CIMCIM-presentation for ICOM Prague 2020 Presentation at the CIMCIM Poster Session Thursday 25th August, 15h30-17h00at the Museum Complex of the National Museum The Role of Museums for the Living Heritage of Crafts specialised in semi-mobile Early Keyboard Instruments The mechanics of semi-mobile early keyboard instruments, such as fortepianos, reed organs, harpsichords etc., are intricate. Craftsmen, who have mastered the complex workings of these mechanics, and understand their functionality, are indispensable for keeping these instruments and their contemporary replicas playable. The crafts related to regular revision and tuning, historically correct restoration, as well as spare part production, such as string spinning and the building of exact replicas, are crucial for the preservation of the living heritage of music. As important as the professional education of musical performers for these instruments, are the skills and handicraft experience of the specialized technician in charge of tuning, preserving, restoring and/or reproducing parts of the instrument. These craftsmen are essential for the living musical heritage, connected to this category of instruments: for scientific musical research, as well as for historically informed performances. Therefore, the role of museums is not just limited to conserving and researching the semi-mobile early keyboard instruments in their collections. In addition, museums should take up an active role in the preservation of the living heritage connected to these instruments – in general and specially in preserving these crafts to be passed on to future generations. Dear colleagues, I am Jurn Buisman, some 35 years a professional cultural heritage generalist and, as director of Museum Geelvinck, I am active in several cultural heritage sectors, including that of built heritage and cultural landscapes. Thus, I also became involved in ICOMOS, the International Council for Monuments and Sites. This experience is useful for the topic, which I propose to share with you. Museum Geelvinck has two venues, one in Amsterdam and one at Kolthoorn House and Gardens in Heerde, in the East part of the Netherlands. The museum stewards the largest Dutch collection of stringed keyboard instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries – it encompasses over 300 historic pianos. It is a working collection and a substantial part of it originates from the former Sweelinck Museum, which, at the time, was part of the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam. This in particular marks the background on which our museum’s mission is founded: it is geared towards sustaining the living heritage connected to these instruments. Our participatory community includes both the classical and early music sector, as well as the realms of specialized craftsmen, such as piano technicians and builder-restorers, as well as string spinners, felt makers, doeskin tanners and others. Therefor our museum not only collaborates with the fortepiano department of the Conservatory of Amsterdam, but as well we service the vocational training of piano technicians. At our former museum venue in Zutphen, our conservator-restorer, Gijs Wilderom, shared his technical knowhow with an apprentice-piano technician. Please see our website for examples on video. This video-poster concentrates at the challenges for the future of historic semi-mobile early keyboard instruments and the essential role of museums for keeping the heritage alive of builders, restorers, tuners and other craftsmen of these instruments and its spare parts. Our aim is to develop a global network of museums and other institutions to keep our living heritage of qualified technical craftmanship for these instruments preserved – alive and kicking! During our meeting in Kyoto in 2019, I briefly touched down on the need for a working group on the theme of semi-mobile keyboard instruments. Already in 2015, during the symposium of the 5th edition of the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival at our museum in Amsterdam, there was an outcry, that the technical craftmanship for the preservation of working instruments was under pressure: on the one hand due to the aging of qualified restorers, lacking well trained and experienced successors. Note the Red List of the Heritage Crafts Association mentions fortepiano builders and string spinners. On the other hand, there is the emergence of unqualified restorers, such as amateurs, cheap-labor restoration ateliers and restoration by piano technicians qualified for modern pianos, though lacking any knowhow or experience with historic instruments. Unfortunately, our museum came across quite a few examples of historic instruments, which were ruined by unqualified or ignorant restorers. Alas, I may presume, you all have had the same experience. A few years ago, I attended a conference on historic pianos, where one of our museum colleagues presented a newly restored historic piano. The restoration was realized by a qualified restorer in close collaboration with the museum’s department for conservation. The discussion came to the question, if the same principles for conservation could also be applied to the restoration of historic instruments outside the museum collection. The – for me astonishing – reply was, that owners outside the museum’s realm could do anything they like with their instruments. This being also the case, when these owners were actually government related, such as conservatories with working collections of historic instruments, or, for instance, listed historic buildings featuring historic pianos, house organs or pianolas. Church organs and carillons, which are part of listed buildings are protected by heritage laws, at least that is the case in the Netherlands; however, semi-mobile keyboard instruments are not protected by these heritage laws. Even if the public or private owner has good intentions for the preservation of such a semi-mobile instrument, he more often than not completely lacks the knowhow on taking the right decisions for its conservation. Simply because there are no heritage guidelines or quality principles for such instruments and moreover the absents of a qualification system for specialized technicians and restorers. As a result, often is chosen for the cheapest solution – usually an unqualified restorer – with detrimental outcome. This practice also means that qualified craftsmen are not supported and financially have to compete with cheap-labor. Thus, qualified craftsmen hardly survive economically. It is not a supportive situation for attracting young successors and this way in the long term these crafts will vanish. In Autumn 2020, our museum organized a full session on this topic as part of the online conference of REMA-European Early Music Network in Brussels. It included workshops and presentations by the Greifenberger Institut für Musikinstrumentenkunde, Alain Roudier – Centre International du Fortepiano Ad Libitum and Paul McNulty. Our session received worldwide attention, especially from the side of restorers of and builders of replicas from historic fortepianos, harpsichords and clavichords. You will find the results on our website. In short, all agreed, that something had to be done, both for the preservation of skills and experience, developed over time by elderly craftsmen, as well to conserve, preferably