Talk:Conservation and restoration of musical instruments

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Hi Carie, I love your choice of topic - so creative and personal to you! You have a lot of good information, but I would suggest trying to break it up into headings so that users can navigate it more easily or read only what they are most interested in. Maybe break it up as follows: Description (very general); Tools & Materials; Techniques; Conservation Concerns; Ethical Considerations; etc - just a thought! You have a lot of great references and I like that you included links to them in the body of your work (some users might like to explore as they go). I'm not sure if that is a common standard in Wikipedia though... I love that you included the importance of preserving the musician's notes and thoughts on the sheet music. I hadn't originally thought of that as a possibility or concern! I bet the preservation of those markings are so stressful, especially when soft graphite is involved! Great job! Ceawestern (talk) 16:09, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Carie, I too thought it was interesting that you thought about such a specific topic. One thing that intrigued me and I would think others, is how it is different from a general paper and/or book conservator. You mention that it is similar, but don't quite go into how they are different or if there is anything that makes them unique as a subset other than the description of what is contained on the paper. Also, in the last paragraph, you write "Musicians, like me..." I would take out the "like me" since it is supposed to be an encyclopedic article. I do like the resources you found though. I'd be interested to see if there are other articles specifically about conserving sheet music. MelanieCDeer (talk) 22:23, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Final Project reviews: Hi Carie, I really enjoyed looking over your outline! It is really interesting to me that you've chosen to carry out a specific focus in this course, as your first Wikipedia was about Sheet Music Conservators and now your final project will be about Musical Instrument Conservation and Restoration. I think it's great that you will have a large knowledge base about these topics through this class! Your introduction seems to be well thought out - it will give the reader information about conservation (if they do not know much), as well as conservation's main goals. Make sure you link to other conservation pages as you write about them! In your second section, I appreciate that you mention the "earliest known publication" on your topic. Have the general practices changed since 1967? That might be interesting to note! I also like that you seem to want to provide examples (harpsichord vs. clavichord). The only big suggestion I would make is to make a section for "materials". There could be separate materials sections concerning the type of material an instrument is made out of (wood, horsehair, ivory), and materials that the conservators use to preserve the instruments. I can't wait to read your article!! Ceawestern (talk) 23:54, 21 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Carie,

I think this is a really interesting topic and not something I've read a lot about and also haven't come across a lot of websites dedicated strictly to this type of conservation. Usually you read about general conservation tips based on the type of material an object is made out of, so specifically discussing the conservation of musical instruments will be pretty cool. I found a paper written about the problems/controversies in musical instrument conservation. It's a word doc, so go to http://cool.conservation-us.org/search.html and search for "problems in the conservation of musical instruments" and you should be able to find it that way. Hopefully you'll be able to use this! MarlenaF13 (talk) 02:08, 22 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Structure

Write your thoughts on the structure and changes you’d like to see, what works, what doesn't, what needs to be added/amended. Start to collectively agree a structure.

Hi group, Lee here. Here are some suggested structure changes to start us off:

The background section could be expanded to include the history of musical instrument conservation-restoration.
General care of musical instruments could be bumped down into preventative conservation, as well as the sections of climate control, light limitation, storage, air quality, and pest control.
Conservation practices, a section that is currently empty, can discuss techniques broken down by the four major types of instruments: string, woodwind, brass, and percussion. Using these four classifications links the article to the musical instrument classification Wikipedia page (https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Musical_instrument_classification). I don’t think the existing section on classification is necessary, but I would like to hear your thoughts.
Factors for and against functional restoration and determining playability could be grouped together under an ethics header.
The documentation section can include condition reporting.

Abruch2 (talk) 23:52, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey all, its Michela. Here are some things I noted about the structure: Like Lee pointed out there is information mission for the Preventative Conservation, Conservation Practices and Documentation sections. I like the idea about moving the General care of instruments to the preventative conservation section and condensing the sections on climate control, light limitation, storage etc. I think the determining playability section could be fleshed out a bit more The Classification systems section should either be moved up or combined with the general information section. I don't feel that is serves much of a purpose near the end of the article, especially if we breakdown how different types of instruments are conserved differently prior to the classification list. Let me know what y'all think

Brickmaker2.0 (talk) 02:45, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Lee and Michala,

I agree with both of your assessments of the current page. I will also add that the introduction feels really clunky and could be cleaned up. Additionally, in week 3 when we were introducing our topics, Michela brought up the topic of plastics used in instruments and Daniel replied with a helpful link about the storage of plastics that I’ll add to the list below. Perhaps we should create some sub-sections in the references to indicate links for specific materials (wood, metal, hide, plastics, etc).

