Issue link: http://saihq.uberflip.com/i/1045847
Fall 2018 16 PAN PIPES By Jayne I. Hanlin In response to "Stradivarius" in word association, "violin" would be most people's reply, but viol, cello, guitar, mandolin, and other stringed instruments would also be correct. The extraordinary Antonio Stradivarius collection at the National Music Museum (NMM) in Vermillion, South Dakota is proof. You make ask, "Is the National Music Museum really in South Dakota?" Yes! Four Stradivarius and eight Amati-family instruments under one roof is no small matter. In fact, photos of 150 of the NMM's instruments (from its collection of more than 15,000) were used in the 2015 DK Smithsonian book Music: e Definitive Visual History (available in both hardcover and paperback). is museum's holdings are absolutely first class. And the building they are housed in is set to get bigger and even better. Currently occupying the grand, former 1910 Carnegie Library (located at the corner of Clark and Yale Streets) on the campus of the University of South Dakota, the NMM has displayed as many as 1,200 important instruments at any given time. Aer the completion of its upcoming $9.5 million architectural expansion and renovation (groundbreaking anticipated in mid-2019), there will be 4,600 additional square feet for displays. But first, the museum needed to begin its closing to the public in October 2018 for the preparations and eventual construction. e NMM is slated to complete its full metamorphosis by 2021. What a reopening to look forward to! About the NMM's crown jewels: Antonio Stradivari (c. 1644-1737) made about 1,200 instruments in his workshop and long lifetime. One of only five remaining Stradivarius guitars and one of two remaining Stradivarius mandolins live in the National Music Museum's Rawlins Gallery. Also preserved by the NMM are a Strad cello, that was formerly a bass viol (with the visible outline of the changes in shape on the front of the instrument) and the priceless 1693 'Harrison' Stradivarius violin with its original neck and scroll. (Renowned Korean violinist Kyung Wha Chung owned the Harrison from 1967- 1984, and you can see and hear her playing concertos on that violin in videos on YouTube). Just a few steps away from the Strads in the National Music Museum: An International Treasure National Music Museum The back of an Amati King cello ca 1550s A World of Music