No. 65 | January 1999 |
1998 SEMLA/TMLA Chapter Meeting Houston, TX
The Southeast (SEMLA) and Texas (TMLA) chapters held a joint meeting
in Houston, Texas, on 15-17 October 1998. Gathering at Rice
University and the University of Houston, SEMLA librarians were
introduced to music activities that Texas members currently enjoy.
Rice University was the setting for the opening reception and the
first day of papers. The morning and early afternoon sessions were
held in the Kyle Morrow Room in the Fondren Library. After a welcome
from Assistant University Librarian for Public Services Sara Lowman,
the proceedings began with a talk by record auctioneer Kurt Nauck on
the history and varieties of early sound recordings. Using rare
specimens of early cylinder and disc records, Nauck gave an
entertaining outline of the recording industry and its technology
from the construction of the first phonograph in 1877 through the
commercial introduction of the microgroove LP in 1948. In careful
and detailed fashion he showed the successes and failures the
industry experienced while developing what had beena children's toy
to a viable means of recording and playing back sound and music. The
past experiments in making records with different materials (tinfoil,
wax, amberola, shellac) at varying rates of playback speed render
ironic the present controversy of CD versus DVD media. Chief among
the recording firms in Nauck's narrative were Edison, Victor, and
Columbia, and in the later portions he explained how Victor and
Columbia came to be industry giants. By the way, Nauck's illustrated
record auction catalogs are worth writing for and bidding from:
Vintage Nauck's Records, 6323 Inway Drive, Spring TX, 77389-3643. The
other presentation that morning was given by Steve Smolian of Smolian
Sound, Frederick, Maryland, on the disaster preparedness and
conservation of sound recordings and tapes. The water disaster at
the Boston Public Library and the resulting destruction of part of
its record collection had lately occurred and thus was in the minds
of meeting attendees. It came as no surprise then, that Smolian
advised recordings to be kept above ground level, and he warned that
water-even air moisture-is the main hazard. For shelving procedures
he preferred metal shelves over wood, vinyl records and shellac discs
kept in separate groups, and arranging by label and serial number. If
and when disaster should strike, have battery-operated pumps and
paper inventories ready for use: the pumps will enable drying, and
the inventories will indicate the highest-priority items for saving
and care. The first talk of the afternoon was given by critic Ira
Black about the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera. The
Houston Symphony was founded in 1913, and over its 85 years has been
led by such illustrious conductors as Leopold Stokowski, John
Barbirolli, and Christopher Eschenbach. The Houston Grand Opera was
established in 1955, and throughout its history it has staged
important productions of operas by Ralph Vaughan Williams, George
Gershwin, Scott Joplin, and Carlisle Floyd. The effusive nature of
Black's remarks were balanced by David Hunter's sober, historical
account of Lady Margaret Brown, "a female so-called opponent of
Handel." Lady Brown was the subject of three published verse attacks
by supporters of Handel between 1739 and 1746. Hunter uses this
controversy to pose questions of gender double-standards in British
criticism, namely, why men were permitted to oppose artistic trends
but women were not. Afterwards, Steve Smolian returned briefly to
comment on the dropping values of classical LPs, and that LPs are
worth more as charitable tax deductible gifts to institutions than on
the second-hand LP market. Within his remarks was his assessment as
a dealer on monetary value (regardless of intrinsic worth) of certain
popular artists' LPs: in favor, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, Elvis
Presley (pre-1977); out of favor, Carole King, the Animals, Elvis
Presley (post-1977). The last part of the afternoon session was a
demonstration by Clyde Holloway of the new organ at Rice's Shepherd
School of Music. Mr. Holloway related the history of the
instrument's construction and exhibited its distinctive features,
then performed a Vierne organ symphony. The third session was given
in the newly constructed Moores School of Music building at the
University of Houston. Rose Lange presented Asian Indian music as
practiced in Houston by recent emigre's. She described two different
types, devotional music, and dramatic music in which dance conveys
the narrative. One interesting fact is that in Houston taped music
is often used, since most if not all musicians are of such low social
and economic caste in India that they cannot afford to come to the
U.S. Laura Snyder followed with a paper on collecting shaped-note
music, drawing from her previous experience at the Sibley Library of
the Eastman School of Music. "Shaped-note" takes its name from the
distinctive note-heads to signify certain scale-steps, and the
repertory notated in this manner was sacred music in 18th- and
19th-century America. Snyder also described collecting and
processing aspects, including printing, purchasing, cataloging,
preservation, and performance. The SEMLA business meeting concluded
the event for SEMLA members. Officers elected were Anna Neal,
Member-at-Large; and Neil Hughes, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect. Planning
and coordination of the local arrangements and program for this
successful joint chapter meeting was well executed by Paul
Orkiszewski of Rice University; to him all credit for the memorable
three-day event is due. Additional help in the University of Houston
portion of the program was given by Stephen Luttmann and Laura
Snyder. SEMLA members staying in Houston through the rest of the
weekend took the time to see and enjoy the rest the city, not least
its art museums including the Museum of Fine Art, and the Menil
Collection with its Rothko Chapel.
(contributed by Edward Komara, 1998 Program Co-Chair, University of
Mississippi)
[NEXT STORY]
From the Chair_
Lois Kuyper-Rushing
Louisiana State University
Greetings and Happy New Year to all in the Southeast Music Library
Association. 1998 was a great year, with our interim meeting in
Boston and a fabulous interim meeting in Houston, Texas, where we met
jointly with the Texas Music Library Association. Be sure to read
all about that meeting on the cover of this issue of Breve Notes.
This year promises to be equally wonderful as we visit Los Angeles in
March for the national meeting and as we travel to Murfreesboro, TN
for our chapter meeting. Among other activities at the Houston
meeting, we introduced new officers and said farewell to those going
off the Board. Outgoing officers include Past Chair Roberta Chodacki
and Member-at-Large Sarah Dorsey. My heartfelt thanks go to Roberta
and Sarah for their years of hard work and service to the chapter.
We welcome Neil Hughes as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect and Anna Neal as
Member-at-Large. One of Sarah's last duties as member-at-large was to
serve as chair of the Nominating Committee. Thanks to her and her
committee, Tim Cherubini, and Margaret Kaus, for the marvelous slate
of officers they proposed. There are numerous people to thank for the
success of the meeting. First, we thank the Texas chapter for
hosting us, and especially their chair, Paul Orkiszewski. Paul was
the host for the meeting, and he and Ed Komara were co-program
chairs. We thank them both. The program was held at Rice University
(Thursday evening through Friday) and at the University of Houston
(Saturday morning). We thank the officials at each of these schools,
including Dr. Charles Henry, University Librarian at Rice, and Dr.
Tomatz, Dean of the Moores School of Music at the University of
Houston. We also wish to offer words of appreciation to Steve
Luttmann and Laura Snyder, both of the University of Houston Music
Library, for planning our Saturday morning activities. Our sincere
thanks go to Christine Clark and Theodore Front Music Literature,
Inc. for the wonderful Friday night banquet, and again, to Paul
Orkiszewski for hosting the banquet at his home on Friday evening.
While I'm expressing gratitude, I'd like to include two more people.
First, to Jennifer Ottervik who is doing a wonderful job with Breve
Notes. She has given it such a professional look, and I am thrilled!
Similar good things have been done for our chapter website, and we
have Karen Jung to thank. She has taken an already great site and
reorganized it to make it easy to use and even more pleasing to the
eye. Remember, that site can be found at:
http://www.selu.edu/orgs/SEMLA. Our interim meeting, which will be
held during the MLA meeting in Los Angeles, is scheduled for 7:30
p.m. - 9:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. Isn't it wonderful having an
officially sanctioned and scheduled meeting time for the chapters to
meet? Thanks for your support on this issue last year when we had
the Ad Hoc Chapter Committee Open Forum!
A VERY preliminary Agenda
follows:
Lois Kuyper-Rushing Head, Music Resources LSU Libraries Baton Rouge, LA 70803 ph: (225) 388-4622 fax: (225) 388-6825 lkuyper@lsu.edu[NEXT STORY]
It's Time for Another "Lost Sheep" Column
Now that SEMLA maintains separate dues and newsletter files for
mailing addresses, we have come across a number of members who have
allowed their memberships to lapse. The following people have not
renewed their chapter memberships as of Jan. 8, 1999. If you know
where any of them are or if your name appears on the list, we would
like to hear from you. We would like to know if either they have
moved out of the area (has their position been filled or cut), or if
they are still working with music materials in the chapter, why have
they allowed their memberships to lapse? We appreciate all comments.
Thank you.
Please send responses to:
Lynne Jaffe, SEMLA Secretary/Treasurer, 801 Bahia Dr., St.
Augustine, FL 32086 phone: (904) 630-2403 fax: (904) 630-2431
email: ljaffe@coj.net
Becker, Alan Helm, Troy Brock, Jennifer Jacobson, Lynnea Clark, Dan Klein, Jeffrey Doherty, Brian Laude, Maria Eanes, James Edward Melville, Marta Eckert, David Pope, Earla Jean Foote, Susan Ramage, Pat Frost, Guy Rudd, Andrea Graham, Amy Scales, Diann Gray, Nancy Schultz, Lois Guthrie, Tara Smither, Howard Haefliger, Kathleen Walden, Glenn Hedger, Joyce Williams, James, IIINEXT STORY]
MINUTES
Southeast Chapter, Music Library Association
Houston, Texas
October 17, 1998
Lois Kuyper-Rushing, Chair, presiding
(22 people present)
1. Minutes
The minutes of the February 12, 1998 meeting in Boston, Massachusetts
were approved as written.
