“Children must receive musical instruction naturally as food, and with as much pleasure as they derive from a ball game.” -Leonard Bernstein Today, we celebrate the birthday of Leonard Bernstein, one of the greatest American musicians of the twentieth century. Many of us know him as the celebrated conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the …
Tomorrow’s opening ceremony kicks off the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A tradition for 120 years, this is the first time that the event will be held in a South American country. In celebration of this historic event, and as a representation of just how international the NLS Music Section is, this blog …
My attention recently was called to a very historic event; on June 2, 1896, Guglielmo Marconi applied to patent the radio. When we think of Marconi as the inventor of the radio, it is easily overshadowed by contemporary inventors of computers, 3-D printing, and copy machines. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to have …
A few weeks ago, I pulled a little book from the Music Section’s reference collection, An Introduction to Music Publishing: A Tour Through the Music Publishing Operations Involved in Transforming the Composer’s Manuscript Into a Printed Publication and Its Dissemination to the Student and the Performer. The front cover of this book features Beethoven as …
When I was an undergraduate student studying music, I became very interested in music from India. Though I did not know how to play a plucked instrument very well, I enjoyed the sound of the sitar. And, whenever I heard someone playing a set of small hand drums called the tabla, I thought about the …
Do you want to learn how to play piano? We have a book for you! Do you want the libretto for your favorite opera? We have that as well! Do you want to learn about folk music from around the world? Well, we also have books about that. Many patrons get to know us through …
Today we are honoring a superstar in opera. You know someone is famous when they are referred to by only one name; Michelangelo, Beethoven, Bach, Picasso. And that is just a short list of artists and composers. What about performers? Who can possibly be ingrained in the memory of fans to be remembered by one …
The following is a guest blog by Donna Koh, Music Reader Services Librarian This blog is for those classical music lovers who marvel at the beauty and versatility of the human voice but find many operas overdramatic, long and overwhelming. If I may make a confession, I am one of those music lovers. Fortunately for …
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. …
