Museums and music : an argument in favour of a broader evaluation of the object-based nature of music collections in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This work seeks to show that the experience gained through music in its practical and aural sense is not represented adequately in music museums because of the necessarily object-based nature of most museum displays. Restricting the analysis to museums - or their equivalent - in the United Kingdom, a representative cross-section of different museums containing music collections is studied. This material is discussed in terms of type, display, interpretation and visitors. Music's problematic standing in museums is subsequently ascribed to its essentially non-visual and transitory nature. A further series of case study museums is then examined - dealing with Film, Theatre, Sport and 'Conceptual Experiences' as subjects - each of which share elements of music's difficulty in presentation. From this, it is shown that many of these difficulties may be overcome; and some of the solutions may be adapted for musical material in both a practical and ideological sense.