Re: Support for Mechanical Music
By Wybe van der Wal
In Digest 96.12.19 Ingmar Krause wrote:
> Well, first of all, I didn't know of any government support in the
> Netherlands for mechanical music, but that could be 'cause of the
> Tradition that mechanical music -- or, more precisely, the streetorgan
> -- has gained.
>
> But anyway: How do you come across to even think it could _not_ survive
> without support? In my opinion that's complete nonsense; sorry.
I'm not a specialist on this topic; I only know that the Netherlands government has put some (six ?) street-organs on a list of 'important monuments'. This means that these street-organs shall not be sold outside the Netherlands, because it is recognised that they form part of a 'national heritage'.
With the rising prices for the organs and the flow of these instrument to 'exotic' countries like Japan and the US, a lot of people feared these organs would not only leave their home-country, they also feared that these instruments would in the future disappear in these countries, due to the lack of specific know-how in maintenance for these instruments, the unfavorable climatic circumstances, and the instruments being in the hands of people not interested in their musical, historic value but being wealthy collectors of 'gadgets'.
It may be that some organisations in the Netherlands -- museums, or the like -- receive some donations from the local, regional or national government. But then the donations are on the same basis as for other museums. I do not know of any special government support for our street-organs.
To the question of survive-or-not with or without government-support:
Sure, without any government support mechanical music instruments will survive; maybe in a smaller quantity. But would it not be better if, thanks to government support, many more instruments will survive ?
I know of a small village in the French-Alps, Les Gets. Thanks also to the support of local, regional and national goverments they now have a beautiful museum with a lot of instruments and a repairshop for mechanical musical instruments. In the local music-school they even teach the children how to make programs [music arrangements] for these instruments. Every two years there is a big festival with several instruments from elsewhere. Their activities bring a lot of people in contact with mm-instruments and their musical performances.
Beyond that, even under these conditions the most important factor is the people behind these activities. For the government their donations are also fruitful: the museum, the repair-shop and the festival create jobs and attract tourists, etc. And there is even a link with the past. The mountains are known for e.g. wood-working and small mm-instruments.
Is it wrong if all this is possible, thanks to government-support ?
Wybe van der Wal
[ Wybe's letter describes well the impact that a museum can have on
[ the culture of the community. Can this benefit also occur with
[ privately-owned instruments? Let's hear from others. -- Robbie
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(Message sent Mon 23 Dec 1996, 01:52:03 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.) |
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