Music Library News & Information

Finally: U.S. Post Office To Issue Miles Davis Stamp

2012-02-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

"It’s about time. Here is a link and snippet of text below from the news item via TheTelegraph.com. Linn’s Stamp News announced that stamps honoring Davis and French singer Edith Piaf would be issued in 2012 as part of a joint issue with French postal service, La Poste."

For the full story, please see milesdavisonline.com.

Philip Glass At 75: Listening With Heart, Not Intellect

2012-01-31T11:23:00.001-08:00

"Composer Philip Glass changed the landscape of American music. As a founder of minimalism, Glass came up with a new way to make music and, with it, brought a new audience to the concert halls. Tuesday is Glass' 75th birthday, and the music world is celebrating in a big way with performances and festivals around the globe — including the premiere of Glass' latest work at Carnegie Hall."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

To learn more about Glass or listen to his recordings, check the UW Music Library library catalog.

Folklorist’s Global Jukebox Goes Digital

2012-01-31T11:19:00.000-08:00

"The folklorist and ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax was a prodigious collector of traditional music from all over the world and a tireless missionary for that cause. Long before the Internet existed, he envisioned a “global jukebox” to disseminate and analyze the material he had gathered during decades of fieldwork."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Undergraduate Research Symposium; application dealine Feb 24th

2012-01-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

The 15th Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium, which will take place from 12:00, noon, to 5:30 pm, on Friday, May 18, 2012, in Mary Gates Hall, on the Seattle Campus.

The Symposium offers a wonderful forum for students to gain experience presenting their work and to engage in scholarly discussion with peers and faculty. In spring 2011, over 900 undergraduates presented at this event and we expect this year's celebration of undergraduate scholarship, creativity and faculty mentoring to be bigger than ever.

Detailed information and an electronic application form for your students may be found on the Undergraduate Research Program website at:

http://exp.uw.edu/urp/symp

Students must apply to present their work; applications are due Friday, February 24, 2012. All disciplines, including performing arts, are welcome.

Seattle Symphony Names Concertmaster

2012-01-26T15:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyID=26617&categoryID=2

Sea-Tac To Be Gateway to "City of Music"

2012-01-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

"Seattle-Tacoma International Airport launches an initiative Saturday, Jan. 28 branding Seattle as a "city of music."

The program features audio broadcasts, video segments, a web-based music player on the airport's free WiFi system and phone apps."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Violinist saved children before dying in Concordia cruise ship disaster

2012-01-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

"A Hungarian violinist who helped crying children into their lifejackets aboard the Costa Concordia is the first identified victim of the cruise ship disaster.

Sandor Feher, 38, disappeared after he went back to his cabin to get his prized violin, pianist Jozsef Balog has told authorities.

His body was found inside the wreck and identified by his mother who traveled to Italy, according to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry."

For the full story, please see The Star.

Etta James, Powerful Voice Behind ‘At Last,’ Dies at 73

2012-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

" Etta James, whose powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice could enliven the raunchiest blues as well as the subtlest love songs, most indelibly in her signature hit, “At Last,” died Friday morning in Riverside, Calif. She was 73."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Unthinkable? Lost music refound

2012-01-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

" The rediscovery of a previously unknown 1853 Albumblatt for Piano in A minor by Brahms is welcome on many counts."

For the full story, please see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/13/unthinkable-lost-music-refound">The Guardian.

Public Domain Works Can Be Copyrighted Anew, Supreme Court Rules

2012-01-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

"The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a federal law that restored copyright protection to works that had entered the public domain.

By a 6-to-2 vote, the justices rejected arguments based on the First Amendment and the Constitution’s copyright clause, saying that the public domain was not “a category of constitutional significance” and that copyright protections might be expanded even if they did not create incentives for new works to be created."

For the full story, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/business/public-domain-works-can-be-copyrighted-anew-justices-rule.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss">The New York Times

Gustav Leonhardt obituary

2012-01-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

"Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Gustav Leonhardt, who has died aged 83, was a pioneer and pillar of the early music movement. As a harpsichordist, organist, scholar, conductor and teacher, he was a major figure, exercising very considerable influence on his contemporaries and juniors, and in particular making the Netherlands a focal centre for the performance of Baroque music, gathering round himself artists such as the recorder virtuoso Frans Brüggen, the viola da gamba player and cellist Anner Bylsma, the cellist and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Kuijken brothers – Barthold, Sigiswald and Wieland – all now pre-eminent in their fields."

For the full story, please see The Guardian.

With Enough Bandwidth, Many Join the Band

2012-01-12T15:17:00.001-08:00

"When Dr. John McClure, a pathologist in Edina, Minn., was pondering his wish list several years ago, he added something a little out of the ordinary: learn to play the bagpipes. But his goal seemed like a long shot after a friend who had been teaching him moved away."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

!@#&^%$!!!!!! (Cellphone halts Mahler’s Ninth mid-movement)

2012-01-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

"For those who say that the concert hall needs to loosen up, who want tweet-seats and more technology, be careful what you wish for.

Until today I’ve never been to a concert where a cellphone stopped the orchestra in the middle of a piece, but now I can check that awful milestone off the list. I’ll try to record it as accurately as I can, with my still-jangling nerves."

For the full story, please see thousandfoldecho.com.

Koussevitzky Foundations Announces Commission Winners

2012-01-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Inc. have awarded commissions for new musical works to eight composers. Jointly granting the commissions are the foundations and the performing organizations that will present the newly composed works.

Award winners and the groups co-sponsoring their commissions are John Aylward and the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society; Anthony Cheung and the Talea Ensemble; Jason Eckardt and the NOVA Chamber Music Series; Agustín Fernández and the Momenta Quartet; Jennifer Higdon and the Cypress String Quartet; Laura Kaminsky and the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Philharmonic; Harold Meltzer and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; and Benoît Mernier and the Pro Arte Quartet.

John Aylward is commissioned to write a work for chamber ensemble for the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society. Alyward’s work as a composer has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fulbright grant, and First Prize from the International Society for Contemporary Music. As a performer, author and researcher, he established the Etchings Festival, held in Auvillar, France, and has written about the music of Elliott Carter. Alyward is on the faculty of music composition and theory at Clark University in Massachusetts.

