I've done a little amateur organology via the Stearns Collection of Michigan. That *could* be quite a resource, but it is grossly under-funded, under-staffed, and lacks adequate facilities. The historic tools of "classical" music simply don't seem to be valued anymore than the music itself. Too bad...on both counts.
Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > Behalf Of Stuart Walsh > Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 5:58 PM > Cc: Lute List > > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Closure of V&A Instrument Gallery > > I remember only a few years ago going to the V&A musical instrument > section on a Saturday morning and being asked to leave after about 20 > minutes. The reason given was that there was no member of staff > available. I was at that time obsessing about 18th century cistres - > the V&A has a very interesting selection. In fact, I actually got told > to leave, albeit politely. > > I was really surprised that a major museum wouldn't have enough staff > (if that was the real reason) to man a section of it on a Saturday. I > complained to a few - very sympathetic -members of staff who gave me the > impression that they didn't like the situation either. > > As a general rule, developed over years, I approach museums with musical > instruments with circumspection. It's a really impressive bonus if they > are actually open and they actually have instruments on display. My > default presumption is that they will be closed or the instruments will > not be on show. I learned this from Liverpool, years ago: they have > instruments but never on display. But going on holiday to other > countries is the same: lots of time spent tracking down the location of > the museum only to find it closed. > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
