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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Constance Valis Hill, jazz tap dancer, choreographer, and scholar of performance studies. Her book, Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers (2000) received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Tap Dancing America, A Cultural History (2010) was supported by grants from the John Simon Guggenheim …
Posted in: Dance, Digital Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The Music Division is proud to offer two new web presentations in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. The collection of notable dancer, choreographer and teacher Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972) contains a diverse variety of materials documenting dance and the arts in the twentieth century. Available here are over 200 collection items, including manuscripts, books, diaries, choreographic notebooks, …
Posted in: Dance, Digital Collections, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Forty-one years ago today, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. The Apollo 11 broadcast from the moon on July 20, 1969, which transmitted Neil Armstrong’s immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was named to the National Recording Registry in 2004. Remember one giant …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by retired cataloger Sharon McKinley The Library of Congress is home to millions of pieces of sheet music, in large part copyright deposits. Self-selecting as copyright deposits are, much of this music is rather pedestrian in quality, and what catches the researcher’s attention is some other aspect of the …
Posted in: Composers, Sheet Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is by retired cataloger Sharon McKinley. On a day when there’s lots of snow to go around, if not in the Washington, D.C. area, let’s examine the wintry precipitation in song. You may be surprised to learn how lyricists of the late 19th century responded to forecasts. While the modern researcher may eagerly …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
A guest blog post by retired cataloger Sharon McKinley. While researching Geraldine Farrar a few years ago, I noticed that she is buried at Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, New York. Coincidentally, my grandparents are there as well. Beyond the fact that having a cemetery in a place called Valhalla is a grand idea, Kensico …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by retired cataloger Sharon McKinley It’s that time again when the world focuses on the glories of the Summer Olympics. Many of us are enthralled by the extensive coverage. Basketball! Cycling! Gymnastics! Track and field! Badminton! No, don’t laugh. That’s the competitive sport I played as a teenager. Alas, …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from retired cataloger Sharon McKinley. All around the mulberry bush, The monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought it was all in fun, Pop! goes the weasel. I recently ran into an unexpected and amusing piece of music which proved to have a long and varied history. The piece? …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Julianne Mangin, a retired Network Specialist from the Library of Congress. The sounds of a summer night can be charming — a light breeze rustling the trees, the chirp of crickets, perhaps the occasional hoot of an owl or croak of a frog. But on one such night …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Special Collections