Details

Object type

dancing master's kit; violin

Place Associated

Scotland, Glasgow (place associated)

Date

circa 1780

Materials

mother-of-pearl, ivory, wood

Dimensions

overall: 540 mm x 90 mm x 70 mm 220 g

Description

This instrument, which is a type of small fiddle, was made or sold by James Aird at his shop, at the corner of Gibson’s Wynd and New Street in Glasgow about 1780 and was eventually acquired by John Hall of Ayr (1788–1862). The kit (as it was known, possibly from ‘kitten’) was used to teach dancing. It was small enough to be played while demonstrating dance steps and quiet enough not to disturb neighbours. It could also be placed in the pocket when not in use, hence its other name, the ‘pochette’.

At that time, dancing masters not only taught but also published music, and Hall, who was one of Glasgow’s earliest music sellers, was responsible for two volumes of music. In 1945 a manuscript book of his ‘Quadrilles and Waltzes’ was donated to the collection, and the dances it contains can be played on the kit.

The kit is part of a collection gathered by Dr Henry George Farmer (1882–1965). He started music lessons when he was seven and in 1896 joined the Royal Artillery band, later becoming musical director of the Broadway Theatre in London and then the Coliseum and Empire Theatres in Glasgow. He was a noted musicologist, publishing a work on the influence of Arabian music on Western musical theory and another on music in Scotland. As he had said he wished ‘to see these instruments in Glasgow’, some fifty instruments were offered from his collection and bought by the museum.

ID Number

A.1945.47.f.[1]

Location

Kelvingrove Scottish Identity