The Preservation of Electronic Musical Instruments

Abstract

The general impression of Western musical instruments, based on those that participate in the modern symphony orchestra (plus the piano, pipe organ, acoustic guitar and occasionally the saxophone) is that these are completely standardized and interchangeable. This is by no means the case, and never has been. Many instruments (electronic instruments) have been prominent for a time and then became unfashionable and soon forgotten. In this paper, my work as an external consultant on electronic instruments for the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag (the largest collection of musical instruments in the Netherlands) will be discussed. In particular, various approaches to the collection, display conservation and maintenance of electronic instruments will be described.