.

In parallel with the conference sessions was a series of public concerts at various venues in Amman, including jazz, þclassicalþ Western, and instrumentalists from around the world. The breadth and quality of these offering was astonishing. It was also noted how popular the concerts were among the population of the city. The final concert by Arabic singer Sabah Fakhry in the Roman auditorium in the centre of Amman emphasized the fact that such music can attract young people in large numbers. The concert featuring musical prodigies from around the world was less attractive, in my view. I feel that technical virtuosity without musical maturity has little aesthetic appeal. To paraphrase Miles Davis: ®If you havenþt lived it, it wonþt come out of your horn¯. What one heard was, in large part, the musical ideas of the childrenþs teachers. Not very interesting.

In conclusion, before arriving in Jordan I had wondered however such an ambitious and eclectic menu of ideas could be pulled together into one coherent whole. And as one of very few museum people there, and certainly the only conservator, I felt that I would be on the outside looking in, both from my subject matter and my profession. All my reservations were put to rest; the ability of all delegates to find commonalities, and the resultant synergism as the week progressed, was remarkable. Some of the credit for this must go to the fact that music permeated the whole affair, and as we all know, music is a very powerful adhesive. However, full accolades are due to the organizing team, headed by Kifah Fakhouri, the Director of the National Music Conservatory. His vision created the conference, and his tireless efforts and unflagging good humour kept it on track, and made it memorable. I hope this signals the beginning of something.
Bob Barclay

Report of the third International Expert Conference on Asian Artisan's Culture

The conference was held on the 28th and 29th of July 2000 by the Institute of Asian Ethno-Forms and Culture. Theme of the conference was Musical Instrument Making of Asia focused on silk string and skin. 14 papers were read by instrument makers, researchers and scholars from China, India, Korea, Turkey and Japan and four performances were given by players who gave comments about the instruments and their materials.

Keynote: The problem of vocational education ; Concerning want of silk string maker and skin tanner with their successors. The speaker mentioned the extinction of raw materials, like cocoon spined by silk worm and its food, mulberry tree, and the skin of horse, cattle a.o. through the environment disruption which caused declination of silk string making and skin tanning of Japanese musical instruments. (Japan)
Papers:
Education of Japanese Music;
Music lessens using authentic musical instruments cultivate indigenous sensitivity (Japan)
Raw materials for Japanese musical instruments (Japan)
Making of Korean musical instruments (Japan. report of fieldwork.)
Making of Komungo (a kind of zither) (Korea)
Musical instruments of East China Sea (Japan.f.w.)
Making of musical instruments in Fujian xing (China)
Musical instruments makers of Turkey (Turkey)
Making of Qanun (Turkey)
Making of raw silk fibre for musical instruments (Japan. f.w.)
Making of silkstring for musical instruments (Japan)
Drum making in the south Asia (Japan. f.w.)
Making of Indic Tabla Bayan (India)
Making of drum skin (Japan)
History and documentation of Japanese musical instrument makers in the early modern age (Japan)

Performances with comments:
Shamisen with percussion instruments (Japan)
Kokyu (bowed instrument) and Kyou-shamisen (an old type of shamisen) (Japan)
Satsuma biwa (Japan)
Kotsuzumi (hourglass drum) and other drums (Japan)

Symposium: The status quo and future of Japanese music (all participants)
Sumi Gunji

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On the 25th October 2000 there was a burglary at the Berlin Firm Frank Meyer where more than 130 wood wind instruments were stolen. In case you are offered a large amount of wind instruments and supply, please notify:

Frank & Meyer, tel: +49 30 494 8188 or Landeskriminalamt, Aktenzeichen 001025/2520-1, tel: +49 30 699 385 57

A complete list of the missing instruments can be found in "Oboe-Fagott" 4/ 2000, p. 5.
Eszter Fontana

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The Stockholm Music Museum: Instrument Conservator (80% time)
The conservator will have responsibility for the care and document of the Museum's instrument collection. The work, principally involving the keyboard instrument collection, will include logging use and conservation activity, documenting measurement and construction details, providing information for institutions, researchers and the general public as well as participating in the Museum's exhibition and programme of events involving the collection. Academic qualification in musicology is required as is experience of construction and restoration of historic keyboard instruments and documentation thereof. Pedagogic experience is an advantage. Employment from 1st September 2001. For more information contact head of department Hans Riben, tel. +468-519 554 68. Union representatives are Inger Enquist (SACO), tel. +468-519 554 17, Eva-Teresa Tottie (ST), tel. +468-519 554 82 and Pär Elfström (SEKO), tel. +468-519 554 84. Application with CV., salary requirements and references should arrive at Statens Musiksamlingar, Box 16326, SE-103 26 Stockholm by 2nd April 2001. Please include reference no. 32-36/01.