The Talea Ensemble of New York joins the foundations in commissioning composer and pianist Anthony Cheung, who is co-founder and artistic director of the group. A native of San Francisco, Cheung was educated at Harvard and Columbia universities and is currently a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. His works have been programmed internationally by numerous ensembles and at contemporary music festivals across Europe. Cheung was awarded First Prize and Public Prize at the 6th International Dutilleux Competition, and he has received honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

This marks Jason Eckardt’s second Koussevitzky commission. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Eckardt received a doctorate in composition as a Presidential Fellow at Columbia University. He serves on the faculties of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Active as a promoter of new music, he is co-founder and executive director of Ensemble 21, a contemporary performance group in New York. Eckardt will write a new chamber music work featuring a piano solo with strings for the NOVA Chamber Music Series of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Agustín Fernández was a child performer playing the charango at folk clubs in his native Bolivia before undertaking formal music studies. He then trained in Japan prior to settling in the United Kingdom. Fernández was composer-in-residence at Queen’s University, Belfast, and served on the faculties of the Dartington College of Arts and, since 1995, Newcastle University, where he is chairman of the music composition department. His works have been commissioned for the Royal Opera House’s Garden Venture and the London International Opera Festival. Fernández will write a new work for the New York-based Momenta Quartet.

Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy Award that same year, composer Jennifer Higdon has been commissioned by a broad list of ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Tokyo String Quartet and the United States Marine Band. Her works are widely performed each year, with her orchestral work blue cathedral having been programmed by more than 250 orchestras since its premiere in 2000. Higdon’s new Koussevitzky commission will be written for the Cypress String Quartet.

Laura Kaminsky is artistic director of Symphony Space in New York City and is professor of music at Purchase College, State University of New York. A graduate of Oberlin and the City College of New York, she has received commissions, fellowships and awards as both a composer and presenter. She co-founded Musicians’ Accord in 1980 – an ensemble devoted to the promotion of new music – was on the board of the American Music Center, and currently serves as a director of Chamber Music America. Her new work is written for the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Philharmonic.

Harold Meltzer is a director of Sequitur Ensemble in New York, a new music group he also co-founded. Educated at Amherst College, King’s College, Cambridge, and Yale universities, as well as Columbia Law School, Meltzer’s work as a composer has been recognized by numerous commissions and other honors, including a recent commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. He was named a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Meltzer teaches composition at Vassar College. His Koussevitzky commission will be written for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.

The Pro Arte Quartet joins with the Koussevitzky foundations in commissioning Belgian composer Benoît Mernier to write a new string quartet. Winner of composition prizes from UNESCO and the Royal Academy of Belgium, among others, Mernier’s first opera was commissioned by the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels). His compositions have been featured at leading arts festivals in Europe. Mernier, who is a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, is also active as a concert organist and teacher of performance and improvisation; he serves as organist at Notre Dame au Sablon in Brussels.

Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949, was a champion of contemporary music. Throughout his distinguished career, he played a vital role in the creation of new works by commissioning composers such as Béla Bartók, Leonard Bernstein and Igor Stravinsky. He established the Koussevitzky foundations to continue his lifelong commitment to composers and new music. Applications for commissions are accepted annually. For more information, visit www.Koussevitzky.org.

Show respect for national anthem in Indiana -- or maybe face fine

2012-01-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

"Roseanne Barr might want to steer clear of Indiana -- if a state lawmaker succeeds in passing legislation to require performance standards for the singing of the national anthem.

A bill by Indiana Sen. Vaneta Becker would impose a $25 fine on anyone who fails to follow the standards while performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at events sponsored by public schools and universities."

For the full story, please see the LA Times.

Aretha Franklin Is Looking For The Next Great Star ... Of Opera

2012-01-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

"American Idol, The Sing-Off, The Voice — there's no shortage of over-the-top, glitzy, ratings-driven music competitions on TV. And now Aretha Franklin is getting in on the singing contest circuit, but she's turning her searchlight on the world of classical music. That's right — the Queen of Soul is searching for the next great opera singer."

For the full story, please see npr.org.

PayPal asked Canadian buyer to destroy violin

2012-01-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

"It’s such a sad story you might expect to hear the strains of a violin — if there were one left.

PayPal has confirmed that a Canadian client shattered a violin (valued by its owner at $2,500) because it was company policy: they believed the instrument was a counterfeit."

For the full story, please see thestar.com.

Frank Gehry to Try His Hand at Mozart

2012-01-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

"Having designed the auditorium for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the architect Frank Gehry is now turning his attention to the stage itself, creating a set for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of 'Don Giovanni.'"

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Library of Congress Helps Unlock Experimental Sound Recordings of Alexander Graham Bell

2011-12-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Nearly 10 years ago, the Library of Congress initiated a research collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to study the application of digital imaging to the extraction of sound from phonograph records and other grooved media. This non-invasive approach protects delicate or damaged historical items.

That collaboration has resulted in unlocking experimental sound recordings made more than 100 years ago by Alexander Graham Bell and associates.

The recordings, now available for listening by the public, can be found at http://irene.lbl.gov/volta-release.html.

In the early 1880s, three inventors—Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, collectively making up the Volta Laboratory Associates—tried to record sound. In one experiment, on Nov. 17, 1884, they recorded the word “barometer” on a glass disc with a beam of light. This disc, along with nearly 200 other experimental recordings, was packed up for safekeeping and deposited at the Smithsonian Institution.

In the past year, Library of Congress Digital Conversion Specialist Peter Alyea; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Scientists Carl Haber and Earl Cornell; and National Museum of American History Curators Carlene Stephens and Shari Stout worked jointly to recover sound from those recordings. Using high-resolution scans made from the original Volta discs, they were able to hear the word “barometer.”

The team has successfully submitted six discs—all experimental recordings made by Volta—to the sound recovery process known as IRENE/3D (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.), a process developed by Berkeley Lab in 2003-04 and installed at the Library of Congress in 2006 and in 2008.

