We are approaching a holiday that signifies many things to people on the calendar: Labor Day. For children and teachers, it’s back to school. For the sports fan, anticipation for Friday night high school football (and half-time shows; a shout-out to the band kids) and Sunday afternoon professional leagues. But I would like to remind …
In a recent NLS Music Notes blog post, “The Festival That Changed American Music,” I read about rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix who performed at the first Monterey festival in 1967. Because of the recordings listed there, and my own experience of the NLS collections, I assumed that anything we have on Hendrix would be in audio format. So …
Nearly 50 years ago today marked the beginning of the Monterey International Pop Festival, one of the first rock festivals in the United States. Nowadays, rock festivals are a common occurrence, happening in various locations year-round. Back in 1967, though, the rock festival was not common. Monterey helped change all that, as the rock festival …
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 …
Spring has sprung around these parts in Washington, DC, but for this blog post I am going to continue with our international theme and wax poetic about springtime in France. I’m bringing up this geographic location because two well-known French composers, Gabriel Fauré and Jules Massenet, share a birthday today, May 12! Although neither Fauré …
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 …
One would think the act of writing music would be enough of a task for most people, but with some composers, creativity is not enough. They enjoy a challenge, and some have an interest in letters and numbers and what they can do to arrange them into cryptograms. It’s a way to bury a message, …
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. …
