St. Cecilia’s Hall Music Museum, Edinburgh

My first time in Scotland could not have been more special.
I was shown around town by two people that knew it well – Simon Waters (PhD.) and Zexuan Qiao (PhD.c) Sonic Arts Research Center – The Queen’s University of Belfast.
Edinburgh is a very very special city. Somehow it reminds me of Northern Portugal (Galicia and Asturias) with its dark stone buildings. It was especially its unassuming greatness, that was striking to me. The people, of all ages, were nice and easygoing. I was impressed especially by the young people, that somehow seemed more matured and grounded (than in most modern cities), in their walking around, talking in groups and hanging around cafés and the public library.
It was precisely the public library where we would find some of the bagpipes and flutes that we were measuring.
The collection is curated by the St. Cecilia’s Hall Museum of Instruments.
Zexuan knows this collection well, as he used to work there as a woodwind conservator.
A good friend at the museum is Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet, also a bagpiper – imagine that! He is one of the 3 amazingly talented and knowledgeable conservators at the museum. Although his speciality is metal objects, he is also a beginner bagpipe maker. So it comes as no surprise that it was he that hosted us and made the bagpipe collection fully accessible.
Although these times there were no baltic instruments for me to see, I learned so much from these amazing people while helping with taking photos and measuring beautiful border pipes chanters and baroque flutes.
What a wonderful few days these have been.

I cannot thank enough Simon and Zexuan for the enriching time they have shared with me – The first visit to Edinburgh I will forever treasure.