Proposal for MUS 391: Independent Study

Laura Wu ‘20

Advisor: Prof. Mary Roth

Saving a Concertina Legacy: Developing and initiating a plan for archiving and making available concertina music arranged by Boris Matusewitch

Introduction

Boris Matusewitch (1918-1978) was a professional concertinist who performed at night clubs, at the Carnegie Recital Hall, was a featured soloist with orchestras, and, in a partnership with Rod Strong, developed and performed an innovative combination of concertina music and dance. Boris was also the son of concertinist, Gregory Matusewitch (1886-1939) who was from Minsk, Belarus and who performed on the concertina in Europe and the United States during the early 20thcentury. Boris taught hundreds of concertina students from his studio in New York City during the mid-1900’s.  The history of the Matusewitch family can be found at Matusewitch (2015).

Boris’s legacy with respect to concertina music includes a large number of polyphonic arrangements of popular tunes from the mid 1900’s. Music written specifically for the concertina is limited. These arrangements, written by an well-known concertinist for his students, represent an important collection.  Prof. Roth, an amateur concertina player, has been provided access to Boris’s arrangements through his son, Eric Matusewitch, and through one of Boris’s former students, Randy Stein.

Goals

The goals of this independent study project are as follows:

  • Assess the size and condition of the music collection that has been made available to Prof. Roth.
  • Identify at least two music library archives in the United States or Britain that might be willing to permanently house the digital collection and document the requirements and process for making a request to have the collection housed by each library.
  • Communicate with the International Concertina Association (www.concertina.org) and determine whether the ICA is willing to archive and provide public access to the digital collection.
  • Develop and demonstrate a documented procedure to digitally scan pieces from the collection at a level of quality sufficient for the pieces to be digitally archived.
  • Determine an appropriate format for indexing the collection that will be compatible with archival needs.
  • Determine whether it will be possible to create an index of the collection (including title and other relevant textual information associated with each piece) using existing software to mine the scanned documents for the necessary indexing information.
  • Using existing software if available or by data entry if necessary, develop and demonstrate a documented procedure to create an index of digital scans made from the collection.

Approach

Laura has already read the Matusewitch (2015) paper in preparation for this project. To further attain the goals of the project, Laura will meet twice a week with Prof. Roth and will work approximately 8 to 10 hours per week on the project. She will also work with faculty members in the Department of Music, faculty members in the Department of Computer Science, and staff in the College’s archives as needed.

Student Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this project, Laura will be able to demonstrate:

  • General knowledge of the history of concertina music and Boris Matusewitch’s role in that history;
  • Understanding of the requirements to request digital archival storage;
  • Understanding of the scanning and indexing requirements necessary for archival digital storage of music;
  • Knowledge of existing software for reading and indexing scanned digital files of handwritten musical arrangements (if it exists); and
  • Ability to scan and index musical arrangements to meet the digital archive requirements.

Deliverables

At the end of the spring semester, Laura will complete the following:

  • A written report of the project including discussion and/or documentation of each of the goals listed above; and
  • A written plan detailing her recommendations for how the complete collection can be digitally preserved and archived.

References

Matusewitch, Eric (2015). The Matusewitch Family Story. Concertina World (CW 463 Supplement September 2015)