Playing Historical Clarinets: Quantifying the Risk

Young, C. R.T. and Rognoni, G. R. (2017) Playing Historical Clarinets: Quantifying the Risk. In: COST FP1302 Woodmusick: Second Annual Conference: Effects of Playing on Early And Modern Musical Instruments, London, UK, 9-10 Sept 2015, ISBN 9788494635250

Abstract

It has been stated that the conservation and use of historic woodwind instruments is problematic because they are in very different states of preservation, and they are made from a wide variety of materials. Furthermore, their method of playing incurs rapid changes of temperature and relative humidity, the results of which can be catastrophic. This unpredictable behaviour makes clear guidelines for using early woodwinds impossible to establish (Barclay 1997). This level of uncertainty in the development of damages has led to the widespread assumption that woodwind instruments in public collections should not generally be played under any circumstance. On the other hand instruments in private collections have been extensively used by musicians without evident damages being noted, and many of the damages that are found on historical instruments are not apparently related to playing. The paper presents research in progress which at this stage has concentrated on clarinets.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Young, Professor Christina
• Authors: Young, C. R.T., and Rognoni, G. R.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• ISBN: 9788494635250
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher