The Royal College of Music Museum supports teaching and research, operates in an advisory capacity and, alongside its work in conservation, is committed to working with a range of other institutions on providing access to important historical artefacts.
We keenly encourage research with practical musical application and, equally, practical projects that foster an interest in research. We have developed a mini series of concerts based on manuscripts held in the RCM collections. Through this, students are introduced to working with primary sources in create performing editions and are encouraged to use these insights to develop their own programming ideas.
In 2016 an overview of the collections was created alongside a written report of the Museum’s vast iconography collections. This work has allowed us to identify which items may be of interest for research projects.
Collaborative relationships are leading to several research recordings being carried out on instruments from the Museum collection. Examples include a complete recording of William Lawes’ music for lyra viol by Richard Boothby using a viol made by Richard Meares in the 1680s, and a recording of the chamber version of Haydn’s London Symphonies.
Some of our larger projects are listed below.
