New title in periodicals

Ad Parnassum, A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music, is now available in Periodicals.

Extended hours for Reading Period

Friday, December 14th, and Saturday, the 15th, the Conservatory Library will be extending it's hours during the Reading Period;

Friday - Open until 10:00pm
Saturday - Open 7:00 - 10:00pm

Come in and join us, and good luck with your finals!

Resources for AIDS Awareness Month

December 1 was World AIDS Day. The main library has created an exhibit that highlights materials in the collection related to AIDS and HIV.The Conservatory Library has a variety of materials in the collection related to AIDS and HIV, for example:


With the release of Singing For Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda, Ugandans demonstrate how they have triumphantly tapped the power of their traditional music to battle the AIDS pandemic. Recorded by ethnomusicologist Gregory Barz, this unique blend of music and public health has helped make Uganda's record of success against HIV/AIDS one of the best in Africa. In turn, the traditional music of Uganda is revitalized and made contemporary. Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda affirms the profound strength of a people's music in promoting hope and positive change. 66 minutes, extensive notes, 36-page booklet.

ML3920 .B39 2006

Find similar items in the Conservatory Library with the subject heading: AIDS (Disease) -- Songs and music

The Show Must Go On !!

Eighth Blackbird, Oberlin-based contemporary ensemble, was recently performing when a dramatic mishap required stitches to the head of Tim Munro, flutist! Read the story and see the photos!

New title in Periodicals

A new quarterly magazine, Opera America, is now available in Periodicals.

Pope to purge the Vatican of modern music

The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music. After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.

In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music. He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant. more

Join the Student Friends of the Library!

For only $2, you can join the Student Friends of the Library. When you join the Student Friends, you'll get access to the Library book sales before the rest of the student body, exclusive receptions with Student Friends Guest Lecturers, and reading period study breaks held in Azariah's Cafe. More importantly, you'll be supporting your library!

For upcoming events and lectures, visit, So Many Books, So Little Time..., the Student Friends' blog (http://www.obielibstudentfriends.blogspot.com/)

Contact David Matchim if you're interested in joining!

e-mail: david.matchim@oberlin.edu

Citing Sources

For help formatting citations for that bibliography you're compiling for your research paper or other project, try Son of Citation Machine, recently upgraded to include Chicago and Turabian styles, in addition to MLA and APA. This site provides fill-in-the-blank forms to generate formatted reference citations in the style you choose that you may then copy and paste into your document. For more help with citations, visit our Citation Guides & Style Manuals links.

Movie Review: Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 follows the painstaking yearlong process of building and fine-tuning a handmade nine-foot concert grand piano in the Steinway company’s factory in Astoria, Queens. A paean to the rewards of old-fashioned craftsmanship in an age of mechanization, the film, directed by Ben Niles, amounts to a de facto infomercial for Steinway & Sons, the 150-year-old company that is the biggest name in the high-end piano business. Steinway produces about 2,000 pianos a year, compared with the approximately 100 a day by other companies, none of whose names are mentioned. more

NPR Music Page

NPR just launched a new "music" component to their webpage. Listen to Nina Totenberg talk about lessons from her father. You can also check out Yo-Yo Ma's five favorite recordings as well as hear clips from Animal Collective's new CD. It's a unique, experimental and crazed collection of adventurous rock!

New title in Periodicals

Jazz Perspectives (Abingdon, England) is now available in Periodicals.

On Display in the Conservatory Library

Is it art or an LP?? Enjoy this beautiful reproduction of a 10 in. picture disc (78 rpm) sold at Lotte Lenya’s Berlin premiere of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny Check out the flip side as well! This display is brought to you as part of Bibliorarities, the Conservatory Library's year-long series of exhibits featuring items from our Special Collections.

The Well-tempered Web by Alex Ross

In the spring of 2004, I made the questionable decision to start a blog. I reserved a dot-com address, signed up for an Internet-for-dummies service called Typepad, and, to the delight of more than a dozen compulsively Googling insomniacs around the world, began adding dribs and drabs to the graphomaniac ocean of the Web.

