ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
Music to my ears: Instruments made from wood, and on the legality of timber supply
By Ken Hickson
Maple guitar from Guitar in Demand
Believe it or not, the sound of wood hitting wood was one of the first musical sounds to emerge. When I was enjoying an excellent concert in Singapore’s MediaCorp Theatre recently, I got to thinking about how wood “plays’’ such a major role in the making of instruments and the sounds they make.
Piaf the musical was part of Singapore’s French Voilah! Festival, a festival celebrating French culture in Singapore, and featured French singer Nathalie Lermotte. She was accompanied by a quartet of musicians on piano, bass, drums and accordion and I noted that each of the instruments incorporated wood somewhere — for the right sound effect, obviously.
Not only that, but many musical instruments have also become works of art and feature as furniture or furnishings in a home. I am thinking of the very grand piano, in very solid and sleek white polished wood, in pride of place in the Brisbane home of our pianist friend Carol Partridge.
22 PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2024
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