Christine Echols and Dr. Marti Lu Allen, Anthropology
I used my ORCA scholarship to study a significant group of ethnographic musical instruments that were held by the Museum of Art and the Museum of Peoples and Cultures at BYU. By research and study, I was able to address questions of patterns and commonalities in rituals that required music and the use of these instruments in various tribal and indigenous cultures. These results were presented in a public exhibition which opened at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures on May 14, 2005.
Throughout history producing sound and music was an integral part of singing praises to the deity’s people worshipped and to their dead ancestors. To satisfy the human need to communicate and be heard instruments were invented and fashioned by using simple tools and available materials. These instruments provided a way to produce unique melodies and rhythms and when played reflected a specific community or tribe. Often special items are made to depict how these instruments are played and used in ceremony.
Various instruments in the collection were selected to exhibit and one of the five cases in this new exhibition was devoted solely to these musical instruments. The display includes an assortment of unique hand carved drums, rattles, a rasp made to look like a ‘snake’, whistles, pan pipes, a Thai xylophone, a African spike fiddle, a sarangi fiddle, bone flutes used by the Anasazi, pottery flutes from Mexico, tube zithers made in Madagascar, a double bell gong from Africa and angklung tuned rattles from Indonesia.
I was involved from the beginning with the planning of this exhibit. There was a collaborative effort with the MPC staff and Anthropology students to come up with the creation and development of the exhibition which is titled: “Seeking the Divine: Ritual, Prayer, and Celebration”.
Not only did each musical instrument need to selected and retrieved from storage and all paperwork necessary to permit it to be exhibited done, but object condition reports needed to be made, detailed descriptions of each object and photographs needed to be taken of each instrument. This I was able to do with assistance from my mentor.
As part of the exhibition ‘team’, and with my ORCA grant, I was able to perform my particular task of researching each of the musical instruments that provided cultural and use background for each of the instruments exhibited. I also was able to take a ‘fact-finding’ trip to Santa Fe New Mexico museums with moneys from my scholarship which helped me form some of my own ideas on displaying artifacts. This added experience helped me to be able to assist with the displaying of these instruments with more confidence. I was then able to assist with putting the exhibit together before the deadline for the grand opening by writing labels for the music case and providing assistance where needed and researching some of the photo didactics that were used in this particular display.
From this experience and opportunity given to me by the ORCA scholarship, I am now equipped with additional ‘hands on experience’ and extra knowledge that will prove invaluable for my future employment in the world of museums.