Like many people, I started blogging more

Trouble at IMSLP

IMSLP (www.imslp.org) is now the largest site of downloadable public domain scores available on the internet, with more than 15,000 scores, 9000 titles and 1000 composers.

IMSLP recently received a threat of litigation on the part of Universal Edition of Vienna Austria, who apparently wishes to enforce EU copyright laws in Canada and the USA. The site will be taken down for the next several days for maintenance and to remove certain titles in order to comply with demands in the Cease and Desist letter from UE's lawyers until volunteer attorneys at the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic of the University of Ottawa Law School can prepare an adequate response to the legal intimidation tactics employed by UE.

New Items in the Conservatory Library Collection

New Scores ! New Books ! New DVDs !! New Recordings !!

We've been busy. Check out the items we've purchased for your use!

New & Cool stuff in the Con Library ...

China Online Journals

Through November 30th we have access to China Online Journals, a major provider of full-text access to scholarly journals in Chinese, with coverage extending back to 1997.

We are interested in your feedback -- if you can read Chinese, please let us know what you think of this database!

In the Beginning ... There Were Musical Instruments

Stop in the Conservatory Library and check out the display, "In the Beginning ... There Were Musical Instruments." This exhibit was curated by Rod Knight and the students in Musical Instrument Research: Organology Seminar & Practicum (ETHN 302). The students in this class are getting hands-on experience cataloging and classifying all of the non-western instruments in Oberlin's collection.

The Roof That Jazz Is Raising By Marci Janas ’91

“A building should broadcast its purpose to the world,” says Paul Westlake, who leads the architectural team designing the Phyllis Litoff Building, a new home for jazz studies at Oberlin.

With that in mind, Oberlin’s charge to his architectural firm, Westlake Reed Leskosky, was ambitious: craft a building to house jazz studies and the Conservatory’s academic programs in music history and music theory, a world-class recording studio, and the largest privately held jazz recording collection in the United States; read more of this article

Iberia by Albeniz on display in the Conservatory Library

Hoping to create “Spanish music with a universal accent,” Albeniz composed the suite of twelve piano pieces that comprise Iberia a century ago (December 1905-January 1908). The illustration by Albeniz’s daughter appearing here and on the cover of the featured facsimile edition was originally seen on the publication of the first two of four books of these impressions of Spain.

The Conservatory Library's Special Collections are the focus of the year-long series of exhibits, Bibliorarities. The exhibits are on view in the cases adjacent to the Conservatory Library's Circulation Area during all opening hours. Check out the year-long schedule at Bibliorarities.

Toward A Music Search Engine That Lets You Type In Regular Words And Return Songs

Science Daily UC San Diego electrical engineers and computer scientists are working together on a computerized system that will make it easy for people who are not music experts (like the senior author's mom) to find the kind of music they want to listen to -- without knowing the names of artists or songs. read article from Science Daily

Stay up-to-date with the music industry!

Check out Musical America:

The site is divided into three sections, Industry News, Directory Articles, and Listings, and includes both subscriber-based and free areas. The Industry News portion of the site, which is available only by subscription (brought to you by the Oberlin Conservatory Library), consists of breaking news stories, posted daily, Monday through Friday. There's no better way to keep your finger on the pulse of the international music industry, with articles on the latest breaking news, people in the news, competitions and awards, reviews and more.

NYT online free once again

The New York Times has announced that it will stop charging for access to parts of its web site. Previously, the Times charged a subscription fee for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives.

There are still large portions of the archives that are not available for free, however. The library's online subscriptions provide online access to the complete backfile.

[Excerpt of a letter from the Times]

We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.

The Times's Op-Ed and news columns are now available to everyone free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.

