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Posted by: Cait Miller
Washington, DC had a big weekend with preparations for yesterday’s Presidential Inauguration (we were getting ready for it last week with our Inauguration Day sheet music blog post). Nearly one million people were estimated to attend yesterday’s festivities on the National Mall, and the masses were treated to several stunning patriotic musical performances, from James …
Posted in: Holidays
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Retired Senior Cataloger Sharon McKinley. Everyone loves Inauguration Day! What’s not to like? Flags fly, people cheer, and federal employees in the Washington area get the day off, because no one wants to compete with them for seats on Metro. We in the Music Division are joining in …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Holidays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
Sometimes it’s hard not to get lost in our collections here at the Library, and when the National Jukebox launched about a year ago, I had a whole new resource full of wonderful early 20th-century recordings to explore. After writing a blog post last month on popular music in World War I-era England, I featured …
Posted by: Cait Miller
The past couple of years we’ve taken time out on Valentine’s Day to highlight love songs and love letters from the Music Division’s collections; however, Valentine’s Day is not exactly everyone’s favorite day of the year. I scoured our digitized sheet music for a selection that might speak to those who are not in love, the …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse wishes its readers a Happy Chinese New Year! Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with this production still from Dragon Snee Zee, a marionette show made for the Federal Theatre Project. Visit the online exhibition Coast to Coast: The Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939 to learn more about this fascinating collection.
Posted in: Holidays, Pic of the Week, Special Collections, Theater
Posted by: Cait Miller
2012 is almost upon us! The Music Division certainly had an exciting year with many accomplishments from digital projects such as the launch of the Music Treasures Consortium last February, to two successfully curated exhibits (Coast to Coast: The Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939 and I Love Lucy: An American Legend), to the continued production of …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
Head of Acquisitions and Processing Denise Gallo recently pointed out the ingenuity of her staff’s Christmas tree, festively adorned with photocopied highlights from the Music Division’s deep coffers. The elves who assembled this holiday centerpiece were the music specialists and technicians who work in the archival processing section. Gallo notes that the tree is also constructed …
Posted in: Composers, Holidays, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections, Staff
Posted by: Pat Padua
Last year In the Muse celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with Geo. W. Morgan’s “National Thanksgiving hymn“, from the Historic Sheet Music, 1800-1922 collection in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. This year the same collection gives us our featured holiday sheet music. As I noted last year, “The turkey gobbler’s ball” is not actually about Thanksgiving but is …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
Seventy-three years ago today, Irving Berlin’s patriotic song “God Bless America” was premiered by singer Kate Smith on her CBS radio show in recognition of what was then called Armistice Day. November 11th is now known as Veterans Day, but the power and popularity of Berlin’s song endures. Would you believe that the song was …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music of the Week