Great Albums You May Have Missed: Dinosaur Jr's You're Living All Over Me (1987)
The mid/late '80s was a strange time for rock and roll. Pioneers seemed to be stuck in their own unique ruts, whether it was band friction, drugs and failing health, being fed up with the record...
View ArticleThe Neil Peart Reading List
I've always been curious about Neil Peart. You could say he's the George Harrison of the band Rush. He's the quiet one, but he is anything but silent. In addition to the complex time keeping duties the...
View ArticleSmoking: A Love Story
I just quit smoking for the fifth time. For me, it's all or nothing. I could never be one of those people — dilettantes! — who are able to smoke socially and then go for indefinite periods of time...
View ArticleSoul Music Tracks from the Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Collection: "I Want...
I listen to many interesting things in my job, and I love it. As an AV cataloger at NYPL (Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound), I have listened to many archival recordings at the library...
View Article"It's Great! But Why is it Here?" Musical Revue Research Guide, Part 2
In the Research Guide, Part I, I advised that the easiest way to find information at LPA is by name or title. I advised that the research can benefit by compiling a list of every person in or involved...
View ArticleWorks Created with the Help of the Music Division, 2011-2012
I'm happy to present a review of how the Music Division contributed to knowledge for 2011-2012. Although my information is based on the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, December seems like an...
View ArticleHappy Public Domain Day, 2013!
Our markets, our democracy, our science, our traditions of free speech, and our art all depend more heavily on a Public Domain of freely available material than they do on the informational material...
View ArticleArnold Schoenberg and Haiku
I play the piano a little bit and am working on AS's Six Little Pieces, op. 19. Little they are — all six take less than five minutes to play. Easy they are not — the slightest error in nuance ruins...
View ArticleRHA Cylinder Collection Exhibit
The Collection and Exhibit The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the New York Library for the Performing Arts currently houses a collection of more than 3,000 wax and celluloid...
View ArticleVan Cliburn, 1934-2013
Many of us were saddened to hear of the passing of Van Cliburn on Wednesday, February 27. A pianist who excelled in music of the romantic repertoire, Cliburn rocketed to fame when he won the...
View ArticleKingsbridge TAG Update: We’re Starting an iPod Drive!
Do you have a gently-used iPod that you'd like to donate to a good cause? Because the Kingsbridge Library's Teen Advisory Group is going to be collecting used iPods on behalf of the Music & Memory...
View ArticleThe Sound of Trade: MondoMusica New York 2013
Today I'm going to write about trade shows. I'm going to use as an example the recent trade show/exhibition for the violin (really, string instrument) trade, MondoMusica New York 2013.What are Trade...
View ArticleHarnessing the Power of Music
Oliver Sacks once said in his book, Musicophilia:"The power of music whether joyous or cathartic must steal on one unawares, come spontaneously as a blessing or a grace..."Music has incredible power....
View ArticleArt and Low Vision: The Sound of Monet’s Weeping Willow Series
Hear the audio version of this blog post. Narration: Kevin Gillins. Music performed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations; conductor: Jordi Savall.I am looking at Monet's Weeping...
View ArticleOMG! I Love That Song! A Catchy Song Playlist
Last year I wrote a popular blog post entitled "OMG! I Love That Song!: A Guilty Pleasure Playlist" where I confessed my song shame only to find out that many of you shared the exact same musical...
View ArticleLa veuve Boivin: A Woman at the Beginning of the Music Publishing Industry
Consider this a late contribution to this year's Womens' History Month.When most people think of the involvement of women in music they probably think of performers or composers. To be sure, women...
View ArticleLearning from Music Manuscripts
It can be a special experience when students make contact with primary resources. I have written previously about a class visit to examine documents from the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. A few weeks...
View ArticleMúsica Soul: The Soundtrack of the Black Power Movement in Brazil
"If we had said 'Negro power' nobody would get scared. Everybody would support it. If we said power for colored people, everybody would be for that, but it is the word 'black' that bothers people in...
View ArticleMake Music New York at NYPL Branches: June 21, 2013
Make Music New York is a live, free musical celebration on June 21, the longest day of the year. From 10 in the morning to 10 at night, public spaces throughout the five boroughs become impromptu...
View Article"Across A Crowded Room": Announcing the Musical Theater Summer Songwriting...
Musical theater is an exceptionally collaborative art form, and finding the right collaborator can be as complicated as dating. Although New York City is filled with hopeful musical theater writers and...
View Article