Top of page

New Braille Titles in the Digital Collection

Share this post:

The Music Section regularly adds new music to its collection. In this first post to address new additions, we highlight recently added titles that are in digital format. Each can be embossed and loaned in hard copy, if needed, but this list shows new titles in digital format.

Strictly hard copy paper acquisitions are made through purchases and gifts, though we have not gotten any recently.

Some of you may be aware that we have been listing new additions to the collection for more than a decade in our two music magazines, Musical Mainstream and Contemporary Sound Track. That is a practice that will continue alongside blog posts like this one.

The BRM number that follows each entry is the number that can be searched in the NLS catalog and downloaded from there. See NLS Catalog.

We start with piano works, since piano material constitutes one of the largest parts of the music collection, reflecting patron interest.

The Giants of Jazz Piano, 3 volumes. BRM 35948.  This is a 2013 transcription of a collection originally published in 1996. It features the work of Dave Brubeck, Art Tatum, George Shearing, Duke Ellington, Marian McPartland, Matt Dennis, David Benoit, and Bill Evans.

Jobson, Virginia E. – Mother Goose Melodies. BRM 00010.  This work and its transcription, on the other hand, are not new.  This set of children’s songs (Baa, Baa, Black Sheep; Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!; Ding, Dong, Bell, and more than 30 others) has been in the collection for many years, but never before in digital, downloadable format. It was scanned, digitized, both to preserve as well as make more accessible.

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix – Songs without Words, Tarantella, op. 102, no. 3.  BRM 09846.  This, too, is an older –and well-known– work that gets a new life in digital format.

Scarlatti – Selected Sonatas, 2nd edition, edited by Maurice Hinson. BRM 35990, 2 vols. This is a 2011 transcription and is new to the collection.

Shostakovich – Piano Concerto no. 2, op. 102 (for two pianos). BRM 35948. This Shostakovich piano concerto had not been in the collection before this 2013 transcription was added.

Organ works also constitute a sizable portion of our collection, reflecting both patron interest and need, as well as a long tradition, especially in Europe, of blind organists.

Bach – Trio Sonatas no. 1 and no. 3, E-flat major, BWV 525. BRM 00747.  This older work is new only in its digital format.

Bach – Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major (St. Anne’s), BWV 552.  BRM 35998.  This is a 2014 transcription of the Peters edition of this well known and much loved work.

Franck, César – Fantasie en La Majeur.  BRM 35903.  This 2013 transcription fills an odd gap in our holdings of this composer, completing print volume 3 of the Œuvres Complètes pour Orgue, édition originale. Paris, Durand.

Works for voice in our collection, whether solo or choral, also reflect historical and current patron interests and needs.

Palestrina – Motet 18, Exsultate Deo. BRM 35947 in 5 volumes (Cantus, Altus, Quintus, Tenor, Bass). This somewhat obscure work was transcribed in 2013 in response to a patron request.

Duparc, Henri – Chanson Triste (for voice and piano). BRM 35944. The transcription of this popular art song was a gift from the transcriber.

Patrons of the NLS music collection also play nearly everything else.  Here are some new additions in the broader category of instrumental.

Bach – Sonata No. 3 in C, BWV 1005 (for violin). BRM 13226.  This is a recent digitization of a work that has been in the collection for some time. The condition of our sole paper copy warranted its preservation by scanning.

Fussell, R.C. – Ensemble drill exercises (for band or orchestra). BRM 33893 v. 2.  This title is a digital addition to the collection from a “lost” master copy (handcopied braille) that was uncovered in the recesses of our music stacks.

Herfurth, C. Paul – Tune a Day: A First Book for Violin Instruction. BRM 28173. This title has been in the collection for a while, but we had only one copy and digitized it in order to emboss a copy for loan to a patron.

Maxwell, Jim – The First Trumpeter. BRM 35945 v. 1–2.  This 2013 transcription is part of a generous and thoughtful project by patron and trumpeter himself, Paul Kurtz, who has been subsidizing the transcription of key trumpet works for the training of young, or beginning, trumpet players. The purpose of the project is to ensure that no essential trumpet method in print is without a braille counterpart, readily available. Three cheers, a voluntary and a fanfare for this. 

Mozart – Concerto No. 5 in A major (for violin and piano). BRM 20539.  This important concerto has been in the collection in hard copy for some years. When we found we were down to one copy only, we digitized it in order to loan out and also be available for downloading.

Pearson, Bruce – Standard of Excellence: Comprehensive Band Method, book 1 (for clarinet) BRM 32893 v.1–4.  The digital version of the widely used method series is now available for download by any and all beginning clarinet players.

Suzuki – Suzuki Violin School, v. 4 (violin part only). BRM 22139.  Here is another well-known and widely used method book for violin.  Volume 4 had not been available in digital format previously.

That concludes the list for this post. A later post will go into the details of the underlying project reflected here, digitizing the entire music collection.  

 

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *