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Posted by: John Hanson
My last post presented a list of new digital braille titles that had recently been added to our collection. This post is to make clear that we have a program of digitizing our braille music collection, and to describe how we have been doing it. It might also be good to underscore why we have …
Posted in: Braille Music, Braille Technology
Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins
While most people associate Louis Braille with the system of reading and writing for the blind, many are not aware he was also an accomplished organist and musician. There is good evidence he created the Braille code for music first and language second. But whichever came first, the literary or the music code, we’re just grateful …
Posted in: Blind Musicians, Braille, Braille Music, Instrumental Music, Jazz, NLS Concerts, NLS Music Section, Performing music, Piano, Uncategorized
Posted by: Amanda Smith
Summer and jazz seem to go hand-in-hand. I am noticing weekend jazz festivals and evenings of “jazz in the park” all over the D.C. area. I am sure some of you have enjoyed some of these events where you live. Now I am thinking about jazz! This thought lends itself to a discussion of related genres like …
Posted in: Audio, Blind Musicians, Jazz, Music History and Appreciation, Popular Music, Rhythm & Blues (R&B), Soul Music
Posted by: Katie Rodda
As I detailed in my last blog post, much of the braille music in the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) Music Section collection comes from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA. Their (now defunct) Howe Press has provided us with many musical treasures that are unique to …
Posted in: Braille, Braille Music, NLS Music Section, Piano
Posted by: John Hanson
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 …
Posted in: Blind Musicians, Braille Music
Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins
The NLS Music Section recently acquired a braille transcription of Benjamin Britten’s Friday Afternoons. The songs in this collection are available both in hard copy and for download from BARD, for anyone who is performing them or otherwise interested in this music. The music is scored for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass choral parts. A …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Amanda Smith
Children and youth comprise an important part of the patronage at a public library, and this is certainly true here at the Music Section of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped as well. Young musicians use NLS music materials in a variety of ways as they learn to play instruments. Here …
Posted in: Band, Braille Music, Juvenile Music, Large Print, Music Instruction, Orchestra, Piano, Uncategorized
Posted by: Katie Rodda
The Music Section at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has the largest collection of braille music in the world, with music from numerous national and international braille producers. One of the best represented publishers in the music collection is Howe Press, a braille publisher that was the in-house braille …
Posted in: Braille, Braille History, Braille Music, Louis Braille
Posted by: John Hanson
Don Hoffer was a dentist. Bill Irwin was a salesman. He peddled organs. The kind you play. Barbara Kolb is an internationally renowned composer These are just some of the people who are behind the instructional audio recordings in the NLS Music collection. They didn’t merely create and write the narrative, their voices are the …
Posted in: Music Instruction, Recordings