The process creates a high-resolution digital map of the disc or cylinder. This map is then processed to remove evidence of wear or damage, such as scratches and skips. Finally, software calculates the motion of a stylus moving through the disc or cylinder’s grooves, reproducing the audio content and producing a standard digital sound file.

IRENE/3D research has been supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of Energy, the University of California, the Andrew P. Mellon Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with more than 147 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library’s Preservation Directorate is the oldest and largest library preservation facility in the nation. The directorate’s mission is to ensure long-term, uninterrupted access to the Library's collections, either in original or reformatted form. It focuses on solving preservation problems facing collections of all types, whether traditional, audiovisual or digital. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/preservation/.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory and is located in Berkeley, Calif. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California. Its website is www.lbl.gov. The Berkeley/Library of Congress research website is http://irene.lbl.gov.

The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. To learn more about the museum, visithttp://americanhistory.si.edu.

Heavenly Music From Hildegard Of Bingen, A Soon-To-Be Actual Saint

2011-12-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

"Pope Benedict XIV has indicated he plans to canonize the 12th-century female composer, mystic, author, physician and abbess Hildegard von Bingen and then proclaim her a Doctor of the Church in October 2012."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost In 2011

2011-12-29T14:18:00.001-08:00

For the full list, please see NPR.org.

K-Pop Blows Up: Korean Music Finds Fans Worldwide

2011-12-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Listen to the story at NPR.org.

What Does a Conductor Do?

2011-12-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

"I’m standing on a podium, with an enameled wand cocked between my fingers and sweat dampening the small of my back. Ranks of young musicians eye me skeptically. They know I don’t belong here, but they’re waiting for me to pretend I do. I raise my arm in the oppressive silence and let it drop. Miraculously, Mozart’s overture to Don Giovanni explodes in front of me, ragged but recognizable, violently thrilling. This feels like an anxiety dream, but it’s actually an attempt to answer a question that the great conductor Riccardo Muti asked on receiving an award last year: 'What is it, really, I do?'"

For the full story, please see NY Magazine.

The End of Modern Dance?

2011-12-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

"Before Merce Cunningham died at age 90 in July 2009, he had decided that his company would die with him, preceded by a two-year world tour. And so, after the grand finale performances Dec. 29-31 at the Park Avenue Armory, the company will be snuffed out. Its demise carries with it a huge chunk of the American modern dance tradition. Besides Paul Taylor and Trisha Brown, there are no U.S. modern dance troupes whose leader is still alive, whose company still tours consistently and whose choreography stems from a technique developed by its founder."

For the full story, please see Musical America.

New Books, Scores, Recordings & More!

2011-12-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Check out the new books, scores and media materials added to the Music Library in December!

Jazz Musicians Start a Pension Push

2011-12-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

"New York City’s musicians’ union has begun leafleting outside a major jazz club, the first salvo in what union leaders say is a campaign to gain pension benefits and a minimum wage for jazz artists."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Celebrate the Stan Kenton Centennial with UNT Libraries

2011-12-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

"In honor of the 100th anniversary of Stanley Newcomb Kenton's birth (December 15, 1911), the UNT Music Library offers the following medley of content from our various special collections which are connected to this influential American jazz band and orchestra leader."

To view the online exhibit, please see http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/kenton/stan-kenton-centennial.

Call for Papers: Pacific Northwest Graduate Student Conference

2011-12-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Pacific Northwest Graduate Student Conference

University of British Columbia

February 24-26, 2012

The University of British Columbia's School of Music is pleased to host the 2012 session of the Pacific Northwest Graduate Student Conference (PNWGSC) in
Vancouver, Canada. The conference will take place Friday to Sunday, February 24-26. We welcome proposals on any topic related to music theory,
musicology, ethnomusicology, or composition (lecture recital proposals will also be considered). Presentations will be twenty minutes, with ten minutes
for discussion.

January 15, 2012 is the deadline for submissions; full details and guidelines for proposals can be found in the attached call for papers.

Questions can be addressed to ubcpnw2012@gmail.com

A Giant Theremin Is Watching You Down Under

2011-12-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

"Here's a travel tip: If you find yourself in Melbourne, Australia, with time on your hands, check out the Giant Theremin. The 23-foot-tall electronic musical instrument sits on a pedestrian walkway near the Yarra River. As people pass by — or dance or jump in front of the theremin — it tracks the motion and creates sounds. Judging by YouTube videos, a lot of people are taking part in this musical public art project."

For the full story and a video, please see npr.org.

Emboldened Orchestras Are Embracing the New

2011-12-12T15:28:00.001-08:00

"RECENTLY Bartok trounced Schubert in an impromptu audience poll at Carnegie Hall. I was surprised and delighted. It seemed an indicator, albeit fanciful, that the battle for contemporary music had been won."

For the full story, please see New York Times.

Bach Cello Suites visualized

2011-12-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

"Using the mathematics behind string length and pitch, it came from a simple idea: what if all the notes were drawn as strings? Instead of a stream of classical notation on a page, this interactive project highlights the music’s underlying structure and subtle shifts."

For the full visualization, please see flowingdata.com.

Happy birthday, Elliott Carter

2011-12-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

"Not many composers will ever celebrate their 103rd birthday – but then, not that many people in the history of humanity have ever reached or will ever reach that astonishingly advanced prime number of an age. But no one has ever marked their 103rd, I can confidently predict, with three world premieres. But in New York last weekend, that's exactly what Elliott Carter did with concerts on 8 and 11 December."

For the full story, please see The Guardian.

Check out scores and recordings of Carter's works from the UW Libraries.

Mozart's Letters Online!

2011-12-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

Check out anew version of Mozart's letters from Italy is online here:

letters.mozartways.com

The website offers access to the letters in English, Italian and French, and of course the original German version plus its modernised German spelling

http://letters.mozartways.com/dualview.php?lang=ENG&version=modernised&bd=147&layout=portrait

For the majority of the letters, both the holograph and its diplomatic transcription are available (left-hand side menu).