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Historisches Museum, Basel
The Historical Museum Basel has published another important part of the collection of musical instruments in the annual report of 1999 (Basel 2000): Jagd- und Waldhörner. (In earlier reports of 1992 and 1994 to 1998 already published are the flutes, the single and double reed instruments, the keyboard instruments I and II, the bowed instruments, the trumpets and the trombones). Sabine K. Klaus is the author of the checklist and the introduction with photos: There are in all 155 hunting and French horns (pp.5-32). The report is available in the Historical Museum Basel for SFr. 40.- +PP. (The earlier reports are still available for SFr. 20.-+PP each.)

Royal College of Music, London
The Royal College of Music Museum of Instruments is delighted to announce the publication of Catalogue Part II: Keyboard Instruments, edited by Elizabeth Wells with John Budgen, William Debenham, Jenny Nex, Christopher Nobbs and Lance Whitehead (Royal College of Music, London, 2000), to mark the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Museum. The catalogue has gained greatly from documentation undertaken for the Museum since 1970 by specialists including Derek Adlam, John Barnes, Dr Sabine Klaus, Dr Grant O'Brien and Keane Ridley. In addition to detailed entries and an introduction on the history of the collection, there are indices of instruments, makers, previous owners and places of manufacture, and bibliographical references: in all 152 A4 pages (294 x 210mm) with 173 photographs, 21 of them in colour, and a semi-stiff cover with colour photographs front and back. Copies are available from the Museum at Pounds sterling 25 each, postage per volume Pounds sterling 3 (inland), Pounds sterling 4.50 (Europe), Pounds sterling 8.50 (elsewhere). For orders from abroad please send a cheque in Sterling, made payable to the 'Royal College of Music' or pay by credit card. E-mail: museum@rcm.ac.uk; Fax 00 44 20 7589 7740; Address: Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2BS

Musikinstrumentenmuseum, Leipzig
BIRGIT HEISE, H.W. SCHMITZ, C. WEISS, Im Aufnahmesalon Hupfeld (At the recording studio of Hupfeld): Great pianists at the player-piano. Catalogue and reproductions of the photos from the Museum's collection. Studies of the historical, technical, and artistic possibilities of this special kind of recorded music. [A list of the piano rolls is also available: about 3500 items, electronic format only]. 144 pages, circa 70 pictures, 28.5 x 23 cm, price 58 DM

Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments
Catalogue of the Collection, Volume 2 Part D Fascicle ii: Transverse Flutes, 2nd edition. Published October 2000. 120 pages. ISBN 0-907635-41-5. Price including packing and postage: Pounds sterling 7.00 to addresses in the United Kingdom, Pounds sterling 8.00 overseas surface postage.

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Postal addresses:
Knast, Alicja
National Museum Department
Museum of Musical Instruments
Stary Rynek 45/47
PL-61-772 Poznan
Poland
Fax no.+48 61 8515898
E-mail: muzinstr@man.poznan.pl
alaknast@hotmail.com

Lipsett, Frederick
37 Oriole Drive
Gloucester, ON, K1J 7E8
Canada
E-mail lipsett@mail.magma.ca

Mataga, Jesmael
Museum of Human Sciences of Zimbabwe
PO Box C933, Causeway
Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax no +263-4-774207
E-mail nmmz@pcico.zw

Péché, Valerie
Conservation des antiquités et objets d'art
Hôtel du Département
Boulevard Georges Chauvin
F-27021 Evreux cedex
E-mail: vpeche@club-internet.f

Ravid, Zami
5, Mitzpe Hachula st.
Metula, 10292
Israel
Fax no. +972 4 6997073
E-mail zami.ravid@surfree.net.il

Stradner, Gerhard
Schafberggasse 25
A 1180 Vienna
Austria
Tel/ Fax: +43 1 47 007 57
E-mail: gerhard.stradner@utanet.at

Strauchen, E. Bradley
Horniman Museum
100 London Road, Forest Hill
London, SE23 3PQ
UK
E-mail bstrauchen@horniman.ac.uk

New E-mail addresses:
Veronika Gutmann: Veronika.Gutmann@bs.ch
Jeannine Lambrechts Douillez: jLambrechtsDouillez@wol.be

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Corinna Weinheimer
Ringve Museum
Pb 3064 Lade
N-7441 Trondheim, Norway
Fax: +47 73 92 04 22
e-mail: corinna.weinheimer@ringve.museum.no

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Communications about the content of these pages to Arnold Myers, Co-ordinator, CIMCIM Communications Working Group: E-mail Arnold.Myers@ed.ac.uk.

Text © CIMCIM, 2001.

This page updated: 23.3.01