And to echo you both, I agree that, at least currently, the section of classifications isn’t necessary. I’d be interested in thinking about a way to make it more informative and valuable, but I'm also not opposed to scrapping it and moving that information elsewhere. And also, ethics/playability should have a MUCH larger footprint on the page.Cmichaelpoole (talk) 23:20, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Great, we all seem to be on the same page. We should begin to discuss what section we would each like to edit. I can handle preventative conservation as one of my sections.Abruch2 (talk) 02:45, 21 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm happy to take on the Determining Playability section and I can do some work on filling out the Background section as well. Brickmaker2.0 (talk) 03:08, 21 November 2019 (UTC) Hi Michela - will you also tackle ethics or would you like me to?Abruch2 (talk) 19:36, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That all sounds great. I will say that I agree with Lee that in that determining playability and restoration could both be merged into an Ethics section.
I’m happy to tackle cleaning up the Introduction and to add some useful information to that section as well as taking a swing at trying to make the Classification of Musical Instruments section more informative. Perhaps, as Michela mentioned, it could be moved up into the Background or Introduction sections.
Now that we have a clearer picture of what everyone will be taking on and some suggested changes, it looks like we’ll need to post that information in the Discussion thread so that Daniel and Rose can give their thoughts. Cmichaelpoole (talk) 17:24, 21 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi group, what should we do about the conservation practices section? Abruch2 (talk) 02:59, 24 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Lee,

I have to admit this section feels the most daunting due to the amount of processes that can be used to correct a seemingly infinite number of problems. I agree with your earlier comment that perhaps we should focus on the 4 major types of materials used in musical instruments. This seems like a good way to focus the article and not get too overwhelmed. I’ve also been looking at conservation pages for other types of materials (paper, books, etc) to see how they approach discussing practices. I’ve started to outline what I’ll be working on in the Discussion forum. I’m happy to tackle the Conservation Practices section collaboratively or break it apart for everyone to take a part of - whatever works for you both! Cmichaelpoole (talk) 14:39, 24 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes it is quite daunting! I will include it in my part of the outline, as I can set up each section by type of material and write introductions. We can collaboratively edit further information with our combined sources.Abruch2 (talk) 15:27, 24 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

References

Smithsonian Reference List
https://www.si.edu/mci/english/learn_more/taking_care/musinst.html
--Cmichaelpoole (talk) 22:53, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Ethics

Guin, Jeff. (2013). The philosophy of in-use musical instrument conservation (Podcast 28). Retrieved from: https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/blog/podcast-john-watson-on-the-philosophy-of-in-use-musical-instrument-conservation/. Abruch2 (talk) 21:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Lamb, Andrew. (1995). To Play or not to Play: the Ethics of of Musical Instrument Conservation. V&A Conservation Journal, 15. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-15/to-play-or-not-to-play-the-ethics-of-musical-instrument-conservation/ Brickmaker20. (talk) 03:21, 21 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

General Information

http://www.bate.ox.ac.uk/care-and-preservation.html
--Cmichaelpoole (talk) 23:15, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Barclay, R. L. (1996). The conservation of musical instruments. (Museum International, 189 (8,1). Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-0033.1996.tb01280.x Abruch2 (talk) 21:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Fichera, G.V., Albano, M. Fiocco, G., Invernizzi C., Licchelli, M., Malagodi, M., & Rovetta, T. (2018) Innovative monitoring plan for the preventive conservation of historical musical instruments. Studies in Conservation (63:sup1), 351-354. DOI: 10.1080/00393630.2018.1499853. Abruch2 (talk) 21:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Storch, P.S. (2001). Caring for musical instruments: Part 2. Minnesota History Interpreter, 3-6. Retrieved from: http://www.mnhs.org/sites/default/files/lhs/techtalk/techtalkjuly2001.pdf. Abruch2 (talk) 21:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Bucur, V. (2016). Handbook of Materials for String Musical Instruments. 1st ed. 2016. Cham: Springer International Publishing .Abruch2 (talk) 21:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Barclay, Robert L. (1997). The Care of Historic Musical Instruments. Edinburgh, UK. Canadian Conservation Institute. http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/cimcim/pdf/The_Care_of_Historic_Musical_Instruments_small.pdf Brickmaker20. (talk) 03:15, 21 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Materials
Storage of Plastics
Shashoua, Yvonne (2014). A Safe Place: Storage Strategies for Plastics. The Getty Conservation Institute.
https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/29_1/storage.html
--Cmichaelpoole (talk) 23:15, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]