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 …
I usually attend a number of concerts and events during the holiday season, and this year is no exception. However, this season, I’ve noticed how enduring some of these classic tunes are and wondered what circumstance brought them to us. Many of us are familiar with the miracle of Silent Night being performed on Christmas …
September signifies many things to us–cooler temperatures, leaves starting to turn, and…back to school! I would like to showcase some of the items requested with increasing frequency as the semester begins. We have some new titles and some that would be helpful if you’re looking for a guide. Most of these are intended for college …
My colleague, Amanda Smith recently blogged about one of our magazines Musical Mainstream. While I have written of my classical music background and attend concerts in the area, I still like to be connected with what is trending in popular music. Contemporary Soundtrack is a compilation of magazine articles and reviews of popular music, featuring …
Born May 15, 1567, Claudio Monteverdi most likely had no idea how far his idea of putting words to music and staging would go to the rich, extravagant productions seen in opera today. Maybe his marriage to a court singer in 1599, Claudia de Cattaneis, encouraged him to tackle a Greek myth of finding love …
Abigail Adams, in a letter dated March 31st, 1776 to her husband John Adams, advised him to “remember the ladies” in the creation of the new government, independent from Great Britain. This post will be published after March 31st and while Women’s History Month is past, I beg your patience as I also ask you …
February 26th was the birthday of the late legendary country music artist Johnny Cash known as the Man in Black. Cash was a legend long before Joaquin Phoenix portrayed him in the 2005 film “Walk the Line.” Initially getting into the business with Sun Records in the mid-50s, Cash settled in to a career filled …
If you had ever been a music student, then you have no doubt come across the Norton Anthology of Western Music. This tome compiles the standard repertoire of Western art music presented in history, theory, and performance classes, and describes the music with historical notes and other contextual information. For some time, the Music Section …