Meet the Stacks Maintenance Staff

Top row: Rachel, Hillary, David, Graham, Chris, Ruthie
Middle: Lam, Sarah, Nathan, Liz
Bottom: Jason, Samantha, Greg

Missing: Nina, Rebecca, Nishana

These are the students who keep our stacks tidy and useable. Be sure to tell them thank you when you see them out there working with a book truck!

Meet the Reference Staff!

Front row: Jessica, Erin, Ally, Mark
Back row: Colin, InSoo

Stop in and ask a question. They're happy to help you!!

Meet this Fall's Con Library Circulation Desk Staff!

Pictured is the Fall 2007 Circulation desk staff in the Con Library. They are more than happy to help you out with anything you may need, and you may recognize a friend or two!
Pictured:
Front row - Nora, Megan
2nd row - Avery, Emma, Libby, Nishana, Angie, Stefan
3rd row - Ted, Sarah, Karen, Jim
4th row - Jake, Clayton, Jason, Maureen, Jesse, Brandon, Drew, Mike

Missing: Alyssa, Caitlin, Glenn and Mark

Luciano Pavarotti, Charismatic Tenor Who Scaled Pop Heights, Dies at 71

By BERNARD HOLLAND from the New York Times, September 7, 2007

Luciano Pavarotti’s ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era. more

Think Outside the CD

Sound Streaming Suite Now Available to the Oberlin Community


The Conservatory Library is pleased to announce campus-wide access to additional, new sound streaming services.Now Oberlin students, faculty, and staff have unlimited access to the following commercially-available, streamed audio services that allow for 24/7 listening in your office, classroom, or home via the college network:

Naxos Music Library

Naxos Jazz Music Library

DRAM: Database of Recorded American Music

Smithsonian Global Sound

Classical Music Library

African American Song

Connect to these resources via the Conservatory Library’s homepage:

W E L C O M E !!!

Greetings new students, and welcome to the Conservatory Library !!

Be sure to come to the Conservatory Library on Friday, August 31 between 11am and 2pm for an introduction to library services. Tours begin on the hour and half hour and last about 20 minutes. There will be fun & free stuff!

Nico Castel's Complete Libretti Series

The definitive reference for diction, pronunciation and translation for all of the major operas authored by the world's leading authority on opera diction. These tomes are a linguistic guide for singers, teaching the sound and syllable first, then the word, phrase, line and whole segment, whether recitative or set piece. Browse the reference section
ML48-ML50 for the Castel volumes.

Music Publishers' Association

DON’T VIOLATE COPYRIGHT !!

Learn about copyright compliance from the Music Publishers' Association.

MPA is actively involved in supporting and advancing compliance with the copyright law, combating copyright infringement, and exploring the need for further reform. MPA keeps its members informed of the latest technology and production sophistication in graphics, engraving, computerization, and printing.

Black Composer Offers a Few Notes

Jeffrey Mumford usually stumps people when he asks them to name a black composer.They offer a blank look, then ask: Are there any? He rattles off a list: Florence Price. R. Nathaniel Dett. Tania Leon. Olly Wilson. Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. George Walker.Add one more name to the list: Jeffrey Mumford.

Jeffrey invited me to sit on the porch at his Oberlin home and listen to his concerns about rap music. He's concerned about how it shapes, or misshapes, the identity of too many black people. read more

[Sunday, July 08, 2007 Plain Dealer written by Regina Brett - Plain Dealer Columnist]

Western Folklife Center

Far From Home, Mexicans Sing Age-Old Ballads of a New Life
By Randal C. Archibold

The Western Folklife Center, a nonprofit cultural organization in Elko, Nev., that has begun a project to document Mexican influences and folklore in the ranching West. Mexican folk ballads known as corridos have moved north with immigrants and adopted new themes. more of this NYTimes article

New Mellon Fellow is one of our own!

David Matchim, of Rocklin, CA, and a graduate of the Conservatory in Trumpet Performance this past spring, has been named this years' Mellon Fellow. David will use this experience to pursue a career in Orchestral or Music librarianship, and plans to earn a double graduate degree in Trumpet Performance/Library Science from either UCLA or Northwestern University.

