“Musicians are threatened by new rules from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that make it difficult to bring ivory into the United States: Most quality bows for violins and other string instruments contain a small quantity of the once-common material,” writes Sarah Bryan Miller in Saturday’s (6/21) St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “When rules on interstate commerce of ivory are revised later this year, it could become illegal to buy or sell any object containing ivory that can’t be proven to be more than 100 years old. … The rules are intended to aid efforts to crack down on elephant poaching. … Musicians still have to certify that their instruments are in compliance with endangered species regulations, a difficult task involving detective work on their instruments and multiple jurisdictions. It’s a bureaucratic challenge that puts the burden squarely on the instrument owner.… With new rules on interstate commerce now being formulated, the League of American Orchestras is heading up an advocacy group that also includes the American Federation of Musicians, Chamber Music America, NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants and others aimed at making sure that musical concerns are heard and heeded.”
Posted June 23, 2014