Mozart's scores are linked to each work, like here:

http://letters.mozartways.com/index.php?lang=eng&theme=works&name=385&alpha=M

The letters are fully annotated by Cliff Eisen , Academic Director of the edition and one of the most reputed Mozart's scholars.

Vinyl's Not Final

2011-12-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

"Last week, we posted a photo of the object to the left, an object that serves a very particular, and perhaps slightly antiquated, function, and asked if you knew what it was. If you were among the 34% that didn't know, chances are you'd never seen it in its proper place. Yup, it's a 45 adapter, the tool that made the big hole on those small records fit on a turntable that only had a shaft sized to fit a 16, 33 or a 78."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Gifts (Not) To Buy For The Classical Fans In Your Life

2011-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

"It's Cyber Monday again, and we here at Deceptive Cadence thought it was time to provide a public service to our readership: a survey of the very worst presents we've found online with classical music lovers as the presumed recipients. We're shopping at the intersection of good intention and bad taste."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Esa-Pekka Salonen wins the 2012 Grawemeyer Award

2011-11-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

"Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto has won the 2012 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. The award is generally considered the most prestigious international honor for a new score; past winners have been several such masters of modern music as Witold Lutoslawski, György Ligeti and Pierre Boulez."

For the full story, please see the LA Times.

Himie Voxman, emeritus professor and School of Music director, dies at 99

2011-11-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

"University of Iowa emeritus professor Himie Voxman, who was the director of the UI School of Music for more than a quarter century (1954-1980) died Tuesday, November 22, 2011, at the age of 99. The Voxman Music Building, which was destroyed by the 2008 flood, was named in his honor in 1995, and the UI named him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2008."

For the full story, please see Performing Arts at Iowa.

Want a quick Bibliography?

2011-11-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

It is that time of the quarter again, time to start working on those final papers! Let a citation management software help. RefWorks, EndNote, and Zotero are citation management softwares that allow you to keep all of those book and article citations for your papers in one place. Curious about which one will fit your needs? Watch our webinar on Choosing a Citation Management System that Works for You to help make your decision.

Are you ready to add footnotes and a bibliography to your paper and need some help? Watch our webinars on RefWorks and Zotero to learn tips on creating these for your papers. Or, construct your bibliographies and for your papers the old fashion way. Use our citation style guides as a model to creating your own bibliographies and footnotes!

Site to Resell Music Files Has Critics

2011-11-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

"Music fans looking to clear out some clutter can always try to sell their old CDs. But can someone resell an old digital music file of “Thriller” that’s languishing on a computer? "

For the full story, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/business/media/reselling-of-music-files-is-contested.html?_r=3&ref=business

Google Scholar Opens Up Its Citations

2011-11-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

"Anyone can now track his or her citations via Google Scholar. The free citation service is “a simple way for authors to compute their citation metrics and track them over time,” the company said in an announcement yesterday on the Google Scholar blog. Google announced a limited-release test of the service in July."

For the full story, please see http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/google-scholar-opens-up-its-citations/34385

New Books, Scores & Recordings!

2011-11-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

New books, scores, and recordings have been added to the Music Library collection in November. Go to http://uwashington.worldcat.org/profiles/uwmusiclib/lists/2912637 to learn more!

Q&A with composer/conductor Oliver Knussen

2011-11-14T15:29:00.000-08:00

"It's going to be a very British affair at Benaroya Hall next week, when English composer-conductor Oliver Knussen leads the Seattle Symphony in performances of Benjamin Britten's "Canadian Carnival," his Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia (from his opera "Peter Grimes"), Luke Bedford's "Outblaze the Sky," and Knussen's own Violin Concerto (with Leila Josefowicz as soloist). Along with that lush violin concerto, several Knussen chamber works are on the bill with works by Elgar and Brahms in the Symphony's Nov. 20 chamber-music series."

For the full story, please see Seattle Times.

Aaron Copland's Forgotten Score Premieres At Last

2011-11-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

"The orchestral version of Quiet City is fairly well known, but there's more to this story. Another version has recently come to light."

For the full story, please see npr.org
.

Announcing Vi Hilbert Website!

2011-11-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

The University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives and Northwest Heritage Resources are pleased to announce that Voices of the First People, a website honoring the life and work of Upper Skagit elder Vi Hilbert, is now on-line at: http://music.washington.edu/ethno/hilbert. The site provides on-line access to audio and video recordings from the Vi Hilbert Collection in the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives and features Hilbert’s work as a storyteller, teacher, and culture bearer. It is hoped that the site will be a useful resource for teachers, students, and anyone interested in Lushootseed language and culture.

The Voices of the First People project has been supported in part by a grant from Humanities Washington, a statewide organization dedicated to providing and supporting cultural education programs in local communities.

Project staff for Voices of the First People includes Jill Linzee, Project Director (Executive Director, Northwest Heritage Resources); Laurel Sercombe, Curator/Humanist (Archivist, University of Washington Ethnomusicology Program); Riley McLaughlin, Interactive Media Developer (VillageMediaWorks); Colin Todd, Technical Advisor (Senior Computer Specialist, University of Washington School of Music); Bonnie McConnell, Curatorial Assistant; and Jill La Pointe, Project Advisor (President of Lushootseed Research and granddaughter of Vi Hilbert).

What do Mahler and Beyoncé have in common?

2011-10-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Find out at bibliolore.org.

Visit the UW Research Commons!

2011-10-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

The UW Libraries Research Commons, located on the ground floor of the Allen Library South, has many spaces available for students and faculty to support group research, presentations, seminars, and colloquia. The Research Commons opened a little less than one year ago, and is designed as an evolving, flexible space that fosters interdisciplinary conversation and provides research support via the Libraries and campus partnerships.

A few highlights this quarter:

Graduate Student Workshops: In partnership with the Graduate School, the Libraries is kicking off a new year of graduate student workshops in the Research Commons. Check out the full list of offerings this fall at: http://commons.lib.washington.edu/news-events. Many workshops are happening this week.
Drop-in Writing Consultations: The Odegaard Writing and Research Center is now offering morning drop-in consultations in the Research Commons -- for graduate students only -- twice a week. Tutors staffing these consulting hours are experienced in supporting graduate level research and writing for a wide range of academic and professional purposes. Unlike traditional OWRC sessions, these consultations may last up to 1.5 hours to better accommodate larger projects. Autumn Quarter: Mondays and Thursdays 10:30am-noon. No reservations required. First-come, first served.

