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Musical Mainstream: NLS Music Magazine

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Musical Mainstream is one of two magazines produced by the NLS music section for our patrons. Music librarians, including myself, compile and create these Magazines.

Musical Mainstream is a magazine containing current articles and audio music reviews reprinted from popular music magazines and journals. Its subject matter is classical music, and it includes information about trending music research and music education. Its content is divided into three main sections: Announcements, Selected Reprints, and Selected Reviews.

The NLS Music Notes blog is featured within the announcements, where we provide a brief description of the most recent blog post topics. This is followed by a list of the most recent Music Section acquisitions. Then, we present articles reprinted from various sources, such as The New York Times, Opera News, The American Organist, and Clavier Companion. Finally, we include a handful of audio music reviews. Reviews can be about live events, a critic attending and then writing their reaction to hearing a live performance, or they can be about newly released recordings available on CD or DVD. We really enjoy including American Record Guide reviews because they are about great music and performances.

NLS registered patrons can choose to receive Musical Mainstream for free through a subscription. It is published four times a year, and it comes in three formats: braille, audio (on cartridge and BARD), and large print. To subscribe, patrons can either contact the Music Section or their cooperating network library. An annual highlight for many Music Section patrons is our October-December issue. It always features the upcoming Metropolitan Opera broadcast schedule. Patrons don’t have to be in New York City in order to enjoy Met performances. During the performance season on Saturdays, the Met offers a radio broadcast of their matinee performance on the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.

Musical Mainstream
Photo of large print January-March 2015 issue of Musical Mainstream. Blue cover with white lettering and image of large white music note.

There will be time in the future to expand on our second magazine, Contemporary Soundtrack. Given its name you can already guess it is focused on contemporary and popular music.

If you are a registered NLS patron and would like to read an issue of Musical Mainstream before making a commitment to subscribe, then let the Music Section know. We can send you an issue. As always, happy reading!

 

Comments (3)

  1. I need more information

    • Thank you for your recent comment. To better help me understand what information would help you, please tell me what information you are interested in knowing more about.

  2. I have been a registered NLS patron since the mid-80’s, and just listened to my first issue of “Contemporary SoundTrack” last month. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The narrator was Mark Ashby, and he did an excellent job.

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