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Category: Braille and Audio Reading Download BARD

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New BARD Additions – December 2018

Posted by: Katie Rodda

This blog gives an overview of the digitized material added to BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) in December 2018.

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A Composer for All Seasons: Benjamin Britten

Posted by: Katie Rodda

This blog is a brief look at some of Benjamin Britten's compositions and relevant materials from the NLS Music Section.

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New BARD Additions: October 2018

Posted by: Katie Rodda

This is a guest post from Hannah Noel, a West Coast native currently living in North Carolina. She is a recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, where she earned her MSLS and focused her studies on archival work in an arts and museum-specific context. She is interning at NLS at the …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: G (Part 1 – Gershwin, George)

Posted by: Katie Rodda

This week, we will take a look at American composer George Gershwin. George Gershwin was one of the first American composers to use both popular and classical idioms. Years before his most famous compositions were penned, he worked on Tin Pan Alley as a song plugger—that is, someone who was hired to play and promote …

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Happy Birthday Samuel Coleridge-Taylor!

Posted by: Katie Rodda

British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born on August 15th in 1875. One of the more popular composers in England and the United States during the turn of the 20th century, he composed many works for choir, piano, and larger instrumental ensembles; however, his works are seldom performed today. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London to …

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Digitizing Braille Music Summer 2018

Posted by: Katie Rodda

The digitization project at the NLS marches on and currently it is in the hands of a summer intern! This is a guest post from Hannah Noel, a West Coast native currently living in North Carolina. She is a recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, where she earned her …

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A Blast of Brass!

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Last year we discussed method books available from the NLS Music collection for most band and orchestra instruments. We’ve even done some posts on specific instruments, like saxophone and violin. Today, though, I decided to focus a post specifically on brass instruments. “Why brass?” you ask. Well for one, brass instruments are near and dear …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: E (Part 1 – Ellington, Duke)

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Continuing our series of American composers from A to Z, we come to the letter E. Personally, I can think of no better example than Duke Ellington. I consider him to be one of the first great quintessential “American” composers of his time, who wrote music in a true American idiom, rather than copying Western …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: D (Part 2 – Davis, “Blind” John and Dranes, Arizona)

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Blind John Davis Blind John Davis was born in Mississippi in 1913, but moved to Chicago with his family at a young age.  He lost his sight shortly thereafter at age 9. He began to learn the piano as a teen, and later became a regular session musician for famous blues record producer Lester Melrose …