New Collaboration Screens: Student Technology Fee funds enabled us to add large screens, which can be used with your laptop, in many of our reservable spaces: http://commons.lib.washington.edu/resources

New Presentation Spaces: The Research Commons has undergone a few changes based on user feedback to better support large group research work and presentations. We’ve added a new room, Green A, that seats up to 25 people. http://commons.lib.washington.edu/resources/green-a/green-a Later this quarter we’ll have two additional enclosed reservable spaces for group projects and events.

GIS Day: On Wednesday, November 16th the Research Commons will serve as a venue for a full day of GIS activities coordinated by the UW Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and the Libraries. Stop by the Research Commons to hear talks by students and faculty involved in Geographic Information System projects, view a GIS poster session, or visit the "GIS Doctor" to get help with a GIS-related question.

Whiteboard Capture: The Research Commons features whiteboard surface tables, mobile whiteboards, whiteboard walls and dry-erase markers for checkout. We also have an EBeam Edge interactive whiteboard system that can be checked out and used within the Research Commons to turn any whiteboard surface into a digital and interactive copyboard. Use the EBeam to create a video or image capture of a presentation, brainstorming session, or TA consultation in the Research Commons.

Information Design Exhibit: On display in the Research Commons are posters created by students in Assoc. Professor Karen Cheng’s ART 478: Information Design course. In this senior-level undergraduate studio class, Visual Communication Design students research and design a series of information graphics that visualize a subject, social issue, event, or controversy. These data graphics are composed into a pair of narrative information design posters/panels and a web-based module.

Interested in seeing your students’ work displayed in the space for a poster session or longer-term exhibit? Contact uwlibrc@uw.edu.

Visit the Research Commons website http://commons.lib.washington.edu or our blog http://uwresearchcommons.wordpress.com/ to learn more about the development of the Research Commons.

Use the Feedback link on the blog to give us feedback, or email uwlibrc@uw.edu.

Opera Is For The 99%: Here's What You Told Us

2011-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

"Yesterday's post about popular perceptions of opera as an entertainment for the rich definitely struck a nerve. We've been (happily) deluged with responses both on our site and on Facebook – and much of the conversation has contradicted a very tired stereotype. Here's just a small sampling of what you've told us."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Are Gibson guitars killing the rainforest?

2011-10-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

"Up here you grow up liking Fenders or you grow up liking Gibsons," says Billy Jack, 55, sat in a Nashville music store eyeing up a trio of shiny new Gibson guitars.

Cradling a $3,800 (£2,413) Gibson Les Paul, Mr Jack, a veteran guitarist, recalls riffs gone by as he explains his fondness for one of rock's iconic instruments."

For the full story, please see www.bbc.co.uk.

Music Training Enhances Children’s Verbal Intelligence

2011-10-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

"A just-published study from Canada suggests early music education stimulates a child’s brain, leading to improved performance in an entirely different arena – verbal intelligence."

For the full story, please see Miller-Mccume.com.

Dealing With the Committee

2011-10-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

"Your dissertation committee has to approve your dissertation before you graduate. Committee members can also serve as mentors and coaches who can help you reach your professional goals. Therefore, you need a strong working relationship with them. Here are some guidelines:"

For the full story, please see InHigher Ed.

New @uwmusiclib

2011-09-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the UW Music Library. This summer we've made a number of changes to better serve you! Here are some of the new changes you'll see:

New Saturday 1-5 hours! You commented on the In-Library Use Survey and we heard you. This Fall we'll be open 1-5 on Saturday and Sundays.

Open Reserves by course. This Fall all books on reserve for your courses will be shelved upstairs by course where the current periodicals were located. You may pull books to read without checking them out at the front desk. Just remember to put them on the neighboring re-shelf shelf so that we can be sure to count them in our usage statistics.

Group Study & Quiet Study space. Based on your survey results from Spring quarter, we are designating the upstairs Music Library space as group study space. Use this space to work on group projects. Quiet study space is located downstairs.

Current Periodical Downstairs. Read the latest issue of Journal of the American Musicological Society or Billboard Magazine downstairs. The current periodicals are now located at the end of the bound periodicals (next to the oversized scores).

New books location & list. The new books and scores are now located on the shelves at the end of the theses, next to the large, bay window. Check out the new materials list of books, scores and media online at http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/about.html#new

Laptop workstations in the Listening Center. Bring your laptop to the Listening Center! The Listening Center has two new, dedicated spaces for laptop usage.

And coming soon...
• Two new scanners in the Listening Center.
We look forward to seeing you in the Music Library Listening Center!

Franz Liszt at the Library of Congress [article]

2011-09-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

"In order to commemorate the bicentenary of Liszt's birth as well as to bring attention to the Library of Congress's substantial holdings of primary source material related to this composer, the present site is offered as a portal to facilitate the exploration of the Library's rich resources for performing research on Liszt's life and career, as well as to publicize the public concerts and events that will be presented in conjunction with this celebration."

For the full story, please see Library of Congress.

'Lost' Beethoven work to be aired

2011-09-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Beethoven wrote the slow movement for his string quartet Opus 18 Number Two in 1799 before discarding it and composing another version a year later.

The original has not survived, but has now been reconstructed by Prof Barry Cooper of Manchester University."

For the full story, please see www.bbc.co.uk.

Everything to play for at the Tchaikovsky competition

2011-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

"British pianist Peter Donohoe is used to being lionised in Moscow. In 1982, Donohoe won the highest prize awarded at the world's most prestigious and controversial classical music talent-show, the Tchaikovsky Competition. Those two words instil sweaty-palmed nervousness and feverish excitement in any musician who's ever competed in Russia, and in anyone who ever watched those grainy broadcasts of the finals that used to beam into our living rooms from the USSR every four years in the 1970s and 1980s. They were messages from another world, visions of an ethereal realm of the brightest and best pianists, violinists, cellists and singers. Donohoe remains a hero in Moscow, and his performances of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and the "Rach 3", Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, are still talked about with misty-eyed reverence in the corridors of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, home of the Tchaikovsky Competition since its first edition in 1958."

