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Category: Braille

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Digitizing Braille Music 2018

Posted by: Donna Koh

This is our fourth blog on the digitization of braille music. So, what is new with this project? First, we are boosting our production by outsourcing the proofreading of scores scanned using Optical Braille Recognition (OBR). Our braille music specialist Gilbert Busch continues to review all the scans completed on DotScan so we can provide …

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Bernstein at 100

Posted by: Gilbert Busch

When I was in grade school, our chorus teacher let us hear a record called What Is Jazz (DBM00704), where tone color, blue notes, syncopation, and other aspects of jazz were described by a man named Leonard Bernstein (I assumed that he was a jazz piano player). By sixth grade I was listening to classical music …

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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 …

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New BARD Additions: March 2018

Posted by: Juliette Appold

Here are the latest music material additions to BARD. If you have any questions on how to use BARD or to obtain a BARD account, please get in touch with the Music Section or your local Regional Library.   Digital Talking Books The hammer dulcimer. Homespun Tapes. Read by John McCutcheon. (DBM03919) Classic harmonica blues. …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: D (Part 1 – Dello Joio, Norman)

Posted by: Katie Rodda

Norman Dello Joio (born Nicodemo DeGioio) was born in New York City in January 1913. His father and grandfather had been church musicians, and Norman was set to follow their footsteps, as he became the organist and choir director at age 14. When he was 26, he received a scholarship to attend Julliard, where he …

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Immortal Swing: The Music of Glenn Miller

Posted by: Katie Rodda

While thinking about a topic for this week’s blog post, I made a happy discovery: American bandleader and musician Glenn Miller shares a birthday with Frédéric Chopin! Although these two musicians come from very different places and eras, they do share another thing in common besides a birthday: memorable music. We’ll talk about Glenn Miller …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: C (Part 2 – Copland, Aaron)

Posted by: Juliette Appold

In our last blogpost we introduced blind musician Francis Joseph Campbell. Today’s entry is about one of the most famous American composers who had close connections to the Library of Congress: Aaron Copland. Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 14, 1900. He studied music from an early age and received formal …

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New BARD additions: December- January

Posted by: Katie Rodda

The Music Section has been very busy over the past month adding new and newly digitized music materials to BARD. From Mozart, to bluegrass, to method books for alto and bass flute, there is a little bit of something here for everyone! If you have any questions on how to use BARD or to obtain …

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: C (Part 1 – Campbell, Francis Joseph)

Posted by: Mary Dell Jenkins

The NLS Music Section is part of a national network of cooperating libraries.  With that in mind, we are in touch with the network when they have patrons who are interested in the materials provided by our section, and there is a nice spirit of cooperation between the network and our offices here in the …