AN UNFORGETTABLE BOOK, AND MORE INSTRUMENTS: SIGAL MUSIC MUSEUM #2 (Cheri)

I wish I had been able to get a picture of this ornate framed poster that didn't reflect the lighting, but it is still beautiful and representative of the many instruments at the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.

I wanted to call the instruments "baroque," in the decorative sense, rather than attaching them to a particular music style, but even that would be inaccurate, as some of the keyboard and many other instruments at the Museum were actual very simple, and "fancy" only because of the elegance of their materials and lines.

Before I lose my audience - you - I want to mention a nonfiction book that I thought of as we were viewing the pianos, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, by Thad Carhart.

The author:

"never realized there was a gap in his life until he happened upon Desforges Pianos, a demure little shopfront in his Pairs neighborhood that seemed to want to hide rather than advertise its wares. Like Alice in Wonderland, he found his attempts to gain entry rebuffed at every turn. An accidental introduction finally opened the door to the quartier’s oddest hangout, where locals—from university professors to pipefitters—gather on Friday evenings to discuss music, love, and life over a glass of wine."

Probably because he spent several years of his 1950's childhood in France, the portion of this book that isn't devoted to the wonders of piano-building and history is spent wandering the streets of "regular" Paris neighborhoods after returning decades later.

I am not a devotee of Paris, because I don't know enough about it, but I was pulled into his description of a way of life that is so different from our own.  I love audiobooks, but if I had started listening to this one I would have had to stop to acquire a "dead-tree" version, so that I could read it more slowly.  This was a five-star read for me.

So, an oddity and a laugh before I post more pictures of the exquisite woodwork we saw at the Museum.  First the oddest piece of sheet music that I have seen:

The second half of this plaque explains its configuration.

Check out the odd title for this military march:

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I'm guessing Mr. Sigal couldn't get a copy of the music for another piece that this band was known for playing, "The Mammoth Cod Quick Step."  (I kid you not.)

The Boston Light Infantry were nicknamed the Tigers, so perhaps there was another military assemblage that was called the Mammoth Cod???

I love woodworking.  Unpainted wood furniture is now often called, generally in a derogatory fashion, "brown furniture."  This kills me!  The next six pictures are here simply to feature the makers' woodworking skills.

Finally, for the music historians in the audience, references to Mozart, Chopin, and piano-making in general.  Both Mark's and my mother were very skilled pianists and organists, and we really wish they could have visited this museum.