Oberlin Conservatory is Awarded the 2009 National Medal of Arts

Marci Janas ’91 - Feb. 25, 2010The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a recipient of the 2009 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given by the United States government to artists and arts patrons in recognition of the wealth and depth of their creative expressions. President Barack Obama is presenting the award to Dean of the Conservatory David H. Stull at a White House ceremony
more here

A video of the entire ceremony is available HERE

OBERLIN COLLEGE

CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC LIBRARY

Summer Reference Internship - 2010

Stipend: $2400 Hours: 30 hrs. per week

Dates: June 18 - July 30, 2010

Duties: Share responsibility for summer reference service, research assistance, and scheduled library instruction with the Conservatory Public Services Librarian and one student Reference Assistant.

Qualifications: music library reference desk experience, academic background in music history and music bibliography, familiarity with music library materials and systems of access, some experience in music performance.

Job Description: This position is funded by the Summer Programs Office of the Conservatory of Music specifically to provide reference and research assistance in the Conservatory of Music Library for participants in Oberlin's summer music programs. In 2010 these include:

Oberlin Trumpet Workshop, Baroque Performance Institute, Oberlin Summer Academy for High School Organists, Sonic Arts Workshop: Composing Electronic & Computer Music, Composition Workshop, Oberlin Flute Institute, The Thomas & Evon Cooper Competition, Oberlin Piano Festival, Credo - Chamber Music Program

Participants in summer programs range from musically talented high school students, through accomplished adult students, to practicing professional performers and teachers, totaling some 400 musicians each summer.

Status: This position provides full staff privileges in use of campus facilities, including the libraries, computing center, athletic facilities, and staff discounts on concert and theater events.

To Apply: Send letter of application and resume to Kathy Abromeit (kathleen.abromeit@oberlin.edu)

Closing date: Sunday, March 14, 2010

Stroke Recovery and Music

There have been several articles in BBC News regarding music and stroke recovery. Here's a sampling of the articles:
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Music 'can aid stroke recovery'

Listening to music in the early stages after a stroke can improve a patient's recovery, research suggests.

The researchers compared patients who listened to music for a couple of hours a day, with those who listened only to audio books, or nothing at all. more

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Stroke patient says Kenny Rogers helped brain recovery
By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News

Mike Pensom loves country and western music, particularly anything by Kenny Rogers. He hates hip hop and rap. But recently Mike found that his musical likes and dislikes also have a profound effect on his brain. Twenty years ago Mike had a stroke which caused problems with the left-hand side of his body and left him missing things in part of his field of vision.

Favourite tunes

But when scientists played him his favourite tunes he has seen more - and when they played the stuff he did not like there was no change. more

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'Music helped me recover from stroke'
By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News

Just four days after his wife's funeral following her death from a stroke, Cyril Merle had a massive stroke himself. The 86-year-old was paralysed down the left side of his body and had difficulty speaking and eating. He needed daily physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and gym workouts during the nine months he spent recovering in his local hospital in Horsham, West Sussex, before being allowed home.

Now - aged 91 - Cyril is fully recovered and able to do even more than he was before the stroke. He credits his love of music for helping speed up his recovery. more

Internet Archive Has a Free Music Widget

From ResearchBuzz:

Internet Archive Has a Free Music Widget. The widget is available on Widgetbox here

You can do some customizing of width, height, theme, etc. However the content remains the same; new music as it’s added to the archive.

When I took a look at the widget it included music from bands including The Grateful Dead, Donna the Buffalo, Cracker, and Drive-By Truckers. Now if it had a built in player that would be even more awesome, but alas….

The widget was created by Jeff Kaplan (or at least some user calling themselves “JeffKaplan”) of the Internet Archive. This is the only widget available from this user. Will be perhaps be seeing more on the way?

By the way, if you like this widget, don’t forget to check out Dewey Music, which I covered last month in ResearchBuzz. Great stuff.

EMI Puts Abbey Road Studios up for Sale

By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Salamander Davoudi
Financial Times
February 16, 2010

Terra Firma will attempt to alleviate some of its £3.3bn debt from its leveraged buy-out of EMI by putting Abbey Road studios on the block. Best known as the Beatles recording studio of choice, and the title of their last album, EMI’s Abbey Road is among the few studios left large enough to accommodate a symphony orchestra. more

James Gaffigan to Lucerne Symphony

American conductor James Gaffigan, 30, only recently announced as principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic as of 2011, has another new job in the pipeline: chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, effective with the 2011-12 season.

Gaffigan is a former associate conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. He won first prize in the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition 2004 in Frankfurt. more

Quartet San Francisco: Brubeck On Strings [with Oberlin grad Keith Lawrence!]

As today's 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony begins, members of the Quartet San Francisco [note that Keith Lawrence, violist, is an Oberlin grad] will be crossing their fingers. Their 2009 album QSF Plays Brubeck received nominations in two categories: Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Engineered Classical Album. Read more and listen to an NPR clip