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Category: Audio

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Uploading Folks

Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins

Since my last blog on Christmas Eve, January 2016 is here and almost gone! I was casting about for a blog subject, and while not everyone is experiencing a snowy winter, I would like to suggest it might be a good time to settle in and listen to some original artists in the folk field. …

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New Year, New BARD Titles

Posted by: Katie Rodda

I hope everyone out there had a relaxing and peace-filled holiday season. Now that the year is almost through, it’s time to look ahead to 2016 and the new beginnings that await us there. In keeping with that spirit, this blog will highlight some of the newest braille and digital talking books that have been …

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Happy Birthday Nino Rota

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Although motion pictures are, for all intents and purposes, a visual art form, one can still appreciate the music from those films on their own without the movie-going experience. For this I am grateful, as, being more drawn to music than film (and having limited spare time to catch all the movies that I’d like …

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George M!

Posted by: Katie Rodda

“Over there! Over there!” “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy…” “You’re a grand old flag, you’re a high flying flag!” Do these songs seem familiar to you? Did you know that they were all written by the same composer, George M. Cohan? George M. Cohan (he’s usually referred to by his full name, middle initial and …

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So You’d Like to Be a Pop Superstar?

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Guitar, bass, vocals, drums, piano…the makings of any good pop record, right? For our patrons out there who are looking to rock out to some pop music, we’ve got you covered. In a post from last September, my colleague Mary Dell Jenkins discussed our series of “Popular Music Lead Sheets,” which offers popular music selections …

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A King and a (Fairy) Queen: Music by Henry Purcell in the NLS Collection

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Today (September 10th) we celebrate Henry Purcell’s 356th birthday [Note: this date is actually disputed as no official baptismal record has been found. However, we will use this commonly accepted date, as it gives us a chance to talk about his music!]. Purcell’s contribution to Western classical music is indispensable, as it has influenced numerous other …

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Behind the Scenes: An Interview with NLS Narrator Julian Thompson

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Continuing our series of interviews with narrators from NLS’s own studio, I got a chance to sit down and talk with narrator Julian Thompson. Recently, Julian has recorded the liner notes for one of our Smithsonian Folkways books, Richmond Blues (DBM 03642). In addition, he has also narrated a number of books about music and musicians in …

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Now…That’s Entertainment!

Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins

Summertime, and the living is easy… …Except here at the NLS Music Section where we use the time to update our catalogs and circulars. In the near future, we will be offering a new version of the former Instructional Cassette Recordings Catalog. But because of the growth of the collection it will be divided into two separate catalogs. …