David previously worked in the Conservatory Library as a circulation attendant, the Conservatory Ensemble Library as a student manager of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and College Community Winds, and was a member and manager of the Tappan Brass Quintet. He also teaches nearly a dozen young trumpet players in the Oberlin area.

We are excited for David and look forward to having him work with us in his new and important capacity! Congratulations David!

Use Online Library Tools from Home!

Most Oberlin College Library and OhioLINK databases and electronic journals can be accessed off campus if you are recognized as a valid Oberlin College user. If you'd like to use library materials from off-campus, take a look at:

http://www.oberlin.edu/library/offcampus.html

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College: Concert and Recital Progams

Did you know that the Conservatory Library has bound volumes of The Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College: Concert and Recital Progams in the reference section? The booklets contain the complete programs of all the concerts and recitals presented by the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. The programs include performances in the annual Artist Recital Series, recitals and concerts by faculty and guest artists, concerts by student ensembles and large organizations, recitals required for the Bachelor of Music degree, productions of the Oberlin opera theater, and programs not included in other categories. Wondering if Valeria by Takemitsu has ever been performed in a recital at Oberlin? Check out the recital program booklets! [Ref MT4.O2 O247]

Membership Directories

Institutional membership directories can be a valuable resource for contacting individuals or finding out about their interests. Some directories, such as Early Music America, list both individual and organizational members. While many directories are available online to members, we have a nice collection of membership directories at the Reference Desk in the Conservatory Library.

Do you need wedding music?

Wedding music: an Index to Collections by William D. Goodfellow

This book is designed to help you select music suitable for your wedding. Stop in the Conservatory Library and look at Con Ref ML128.W4G6 1992

Salesman triumphs in final of talent show singing "Nessun Dorma"

A mobile phone salesman won the television show Britain’s Got Talent last night.
Paul Potts, 36, an amateur opera singer from Port Talbot, Glamorgan, won the £100,000 prize and the opportunity to sing at the Royal Variety Performance after a public vote. More than two million people cast their votes.

The tenor, who hid his singing talent from work colleagues at Carphone Warehouse, wooed judges on the ITV show from the first note of his audition piece, Puccini’s Nessun Dorma. Read the full article here. See a video of Paul singing Puccini’s Nessun Dorma.

Thank you, YouTube!

Chronicling America

Have you wanted access to turn-of-the-century newspaper articles chronicling music in America?

Approximately 310,000 digitized newspaper pages, dating from 1900 to 1910, are now accessible through the Chronicling America Web site. The site is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

NEH has just announced that eight awards to institutions, totaling $2,577,666, have been made to continue and expand the program. The program is also expanding the time period of newspapers that may be digitized to 1880-1910.

Check out the press release from The Library of Congress for more information.

Oberlin Conservatory Summer Programs

The Conservatory Library is eager to support the Conservatory summer programs. If you're coming to an Oberlin Conservatory Summer Program and have library questions before you arrive on campus, please contact us con.ref@oberlin.edu or 440/775-8280.

Pseudonymity in Music

There are numerous examples of musicians using different names for different purposes. For example Fritz Kreisler composed dozens of pieces for violin which he ascribed to various 18th-century composers. In 1935 Kreisler finally admitted the hoax, and today the pieces are part of the standard violin repertoire. Learn more in the reference book, Musical AKAs: Assumed Names and Sobriquets of Composers, Songwriters, Librettists, Lyricists, Hymnists, and Writers on Music. Con Ref ML105.D76 2007

Stradivarius or Zygmuntowicz??