For the full story, please see The Guardian.

Cultural Divide Persists as Musical Tastes Shift

2011-09-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

"When the National Endowment for the Arts issued a report earlier this year suggesting the omnivore is in decline, many in the arts community found the news deeply unsettling. But newly published research from Britain, which focuses on taste in music, analyzes audiences from a different perspective — one that could be useful to both performers and presenters."

For the full story, please see www.miller-mccune.com.

Update: Oregon Symphony extends contract for music director Carlos Kalmar

2011-09-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

"Carlos Kalmar, the Oregon Symphony's music director since 2003, has renewed his contract through 2015. His current contract ran through 2013. In the 2007-08 season, the last for which numbers are available, he earned $312,000."

For the full story, please see oregonlive.com.

Europe Extends Copyright on Music

2011-09-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

"In a victory for the financially troubled recording industry, the European Union on Monday extended the term of copyright on sound recordings to 70 years from 50, while declining to include provisions that would allow artists in Britain and elsewhere in Europe to recoup ownership of their music easily. Had the Council of the European Union not acted, many of the most famous and popular recordings of the British Invasion of the 1960s, including albums by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Yardbirds, would have fallen into the public domain in the coming years. For example, the Beatles’ first hit record, “Love Me Do,” which was released in 1962, could have been treated next year in much the same way as works by classical composers whose exclusive ownership of their music has expired. With multiple versions available at cheaper prices, the four major record labels would be deprived of one of their biggest sources of income."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

The Clown Of The Orchestra Takes Its Revenge

2011-09-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

"You might think you haven't heard the bassoon outside a concert hall before, but you have: The woodwind instrument features prominently in the theme music of Leave It To Beaver, represents the grandfather character in Peter and the Wolf, and scores Mickey Mouse's misadventure with the dancing broomsticks in Fantasia. Notice a trend there?"

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

JSTOR Opens Up U.S. Journal Content From Before 1923

2011-09-12T10:54:00.001-07:00

"Users anywhere now have free access to JSTOR’s Early Journal Content, a corpus of scholarly articles published in the United States before 1923 and elsewhere before 1870. That’s about 500,000 articles from 200 journals, according to JSTOR’s announcement."

For the full story, please see Wired Campus.

How Steve Jobs Changed The Way We Listen

2011-08-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

"We listen to music in the 21st century in a profoundly different way than we did in the 20th century. And, though Apple didn't invent the portable music player, the vision of Steve Jobs (a music geek himself) and his company of designers and engineers changed our listening landscape dramatically in 2001 with iTunes and the iPod. Some of those ways are wonderful: Portability of huge libraries, shuffling, quick access to millions of songs, and custom playlists are a few of the upsides. For some, shuffling may be a bittersweet downside, like compressed sound files or isolated listening, but I think the good far outweighs the bad."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Rick Steves gives $1M to arts in Edmonds

2011-08-29T10:14:00.001-07:00

"Rick Steves, the Edmonds-based travel writer and public broadcasting host, donated $1 million to the Edmonds Center for the Arts on Thursday.

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

The Summer Opera Drinking Puzzler

2011-08-22T15:24:00.001-07:00

"We're all told it's important to stay hydrated with plenty of water — not only in the summer heat, but throughout the year.

However, no one in the opera world seems to have gotten the message. Because when characters in opera raise a glass to their lips, they're almost always quaffing alcohol of one kind or another. Yes, there's the occasional teetotaler or poison drinker, but mostly people in opera are boozing it up. Not a good way to stay hydrated."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Actually Useful Research About Younger Jazz Audiences

2011-08-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

"There's a new study out on the jazz audience. And for once, it actually contains some pertinent information about younger jazz concertgoers — the demographic much bandied-about the last time there was significant data about live jazz crowds, and the one necessarily responsible for the future proliferation of jazz performances."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

A Village Person Tests the Copyright Law

2011-08-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

"The prefab, gaudily costumed 1970s group the Village People and its big hit “Y.M.C.A.” are enduring symbols of the disco era. But now this campy and eternally popular song has become the centerpiece of what could be a significant test of copyright law."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Revered maestro Vilem Sokol gave his love of music to all

2011-08-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

"He was born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania, but his favorite place became the conductor's podium.

Vilem Sokol, who died Friday of cancer in Seattle at age 96, was the beloved godfather of the city's classical music and an internationally prominent conductor, professor and violist.

As longtime music director of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and its Marrowstone Music Festival (1960-1988), and music professor at the University of Washington (1948-1985), Mr. Sokol shaped more than four decades of young talent, inspiring generations of students and listeners."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Listen to Sokol's recordings at the UW Music Library.

Naxos Music Library Adds Entire EMI Classics Catalog

2011-08-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

"the complete EMI Classics catalog is now available to every Naxos Music Library and Naxos Music Library - Jazz institutional subscriber! This vast catalog of recordings includes EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, and Blue Note Records.

Today, more than 225 albums are be available in NML with the remainder of the 7200 album catalog available by the end of 2011. More details will be available shortly."

Check out our Music Library Naxos subscription at: http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/streamaudio.html

John Williams Lets His Muses Carry Him Along

2011-08-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

"It would be hard to live in America and not know some of John Williams’s music. After six decades of working in Hollywood, much of that time in collaboration with the director Steven Spielberg, he has produced an opus — 121 film scores, a symphony, a dozen concertos and other symphonic works — that would intimidate many composers. He has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, five Emmys and 21 Grammys. He wrote the music for all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies and the first three Harry Potter films. He was the one who wrote the fearsome two-note motif from “Jaws,” and the famous five-note intergalactic message he composed for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” At 79, he is still going strong and recently finished scores for two more Spielberg movies, “The Adventures of Tin Tin” and “War Horse."

For the full story, please see New York Times.