in a digital and publicly accessible way, documentation on instruments, which had been restored. Also, there was a general agreement on the fact that the amount of more or less untouched historic instruments is rapidly decreasing. Something should be done against unqualified restoration and its irretrievable loss of information. At least restoration should be documented and original parts, which have been removed in the process, should be preserved in storage. Also, awareness should be created with musicians and both public and private owners on the musical heritage value of the original parts of these instruments. Education, masterclasses and guidelines for musicians on how to handle historic instruments, would certainly help. Here I have to mention the excellent example of the Fortepiano Tech Academy, offered by the Cornell-Westfield Center for Historical Keyboards this Summer. Another recommendation was, that now a certificate for the ivory is required for most historic pianos anyway, why not add a requirement for a certificate for authenticity concerning those parts of the instrument which are still original. Another suggestion was a European label of quality for restorers, technicians and tuners of historic instruments. Also legally protective listing of untouched historic instruments, both in public collections as well as in private ownership, was suggested, just as is the case for listed buildings. Some recommended, that performing on historic instruments should be discouraged; however, in many cases essential original parts of the instrument already have been replaced by replicas, or even modern variations, and in such cases, there is, more often than not, no valid argument against playing these instruments. For the musicians and the audience alike, there is heritage value in a performance on an historic instrument. This has its parallel in the spirit of place, which clings to a historic building or a site of memory. Thus, even though a performance on even a more or less unaltered historic instrument may not sound the same as it did some two hundred years ago, albeit just as a result of aging, and still if the instrument is in fact what could be described as “fresh nuts in old shells”, it is admired, because it is the real historic instrument; not just a replica. To end with a quote by the Greifenberger Institut” The community requires internal solutions for matters regarding preservation and dissemination of collected data and practical knowledge, as well as research in and public awareness for the historical and source value of undisturbed original instruments. The potentials of future research, as well as for education, concerts, recordings etc. deserve a wider public discussion and attention.” In December 2020, I presented the topic for the Europe Group Meeting of ICOMOS – International Council for Monuments and Sites, addressing it from the point of view of the challenges for space specific music and performance heritage. Not only, it received much acclaim, as being a new theme, which needs attention. Also, it resulted in being asked to present a keynote speech on our topic at the World Heritage Day, organized by ICOMOS Germany in Hamburg in 2021. And this brings me again to parallels found in preserving built heritage and cultural landscapes. The approach to our field could be similar to the example of the ICOMOS European Quality Principles, which both in the European Union, and also worldwide, are now being implemented as a standard for the preservation processes of built heritage and landscapes. In the same way, a working group of musical instrument museums, together with the related stakeholder communities, could prepare guidelines and quality principles for semi-mobile early keyboard instruments. Based on the afore mentioned recommendations, I’ll recap: 1. Record, value and publish at a publicly easily accessible, central website the examples of best practices regarding scientific research, tuning, revision, restoration and crafting spare parts (strings etc.), or full replicas. The museum standard for preservation and restoration serves as a starting point. The preservation of the living intangible heritage of specialized craftmanship should be taken into account. Reference objects in public ownership should be made publicly accessible online, as well as on request easily accessible for physical research. No difference should be made between experts by university learning and specialized craftsmen. Private owners should be encouraged to add instruments in their ownership to online listings, such as MIMO. 2. Develop guidelines and quality principles for maintenance, tuning, overhaul, restoration and research concerning both instruments and spare parts (such as strings, felt, wood etc.). A balance must be sought between the preservation of the original parts, being untouched reference material, and the living intangible musical heritage. Stimulate public awareness of these guidelines, so that private owners become aware of the value for society of investing in proper conservation and treatment of the musical heritage they steward. 3. Develop a procedure for granting a European quality label for qualified technicians and craftsmen, based on the aforementioned guidelines. Publish the list of qualified technicians and craftsmen in a publicly accessible website and ensure targeted public awareness. 4. Develop an international vocational training course for piano technicians and specialized craftsmen, in which gaining knowledge and experience from a global network of qualified craftsmen, ateliers and knowledge institutions plays a central role. Stimulate this development through subsidies for assignments and apprenticeships. 5. Develop an online digital database in which researchers, technicians and craftsmen can record their findings and restorations per instrument. This database can be linked to other databases, such as MIMO. 6. Develop guidelines and an international documentation center for museum acquisition, preservation and deaccession of historic semi-movable keyboard instruments. Enable professional training institutes to use objects of lesser importance from the museum’s collection; split the collection in reference objects – untouchables – and instruments for educational use. Museums should recognize the importance of intangible cultural heritage, that clings to these instruments. 7. Ensure national recognition and legal protection of the tangible and associated intangible heritage, as well as sufficient funds to make this possible. 8. Break through the walls between disciplines, in such way that heritage institutions, such as museums, collaborate with institutions in the field of music. Engage a wide audience for the preservation of living musical heritage. For example, the Faro Convention may provide opportunities for this. As in the case of MIMO – which started with EU-funding – the idea is to eventually create a worldwide mode of conduct and engage museums and other stakeholders globally. Already in Kyoto, after my presentation on semi-mobile early keyboard instruments, some of you approached me with acclaim and suggested to create a working group on this urgent topic. I strongly support this proposal. May I invite you to join the discussion. For those, who are at this conference on line: you can reach me at info@geelvinck.nl Thank you for your attention!