Celebrated Brooklyn violin-maker Sam Zygmuntowicz recently accepted a challenging commission from violinist Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet: to make a new violin that would equal Drucker's beloved Stradivarius. Their collaboration is documented in The violin maker : finding a centuries-old tradition in a Brooklyn workshop by John Marchese. He follows Zygmuntowicz through the exacting, scrape-by-scrape process of trying to transform a block of wood into an exquisitely wrought vibrating box that somehow captures the inexpressible sonic essence the finicky Drucker longs to hear. Along the way, Marchese goes on a pilgrimage to Stradivarius's hometown of Cremona and delves into the secrets behind the maestro's incomparable sound. Was it the wood? The varnish? The nap-time transmigration of his spirit into the violin under construction? Zygmuntowicz's example, Marchese finds, suggests a more prosaic, if no less marvelous, possibility—that the genius of craftsmanship resides not in magic ingredients or arcane techniques, but simply in taking infinite, exhausting pains with the work, in "caring more and more about less and less." He also broaches a more inflammatory corollary: that modern violins actually sound just as good as Strads. The result is a beguiling journalistic meditation on the links—and tensions—between art, craft and connoisseurship.

Snare drums in abundance

Move over guitar collectors, it's time to give the drummers some ink. One of the world's most valuable collections of vintage snare drums is presented in this beautiful, full-color book, Vintage Snare Drums : the Curotto Collection. The book features 85 of the rarest vintage snare drums from Curotto's collection of more than 420. The drums are gold plated/engraved, silver plated/engraved and black engraved snare drums, plus a "Future Collectable" section. Every snare gets a complete historical description of all facets of its components and the back-story on its creation and where it was "found" before Curotto acquired it. Brands covered include the most famous manufacturers - Ludwig, Slingerland, Gladstone, Leedy, Gretsch and Wurlitzer. - Photographed with the highest-quality digital camera, the images are gorgeous in detail and lighting.

Writing on the Wall!

In March 1963, Igor Stravinsky visited Oberlin as part of a contemporary festival. After hearing the students' rendition of his Septet, Stravinsky was so pleased that he took his rehearsal pencil and scribed his excitement on the wall. The plaster "excerpt" was rescued and is now on display as part of the Conservatory Library's Bibliorarities Exhibit series.

Igor Stravinsky’s publisher, impatient to publish his latest composition, urged him to hurry its completion. “Hurry!” exclaimed the enraged composer. “I never hurry. I have no time to hurry.”

A little Verdi for your Friday entertainment!

Do you think Verdi would approve of this version of Traviata - Choeur Bohémiens? Watch the film clip! Compliments of dailymotion.

New title in Periodicals

The premiere issue of Journal of the Society for American Music is now available in Periodicals.

Oberlin grad in the NY Times!

Chinese Composer Talks Cello, All Dialects

As Huang Ruo originally conceived it, his new cello concerto, “People Mountain People Sea,” was to have started not with music but with a recorded voice — Mr. Huang’s — speaking in a made-up language, accompanying projected photographs of China in the 1920s. ...

Read the entire article by Allan Kozinn in the NYTimes

April is Jazz Appreciation Month!

Learn more about Jazz in Cleveland!

Jazz has been important in Cleveland since the 1920s with events ranging from Art Tatum's regular sitting-in at Val's in the Alley in the 1930s to the Cleveland premiere of Charles Mingus' Epitaph at Severance Hall in 1990 and the world premiere of David Murray's Picasso Suite at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1992. Important jazz innovations from Clevelanders include Tadd Dameron's bebop arrangements and Albert Ayler's free jazz.

This post is brought to you by William Anderson, music librarian at the Cleveland Public Library. Check out the jazz resource page that William put together for Jazz Appreciation Month.

Search Fatigue - researching a work of music

Need help researching a work of music? Follow these steps for search success:
1. Grove Music Online

2. OBIS look for BOOKS. Your piece may be featured in a book or chapter of a book.
Be sure you look for composer biographies may include analysis of compositions. Use the index!

