Hi David,

Check with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  They we given a violin
once owned by Jascha Hiefitz. In the agreement it was stated that it was
meant to be played.  The conservation staff has created guidelines for the
playing of the instrument on various occasions.

Ted A. Greenberg, Head Registrar at LACMA (used to work at FAMSF)

-----Original Message-----
From: David Ryan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 10:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Playing Music Boxes [faked-from]

Dear Colleagues,
A community member who is an accomplished organist and repairs and restores
music boxes has suggested that we play our music boxes for the public.
According to him, they are like any other instrument and need to be played
in order to give them the best care.  I have heard that the Stradivarius
Museum plays their violins regularly- so there must be something to this.
In general, we do not use our artifacts as intended (we don't wind our
clocks, run our motors, use our carriages, etc.)  Common sense tells me
that if you use something you are wearing it out a little every time that
you use it.  This goes contrary to preventive conservation principles.  We
have several music boxes that are part of a larger collection that were
obviously very expensive and top of the line models when new.  These
probably would sound quite beautiful.  I have been asked by our curator to
put this question on Museum-L.  If you have music boxes- or other musical
instruments in your collections, do you ever play them?    Thank you for
any thoughts you have on this topic.
Sincerely,
David Ryan
Registrar
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
www.cspm.org

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