Mike, taking measurements of the "Kendall Band" instrument handles.

The RFL has recently become involved with the rehab and maintenance of the Kendall Band, a set of interactive musical sculptures installed in the Kendall/MIT T stop, by artist Paul Matisse. The Tech, MIT’s student newspaper, recently published a story on this effort.

This morning, Mike and Clarise (from the Music Dept)  had a meeting with a group of MBTA officials to discuss the work to be done on the platform and tracks. It was a productive meeting, and one of the last hurdles before getting down to the actual work.

For a few years, the instruments of the Kendall Band have been in disrepair. The four instruments — two sets of tubular bells (Pythagoras), Galileo – a thunder sheet, and ring-shaped gong called Kepler — are operated through swinging handles that are mounted on the platform walls. Most of these handles are broken. 

Our first task will be to remove the instruments’ handles and actuation mechanisms. We’ll then get the handles refurbished at MIT, using the RFL’s tools, and reinstall them into the T walls.

Once all of the instruments are operational, we’ll start to take the actual instruments between the tracks down, one by one, and repair and clean the sculptures themselves. Part of this work will include preparing CAD drawings of the instruments and their parts, as well as creating a maintenance manual for each piece.

All of this work will hopefully get us familiar with the instruments, allow them to function well for the near future, and allow us to devise methods and procedures to be the care-takers of the Kendall Band for the long-term.