3. OBIS remember RECORDINGS and their Liner notes!

4. Online Databases of Journals: Music Index, RILM, RIPM

5. Online Databases of Journals with FULL TEXT : JSTOR, IIPM, EJC

6. Bio-Bibliographies (Con Reference ML 134). Bio-bibliographies are research guide, with comprehensive, descriptive lists of compositions, performances, books, and articles by or about the composer. These are shelved by composer’s last name, e.g. Shostakovich is under ML 134 .S.

"Four Strategies to Jumpstart Your Career" from Classical Singer

1. Do a serious self-assessment (such as "What are your specific strengths as a vocalist?")
2. Write out your five-year goal and your shorter-term benchmarking goals.
3. Research! (that means, USE THE LIBRARY!)
4. Think like an entrepreneur.

For the full text of the article by Angela Myles Beeching, see the April, 2007 issue of Classical Singer.

Digitized, Public Domain Music over the Web

Are you looking for life on the island? Palm trees swaying in a tropical breeze, sun rays across your face and free, public domain digitized music?? Look no further. Your Cabana-Boy and Cabana-Girl Music Librarians around the country are ready to serve you! Check out The Sheet Music Consortium . The Sheet Music Consortium is a group of libraries working toward the goal of building an open collection of digitized sheet music using the Open Archives Initiative:Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI:PMH).

The Fach System, IPA, and More!

Unless you're a singer, and an opera singer at that, you've probably never run across the German word "Fach." A Fach is a classification of a singer's voice and physical appearance. Whether you're a Lyric mezzo , a spinto tenor or a basso cantabile, you'll enjoy this site. Additionally, you'll find IPA links and more. It's a treasure chest for singers!

Heading out into the real world to make a living in music?? Read this...

Bad news: The music business is packed with hidden agendas. Good news: There’s one indispensable guide that helps songwriters, musicians, executives, lawyers, and managers understand the music business and travel its shark-infested waters safely and confidently. What They’ll Never Tell You About the Music Business. The new, fully revised edition presents more priceless insider information, updated for today’s music scene, plus clear explanations and advice on the new transparency in agreements, the impact of agent-artist agreements, new webcasting opportunities, changes in copyright law, royalty limits, and all the other developments in law and technology, plus advice for songwriters, A&R people, and artists, and much, much more. Packed with real-world ideas and tips, What They’ll Never Tell You About the Music Business, is the must-have guide for creative types and business types--everyone who works in the music industry.

A Bit o' the Irish Music

Have a listen before your St. Paddy's Day Party

Click on the following Subject Headings to locate material in OBIS:
Celtic Music
Folks Songs Irish Ireland
Folk Music Ireland

Jazz Casual Series

Ralph Gleason's 1960s Jazz Casual series was one of the high points of televised jazz. The San Francisco jazz writer and Rolling Stone magazine paterfamilias presented the best jazz musicians across a range of styles in a respectful, relaxed setting, and spent a few minutes of almost every show conversing intelligently with his guest star. And what fantastic musicians. In this set you can hear and see, at length, John Coltrane and his great quartet; Sonny Rollins and his quartet; the blues singer Jimmy Rushing talking, singing and accompanying himself on piano; Dizzy Gillespie; Count Basie in a very relaxed piano set; the great traditional cornetist Muggsy Spanier with a group including bassist Pops Foster and Chicago pianist Joe Sullivan; an entire set of Joe Sullivan playing solo piano; the Woody Herman Big Band; altoist Art Pepper; blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon with an accompanying group including Ben Webster; and lots more in 8 discs.

DVD-2843

Come On In !!

Little-known fact: Last year our library gate count was 258,314.

That's 707 visitors to the Conservatory Library each day if we were open 365 days a year!

No wonder it seems busy around here - YOWZA!!

The Score on the Floor

Introducing a new feature at Guido's Hand, The Score on the Floor will highlight a random score from our collection that was found on the floor.

This week's score is: Brahms Clavierstucke, op.76


You can listen to this on CD 29811.

Brought to you by your stacks maintenance staff! Enjoy!