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Pip Thompson may be a professional violinist ... but admits playing a piece of "Australia's musical history" still takes some getting used to. “I always say my own instrument's a bit of a bruiser; it's quite large but this one's a bit more delicate but it's quite nice to play. But I'm still working on learning to drive it properly!” The labour of love has been similarly embraced by three other members of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, who are "waking up" the so-called "Smith quartet". Two violins, a viola, and a cello made by Arthur Edward Smith in the 1940s and 1950s and held in the National Museum of Australia's Historical Collection since 1978. “It is unbelievably special. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I would have to say!” Known as the 'father of Australian violin makers', the British-born, self-taught luthier handcrafted around 2-hundred-and-50 string instruments between 1899 and 1970. But these instruments from the 1940s and 50s -- considered his golden period --are particularly prized and preserved. “We store the Smith quartet in a special environmentally-controlled space.” “And we make sure that they're assessed regularly, to identify any issued that might arise.” Smith's daughter, Ruth, assembled the quartet with her husband. Ernest Llewellyn - the founding director of the Canberra School of Music. Making the Museum's collaboration with the CSO a natural choice. “There's a consensus within the musical instrument world, that stringed instruments really need to be consistently played to maintain their richness and their resonance.” “This is a really exciting opportunity for us to reframe musical instruments and place them in that umbrella of 'functional objects' again” The National Museum of Australia hosts the special performance on October the 9th.

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00:00Pip Thompson may be a professional violinist, but admits playing a piece of Australia's
00:07musical history still takes some getting used to.
00:14I always say my own instrument's a bit of a bruiser, it's quite a large instrument.
00:17This one is a bit more delicate, so it's quite nice to play, but I'm still working on learning
00:23to drive it properly.
00:24The labour of love has been similarly embraced by three other members of the Canberra Symphony
00:29Orchestra who are waking up the so-called Smith Quartet.
00:34Two violins, a viola and a cello made by Arthur Edward Smith in the 1940s and 50s and held
00:41in the National Museum of Australia's historical collection since 1978.
00:46It is unbelievably special, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I would have to say.
00:54Known as the father of Australian violin makers, the British-born self-taught luthier, Han
00:59crafted around 250 string instruments between 1899 and 1970.
01:07But these instruments from the 40s and 50s, considered his golden period, are particularly
01:12prized and preserved.
01:14We store the Smith Quartet in a special environmentally controlled space.
01:19We make sure that they're assessed regularly to identify any issues that might arise.
01:25Smith's daughter Ruth assembled the quartet with her husband, Ernest Llewellyn, the founding
01:30director of the Canberra School of Music, making the museum's collaboration with the
01:37CSO a natural choice.
01:39There's a consensus within the musical instrument world that string instruments really need
01:44to be consistently played to maintain their richness and their resonance.
01:49This is a really exciting opportunity for us to reframe musical instruments and place
01:53them within that umbrella of functional objects again.
01:56The National Museum of Australia hosts the special performance on October 9.

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