Dance Notation for the iPad? There’s an App for That

2011-08-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

"When Reed College in Oregon invited faculty members last fall to submit app ideas for the iPad tablet, Hannah J. Kosstrin immediately thought of what she knew best—dance."

For the full story, please see The Chronicle.

Why Do We Sit At Jazz Concerts?

2011-08-04T13:26:00.001-07:00

"I've been thinking about this for some time, even before Anthony Dean-Harris of Nextbop wrote it. It's about how there should be more standing-only jazz shows. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it makes some good points."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

A Faint Sound at a Concert, but Impossible to Ignore

2011-08-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

"This was supposed to be a short review of the free concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday evening previewing the Mostly Mozart Festival, which opens officially on Tuesday. And I can tell you some of what happened there."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Musician seeks support to solve serious problems with SGAE

2011-08-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

"Santiago Auserón, the former frontman of Spanish band Radio Futura, is trying to find support from fellow musicians to address the situation of SGAE, the copyright-management organization that was plunged into chaos when police raided the headquarters and arrested nine of its leaders on embezzlement charges."

For the full story, please see elpais.com.

Who, and Where, Are America’s Composers?

2011-07-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

"I never wanted to be a composer.

Even well into college, the thought had not even crossed my mind. I wanted to be a band director. Or a music teacher. Because when you’re in high school in northern Illinois, as I was in the 1980s, with 45 miles of cornfields in every direction, and the music bug bit you, that’s what you did."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Lack of testes gave castrato superstar headaches

2011-07-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

"THERE was at least one downside to Farinelli's castration. The operation may have preserved the 18th-century singer's treble voice into adulthood, making him a musical legend, but it also condemned him to a skull deformity that may have affected his mind.""

For the full story, please see New Scientist.

How Astronauts Fill Their Space With Music

2011-07-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

"All week, the astronauts of space shuttle Atlantis have been serenaded with music from stars back on Earth. Elton John, Michael Stipe and Paul McCartney have all recorded messages for the crew."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Crazy Vibrations: What Strings Look Like From Inside A Guitar

2011-07-18T15:10:00.001-07:00

For the story & video, please see NPR.org.

Through The Static, The Voice Of History

2011-07-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

"The voice on the little antique cylinder record is tinny, scratchy, barely audible through storms of static. But if you listen closely, you can just hear a young woman reciting a nursery rhyme: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star.""

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Seattle Symphony Director Gets Brussels Post

2011-07-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

"The opera house of Brussels has appointed the Frenchman Ludovic Morlot as its chief conductor, an assignment being heralded halfway around the world, in Seattle."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

The Puzzle of Rossini’s Brief Career

2011-07-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

"THERE are lots of theories. Maybe Gioachino Rossini was tired. He might have been devastated by the death of his beloved mother.

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Mozart Died of What?

2011-07-11T10:36:00.001-07:00

"UPI reports a new bit of research indicating that Mozart’s death may have been caused by a lack of vitamin D. He died on Dec. 5, 1791 after having suffered from years of persistent colds, fever and stomach upset."

For the full story, please see Musical America.

Mozart, Beethoven... now meteorology?

2011-07-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

"Variable 4 is the brainchild of composer James Bulley and erstwhile computer scientist Daniel Jones. The pair met when they were shortlisted for the New Cross Art Prize in 2008 and a discussion about where music, art and computing meet ensued. This led them to the idea of a sound art installation where the music played was composed by contemporaneous weather conditions."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Still Searching For Bruckner’s True Intentions

2011-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

"POSTERITY has not always treated Anton Bruckner kindly. The popular image of this composer as an unwitting visionary — “half genius, half klutz,” as the conductor Hans von Bülow once said — developed early on. During Bruckner’s lifetime conservative critics recoiled from his music. Eduard Hanslick called him the “gentlest and most peaceable of men who becomes an anarchist during the act of composition.”"

For the full story, please see New York Times.

Which Composer Is The Biggest Badass?

2011-06-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

"This intriguing question floated across the Twitter transom to us last Friday morning from Kara-Lis Coverdale (@kliscoverdale):

Who is the most badass composer there ever was? #drugs #sex #guts #politics

We loved Kara-Lis' question so much that we immediately threw it open to our fans and friends across Twitter and Facebook, a question to be pondered if not for the ages, at least over the course of a weekend. And boy, did you all respond."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

The Cloud That Ate Your Music

2011-06-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

"Recent weeks have been filled with announcements about music taking residence in the cloud, the poetic name for online storage and software that promises to make lifetimes worth of songs available to anyone, anywhere, as long as those people and places have Internet connections. (Which of course is a long way from everyone, everywhere, but utopian tech dreams tend to ignore mere hardware.)"

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

EMI Puts Itself Up for Sale. Again.

2011-06-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

"EMI, the music company that was seized by Citigroup in February after a disastrous four-year ownership by the private equity firm Terra Firma, is going up for sale again."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Clarence Clemons, The Big Man In The E Street Band, Has Died

2011-06-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

"Clarence Clemons, saxophone player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has died of complications of a stroke. He was 69."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Speight Jenkins Sets Retirement Date

2011-06-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

"Speight Jenkins, who has single-handedly turned the Seattle Opera into a force with which to be reckoned, will retire as general director at the end of the season in August 2014. Jenkins will have been at the helm for 30 years."

For the full story, please see Musical America.

Another arts group calls it quits: Bellevue Philharmonic

2011-06-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

"After 43 years, including some recent rocky ones, the Bellevue Philharmonic is shutting down."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

2011 Tony Awards: complete list of winners

2011-06-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

To view the list, please see the Seattle Times.

Maryland Doctor Wins Van Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition

2011-06-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

"Christopher Shih, a 38-year-old gastroenterologist from Ellicott City, Md. says the only time he finds to practice the piano is at night, after he puts the kids to bed. But all that late-night practicing has paid off. Shih has won the sixth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Advertise on NYTimes.com No Radios by the Fountain, Please! Or Cellos!

