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Category: NLS Music Section

Memorial bust portrait drawing of Etta Jossely Giffin. She has a determined look; her hair is short and wavy with some curls falling on her forehead. She is wearing a dark choker necklace.

Etta Josselyn Giffin: A Role Model of Women’s Enduring Leadership

Posted by: Juliette Appold

During Women's History Month, we celebrate Etta Josselyn Giffin (1863-1932). Giffin was the first director of what has become the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Learn more about some of her achievements in this blog.

Posted in: Warning: Attempt to read property "slug" on null in /var/www/html/wp-includes/taxonomy.php on line 4678 American Braille, Blind Musicians, Braille History, Braille Music Transcribers, History, Leadership, Leadership in women, Library of Congress, NLS Concerts, NLS Music Section, Performing music, Piano Music, Women's History Month

Hokusai's “Laughing Demon,” depicts an evil looking, wrinkled woma laughing while crushing the head of a small person in her right, long-nailed hand, held up to her right ear. She points with her left long-nailed index finger to the little bleading head. The woman is boney, wrinkled, has long fingernails, brown hair, and small horns on her head.

Seeing Music: Gnomus and Baba Yaga from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”

Posted by: Juliette Appold

Who are Baba Yaga and Gnomus? This blog shows how Mussorgsky represents them in his piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition," and what kinds of related NLS materials you may be interested in.

Posted in: Audio, Braille, Braille and Audio Reading Download BARD, Braille Music, Folklore, Folklore-Russia, Instrumental Music, Music and Art, Music History and Appreciation, Music Instruction, NLS Music Section, Piano, Piano Music, Uncategorized, Violin music, Women in Music

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New BARD Additions: September 2021

Posted by: Juliette Appold

What a Wonderful World this would be, dancing Cheek to Cheek, imagining to be Just a Gigolo: Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald's songbooks, and the piano version of Leonello Casucci's memorable song, are now available as digital braille music scores for you to download from BARD. Check out this week's blog to find these and many more new titles in the NLS Music digital collection.

Posted in: Audio, Bach, Braille, Braille and Audio Reading Download BARD, Braille Music, Classical Music, Instrumental Music, Music History and Appreciation, Music Instruction, NLS Music Section, Piano, Uncategorized

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American Composers and Musicians from A to Z: M (Part 2 – McKinnie, Eric “Ricky,” and Montaño, José André)

Posted by: Juliette Appold

Today's American Composers and Musicians blog features two musicians: Eric 'Ricky' McKinnie, a blind gospel singer, songwriter and radio show host; and José André Montaño, an up-and-coming 14-year-old jazz musician, keyboardist and composer.

Posted in: Blind Musicians, Gospel music, Hispanic American History, Jazz, Latin American Music, Latin Jazz, Latinx Music, NLS Music Section, Piano

Close-up of the fingers of two hands as the touch a paged filled with raised dots

Queen, Aretha Franklin, and Philip Glass Now in Braille

Posted by: Juliette Appold

Queen songs from the movie soundtrack "Bohemian Rhapsody," "20 Greatest Hits" by Aretha Franklin, and the "Piano Collection" by Philip Glass are now available in braille. NLS patrons can now download or borrow embossed braille scores of these popular works.

Posted in: American Composers, Braille Music, Instrumental Music, Jazz, Minimalism, NLS Music Section, Piano, Popular Music, Soul Music, Uncategorized