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| Random quote: "Got time to breathe, got time for music." --Briscoe Darling. |
 Royal College of Music's Museum of Instruments, and lots of pics
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FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | My 9th grade son and I just got back from ten days in England. What a great trip! Among the many things we did was a visit to the Museum of Instruments at the Royal College of Music in London. If you get to London it is well worth a few hours to go over and see it. The RCM is located three blocks behind the Natural History Museum, across the street from the Royal Albert Hall. Check their webpage for events, too, as they often have student ensembles playing free mini concerts at lunchtime. The museum is only open during the school session. Flysig Jr. being an avid violinist and classical music fan, we spent most of our time upstairs in the viol and guitar display. Downstairs has a number of very old harpsichords, pianos, and a variety of wind instruments. Most instruments in the museum are in pristine condition despite being hundreds of years old. The museum consists of one medium size room with a balcony, located in a maze of twisty hallways and stairways deep in the RCM building. They keep the room at a controlled 30% humidity and around 68 degrees (guessing at the temp by feel). Notice the older guitars with double courses of strings. Many of the instruments appear to have been modified over the centuries, some appear quite modern in configuration.     17th century by Voboam family from Paris   c. 1650 by Rene Voboam of Paris   | ||
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| FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | Bass viols are about the same size as a modern cello. Notice they are six stringed, and the interesting frets and headstock carvings (called scrolls). Some of the older violins have similar headstock carvings. These are late 17th century instruments.        | ||
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| FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | A nice parlor guitar from 1809 Spain  Inspiration for modern travel instruments? From 1870  The oldest surviving stringed keyboard instrument in the world, from 1470. A harpsichord.  And somewhat off topic, Canterbury Strings made an appearance at the Roman Baths in Bath England. These are original baths built by the Romans in the early first century.  | ||
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| ProfessorBB |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 5881 Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | |||
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| Patch |
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Joined: May 2006 Posts: 4236 Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | |||
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| moody, p.i. |
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| schroeder |
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| Mark in Boise |
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| Captain Black |
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| Avatar4550 |
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| Paul Templeman |
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| Darkbar |
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Joined: January 2009 Posts: 4536 Location: Flahdaw | |||
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| FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | Mark, if you're into symphony music and near Birmingham, check out the Birmingham Symphony Hall. It is a relatively new building with incredible acoustics. We heard Joshua Bell on violin and Steven Isserlis on cello, backed by the chamber orchestra Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Incredible is the only description of the sound in that space. What look like large double doors above the rear seating and to the sides of the organ pipes are adjustable sound ports, to change the acoustic tuning of the room. There are more of these doors around the top along the sides, not visible in this photo. The lighting system above the stage is in a module that can be lowered as needed to further tune the acoustics.  If you go to Stratford, be sure to take the pay tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (and watch a show while you're there). The new theater has amazing technology, yet it visually appears similar to the old theater it replaced. For guitars to play in England I can't help you out at all. | ||
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| stonebobbo |
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Joined: August 2002 Posts: 8307 Location: Tennessee | |||
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| TAFKAR |
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Joined: April 2008 Posts: 2985 Location: Sydney, Australia | |||
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| Mark in Boise |
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| FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | |||
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| Old Man Arthur |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777 Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | |||
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| Darkbar |
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Joined: January 2009 Posts: 4536 Location: Flahdaw | |||
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| Waskel |
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Joined: February 2005 Posts: 11840 Location: closely held secret | |||
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| FlySig |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 4081 Location: Utah | |||
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| Old Man Arthur |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777 Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I want one of those Feedback Busters... FlySig, no insult taken. I just have to tell one-or-three people "NO" per week. And then they get insulted and offer me money. Then I really say "NO!" | ||
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| Capo Guy |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 4394 Location: East Tennessee | Now I know why it's called a "headstock". Looks like a really neat place to visit. | ||
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| MusicMishka |
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| AlanM |
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