Diagnostic and Imaging on Musical Instruments

Author: Emanuele Marconi
Pages 234, illustrated with 100 images, 2016
E-BOOK IN PDF FORMAT
Isbn code: 978-88-404-0438-4

A musical instrument is a witness of the many human visual and aural sensibilities, beliefs and dreams. It is not just a technical object, but one with its own aesthetic properties, an object that makes a variety of characteristic sounds without necessarily the existence of a connection between its visual and sound aesthetic. Preserving an instrument means therefore preserving our culture, our history, our dreams.
The conference, open to all museum professionals, was intended to present and critically discuss the latestresearch about diagnostic techniques applied to musical instruments as well as advanced conservation practices, use of materials, collections management, through the presentation of case studies. Its main objective was to be a forum for the exchange of information, seeking to promote the transfer of knowledge regarding the daily activities of preservation and to facilitate the exchange of scientific information and opportunities for collaboration among researchers from different backgrounds. The proceedings contain a selection of the papers presented in 2010 and 2011.

Table of contents
Foreword

Emanuele Marconi, editor

1. Transformations
Robert L. Barclay – Restoration Consultant, Canada
2. Documentation
Robert L. Barclay – Restoration Consultant, Canada
3. On the field – universal measurement
Patricia Lopez Bastos – ANIMUSIC – Associação Nacional de Instrumentos Musicais
4. Investigating and Preventing the Deterioration of Historic Brass Instruments in EUCHMI
Panagiotis Poulopoulos – Deutsches Museum, Munich, Arnold Myers – The University of Edinburgh
5. Surface cleaning of musical instruments – towards a more conscious approach
Claudio Canevari – Civica Scuola di Liuteria di Milano
6. Dendrochronology: Tool of Truth or Deception
Stewart Pollens – Violin Advisor LLC, New York
7. Piano’s forgery revealed by dendrochronology
David Houbrechts, Pascale Vandervellen – Musical
Intruments Museum, Bruxelles
8. Structural, chemical and mechanical imaging applied to the conservation of musical instruments
Jean-Philippe Echard, Sandie Le Conte, Stéphane Vaiedelich – Musée de la Musique, Paris
9. Digital X-Radiography of Musical Instruments
Ana Sofia Silva – Conservator of Musical Instruments, Portugal
10. Synchrotron radiation microtomography: a tool for non-invasive analysis of historical musical instruments
Franco Zanini – Sincrotrone Trieste
11. Synchrotron radiation microtomography of bowed
stringed instruments: the 1753 violin
by G.B. Guadagnini
Nicola Sodini – Sincrotrone Trieste
12. Stereomicroscope and SEM microanalysis study of musical instruments from Correr museum in Venice
Stefania Bruni, Giuseppe Maino et alii, Enea Bologna
13. X-ray and neutron imaging as complementary non-destructive methods for investigations of historical brasswind instruments
David Mannes, Adrian. von Steiger, Eberhard Lehmann, Rainer Egger – Neutron Imaging and Activation Group, Spallation neutron source SINQ, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen
14. Looking over the Instrument Maker’s shoulders.
Methods of material analysis of production technology for brasswind instruments
Adrian von Steiger – Bern University of the Arts
15. The emulation of non-linearity of musical instruments
by means of Volterra series
Lamberto Tronchin – Università di Bologna
Authors’ Biographies

Emanuele Marconi is Conservator at the National Music Museum (Vermillion, SD), at the University of South Dakota. Prior to this, he has worked as a conservator and curator for Italian, French, and Swiss museums and as a consultant for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. He was also a research fellow at the Musée de la musique in Paris. After earning his diploma as a restorer, he earned a MA in Patrimoine et Conservation-Restauration from the Sorbonne University. His main research field is the history of the restoration of musical instruments, through the study of written and material sources.

The authors – Robert L. Barclay, Patricia Lopes Bastos, Stefania Bruni, Claudio Canevari, Jean-Philippe Echard, David Houbrechts, David Mannes, Ana Sofia Moreira Da Silva, Arnold Myers, Stewart Pollens, Panagiotis Poulopoulos, Marianne Senn, Nicola Sodini, Adrian V. Steiger, Lamberto Tronchin, Pascale Vandervellen, Franco Zanini.