2011-06-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

"The crisp new signs began going up in some of the most popular spots in Central Park near the end of May. In large white letters on green backgrounds they announce that the areas have been designated Quiet Zones, and that musical instruments and amplified sound are not permitted. Some of the signs cite the authority of the Central Park Conservancy, the private organization that manages the park. Others also bear the name of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Sony Records 'Discovered Handel Opera'

2011-06-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

""Germanico del sig. Hendl." Since 1929 the catalog of the Conservatorio Cherubini in Florence (section "Opere teatrali", p. 143) has listed a Handel title --"Germanico"-- not mentioned in any other sources. In autumn 2009 Handel scholars* in both Europe and the U.S. got word that a Bond Street jeweler was circulating a copy of the manuscript in London, attempting to confirm its authenticity. On behalf of whom, we wondered? That mystery was partially solved when, on 18 May, Sony Classical announced on its website that an important press conference would be held on June 6, 11:30 am, at La Scala’s gift shop in Milan."

For the full story, please see Musical America.

When the Melody Takes a Detour, the Science Begins

2011-06-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

"In the middle of a World Science Festival panel on Saturday night, the guitarist Pat Metheny took a sudden U-turn from the program he had planned. Instead of performing one of his innovative compositions, plucked from any of the phases of his career as a style-shifting jazz omnivore, Mr. Metheny, performing with the bassist Larry Grenadier, decided on the spot to play a jazz standard."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Music changed life of Seattle's new arts director

2011-05-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

"If not for the trombone, Seattle's new arts czar says, he might not have gone to college."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Historian Explains The Origin Of "Taps"

2011-05-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

"The languid, melancholy sound of a bugle call is a fixture at military funerals. But it wasn't always that way. The song taps used to signal 'lights out' for soldiers to go to sleep. Taps historian Jari Villanueva, a former ceremonial bugler at Arlington National Cemetery, discusses the evolution of the song and the meaning of Memorial Day."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Academic Minute: Passive Hearing, Active Listening

2011-05-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

"In today’s Academic Minute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Pauline Oliveros examines the difference between passive hearing and active listening. Find out more about the Academic Minute here."

Musicians demand Grammy’s reverse category cuts

2011-05-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

"A coalition of musicians is demanding the Recording Academy restore more than 30 categories cut from the Grammy Awards, alleging the reductions unfairly target ethnic music and were done without the input of its thousands of members."

For the full story, please see Star.com.

Will EMI's move to reclaim digital licensing rights simplify the process?

2011-05-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

"Earlier this month, EMI Music Publishing announced that it will take back digital licensing rights from ASCAP, the body that collects performance royalties for artists in North America."

For the full story, please see The Guardian.

Sing for Your Life

2011-05-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

"Ryan Speedo Green stands almost six-foot-five and weighs 300 pounds and wears size 17 shoes, and on a Sunday afternoon in March he was running in place and doing jumping jacks as he waited in the wings of the Metropolitan Opera for his turn to sing. It was the semifinals of the most important operatic voice competition in America, and Ryan was seized by such anxiety that he felt his massive body vanishing. Seventeen of the 22 singers left in the contest had gone before him; to his ears their performances were spectacular. He was fighting off the feeling that he didn’t belong here. Ryan, who is African-American, grew up in low-income housing and a trailer park in southeastern Virginia. When he was 12, he spent time in juvenile detention for threatening his brother and mother. During high school he moved to a street of shacklike homes, with a drug dealer’s headquarters across from his family’s front door and with bullet holes from stray gunfire just above his mother’s bedroom window."

For the full story, please see New York Times.

How Piano Wires Changed Through Centuries

2011-05-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

"When Wolfgang Mozart sat down to perform his masterpieces to audiences, he tapped out the notes on a much different instrument than most pianos used today. Among the differences was the wire inside his instrument."

For the full story, please see Discovery News.

Departmental delivery from the UW Libraries and beyond... at no cost for current UW faculty and staff!

2011-05-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

This service is for current UW faculty and staff at the Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma campuses. The UW Libraries will pull material from our shelves, check it out to you and send it to your department via the campus mail. Summit and Interlibrary Loan material can also be sent to your department.

To Place a Request:

Request an item through the library catalog and select "Send to Fac-Staff UW Mailbox" as your pickup location.

Items must be sent to a valid campus box number. Check your campus box number in your library account. If the address is not correct you will need to change your address by accessing the Employee Self-Service web site. It may take a week or so for our information to be updated.

What To Expect:

Materials held on the UW campus will be delivered in 1-2 days, not including weekends.

Materials held by Summit libraries will be delivered in 5-7 days, not including weekends. This accounts for transit time from the Summit library, plus campus mail delivery time.

Materials requested through ILL will be delivered in 10-14 days, not including weekends. This accounts for transit time from the loaning library, plus campus mail delivery time.

When we send material to you it will appear in your library account as already checked out to you.

We will contact you if the material is not available or cannot be sent. We will use the email address in your library account to notify you of problems with delivery, so please make sure the email address in your account is one you check regularly.

To assess the service we will be surveying participants. You can also send comments at any time to suzzcirc@u.washington.edu.

Returning Material

Send material back to Suzzallo Circulation, Box 352900 or drop off at any UW library unit.

If mailing the material please try to use the original packaging or something similar.

To allow for mailing time you should send material back at least 2 days before the due date.

Background Information

Departmental delivery will improve access to the physical collections for UW faculty and staff who are not located close to library units.

Building on their existing service, the UW Campus Mail have agreed to handle the delivery of library materials at no charge.

The overall costs of the service to the Libraries are expected to be minimal.

We are initiating this service as a pilot and will evaluate the costs and benefits during the next few months. Your comments are important to us so please fill out the survey when requested.

*Limitations

UW students are not part of the pilot.

Cascadia Community College faculty, staff and students are not part of the pilot.

Material that does not circulate (Reference, Special Collections, etc.) and material on reserve are not available for delivery.

Fragile or large items may not be available for delivery.

This pilot provides for sending only to campus mail addresses. If you want to have a book sent to an off-campus address through the US mail Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services can provide this service for a $10 fee. Login to your ILL account and select Borrow a Book, fill out the form and then select one of the Delivery Options that provides for shipping to home.