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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Hope O’Keeffe, Office of General Counsel. This week marks the inauguration of the Copyright Office’s first blog, on the forthcoming digitization of copyright records. The digitization of copyright records for music will be an enormous boon to people trying to clear music rights. But it also has huge …
Posted in: Copyright Deposits, Guest bloggers, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s featured sheet music honors one of the great voices of American literature. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born on this day in 1835, two weeks after Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to the Sun. Celebrate the author’s birthday with the “Mark Twain mazurka” and the …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
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: Pat Padua
Some of our readership may be looking forward to a certain movie opening up in American theaters this weekend. In the Muse can not officially endorse the series (and in fact has not seen any of the movies or read any of the books), but hopes that interested readers will not be disappointed in the …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
2:00 AM is prime time in popular music lyrics, the excitement of staying out late or the anxiety of insomnia prominently figuring in the songcraft of diverse artists from New Kids on the Block to Iron Maiden to Taylor Swift. The hour also plays a part in our seasonal time-shift. In the Muse gently reminds North …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Reader Service Technician Melanie Guitreaux. While most people were marching off to the Civil War or finding material ways to support the war effort, one fair, anonymous Union lady wrote a war song, titled “The American Banner March.” The cover of this piece …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s featured sheet music celebrates one of the pioneers of cinema. The aptly named Louis Lumière was born on this day in 1864. In 1895 Louis and his brother Auguste patented the cinématographe, a device that worked as a film camera, developer and projector. This was in contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, first demonstrated in 1891, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloging specialist Sharon McKinley. Sept. 29 marks the date in 1789 on which the U.S. Army was created by Congress. As a former civilian Army librarian, I have a soft spot in my heart for members of our military and their families. They are wonderful people to …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloging Specialist Sharrron McKinley. AAAARRRR! Ahoy, mateys! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Luckily you can’t see me, because I’m sporting a bandana, an eye patch, and a fake peg leg. Nah, just kidding! It’s a real peg leg. Almost anyone can relate to the romance …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections