“Music at Monash” on show

A showcase of the remarkable music collections of Monash University will be on display in the exhibition room of the Sir Louis Matheson Library, Clayton campus, from 11 July – 30 September 2004.

The “Music at Monash” exhibition features materials from the Monash University Library’s Music and Multimedia and Rare Books collections and the Monash Music Archives, located in the School of Music-Conservatorium.

“This exhibition exposes materials normally housed in closed access storage and archive boxes and provides a medium for alerting people to the richness and depth of our collections,” said Music and Multimedia Librarian, Georgina Binns.

“The items on show have been selected to exemplify not only the Australian materials, but also the diverse range of fascinating materials from around the world in the collections.”

Among the highlights is the gamelan Digul instrument crafted by Indonesian musician and political activist Pontjopangrawit during his internment at the notorious Dutch East Indies prison camp at Tanah merah in Upper Digul (in Irian Jaya, West Papua New Guinea) between 1927 and 1932.

Pontjopangrawit made the gamelan Digul and 18 other instruments entirely from materials found in the prison camp such as saucepans, pots, and wood from crates. The instrument was transported to Australia in the 1940’s and is now housed at Monash’s Sumatran Music Archive.

The earliest piece on display will be J. Rousseau's Dictionnaire de Musique; a reference book of music definitions and explanations of relationships in music published in Paris in 1768.

The exhibition coincides with the 2004 Symposium of the International Musicological Society (SIMS), running from 11 - 16 July; a venture sponsored by Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts.

All Monash staff and students are invited to attend the exhibition opening on Thursday 29 July at 5:45pm in the exhibition room on level one, ISB wing, Matheson Library.

Professor Margaret Kartomi of Monash University’s School of Music-Conservatorium will present the opening address at 6pm.

To RSVP for the opening ph 03 9905 2670 or email

merrilyn.sorensen@lib.monash.edu.au by 27 July 2004.

To view the exhibition online go to www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/ or to request a printed exhibition catalogue, email: georgina.binns@lib.monash.edu.au

16 July 2004

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