2. Nominating Committee The Chair thanked the Nominating Committee:
Sarah Dorsey (Chair), Tim Cherubini, and Margaret Kaus for their work
in putting together an impressive slate of candidates for the offices
of Vice Chair/Chair-Elect and Member-at-Large. The slate was
announced:
Running for Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Neil Hughes and Dennis Wujcik
Running for Member-at-Large: Diane Pettit and Anna Neal
3. First-time Chapter Meeting Attendees
The Chair recognized and welcomed all of the first-time attendees:
Paul Gahn from the University of Alabama, Eric Peterson from Harid
Conservatory (and newly hired at the University of Miami), and David
Hursh from East Carolina University.
4. Treasurer's Report
Laurie Gibson, substituting for Secretary/Treasurer Lynne Jaffe, read
the treasurer's report:
Income
$2,385.41 Balance from NC account $ 37.00 Dues '97-'98 $ 396.00 Dues '98-'99 $ 215.00 Contributions $ 150.00 Donation for Oct. 1998 meeting reception from Marty Rubin $ 212.00 Meeting registrations $3,495.41 Total Income Expenses $ 12.75 Check printing $ 30.18 Office supplies $ 42.93 Total ExpensesBalance as of October 11, 1998: $3,452.48
5. Chair's Report
The Chair first thanked the Website Committee - the search committee
and Karen Jung, the new Webmaster. The search committee and Karen now
constitute the Website Development Committee.
The Chair acknowledged Jennifer Ottervik for the fabulous job she is
doing with Breve Notes.
The Chair expressed her great appreciation for the work done by
Roberta Chodacki, who now finishes her four-year commitment to SEMLA
as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past Chair. Roberta made a
substantial contribution to SEMLA during her two years as Chair and
has offered tremendous support to Lois with advice, answers to
questions, and helpful suggestions. Many thanks to Roberta.
The Chair also thanked Sarah Dorsey for the work that she has done as
Member-at-Large, both as program chair last year and as chair of this
year's Nominating Committee, and for her commitment to the chapter and
her lively spirit.
Special thanks were given for all of those people who made the joint
SEMLA/TMLA chapter meeting possible: host and Chair of TMLA, Paul
Orkiszewski, co-host Stephen Luttmann, and Laura Snyder. Lois
encouraged everyone to write and thank Paul for a wonderful meeting.
Program chair, Ed Komara, was thanked for his diligent work on the
program, and thanks were also extended to Rice University and the
University of Houston. Also thanked: Chuck Henry, University
Librarian at Rice University for the opening reception and the
shuttles; Christine Clark of Theodore Front Music Literature for the
banquet; Paul Orkiszewski for hosting the banquet, providing the
beverages and for breakfast on Friday; Keith Chapman, Rice University
for help with set-up; and David Tomatz, director of the University of
Houston Music School.
Thanks were also extended to the SEMLA and TMLA presenters: Kurt
Nauck, Steven Smolian, Ira Black, David Hunter, Clyde Holloway, Rose
Lange, and Laura Snyder.
The Chair reported that more than 20 letters of invitation to join the
chapter were sent out this year.
Members were reminded of upcoming meetings: the interim chapter
meeting in Los Angeles in March, 1999, and next year's chapter meeting
at Middle Tennessee State, Center for Popular Music.
6. Other Reports
Local Arrangements/Program Committee
Ed Komara reported that there were 22 attendees at this meeting from
SEMLA. Three were first-time attendees. There were no students.
Website
Neil Hughes read a report from Karen Jung. As of June 9, 1998, the
SEMLA website was moved to Southeastern Louisiana University. Some
changes have been made in the organization of the site, but not much
has been changed in the content. It now includes the Officers'
Handbook. The site gets about 17 hits per day, over 2,500 total.
They are planning to add an e-mail form for updates to the directory.
Karen thanks the website committee, Lois Kuyper-Rushing, and SEMLA.
Breve Notes
Jennifer Ottervik asked if there was any interest in an electronic
version of Breve Notes, either on the Web, or an e-mail version.
There was some concern about members' privacy in a Web version. Lois
Kuyper-Rushing expressed her preference for a Web version that would
leave out the SEMLA directory information. Jennifer said that it
would only be possible to put it on the Web as straight text. She
cannot send PageMaker files to Karen, and if she sent zip disks, they
would have to be returned to her. A decision was made that Jennifer
should send an e-mail to SEMLA-L saying that the issue is on the Web,
with the address, and also send the issue itself via e-mail. Neil
Hughes suggested that we should announce in the next Breve Notes that
we are considering an electronic version and ask people to contact
Jennifer if they have concerns. It was generally agreed that would be
a good idea.
7. New Business
There have been questions posted by the MLA Board and Convention
Managers about the chapter's willingness to host another national
meeting. It has been suggested that Florida would be a good site.
Lynne Jaffe had sent a note with some possibilities in the St.
Augustine-Jacksonville area. Unfortunately, there are not enough
music librarians concentrated in any one area in Florida, and it is
extremely difficult to plan a conference long distance. Neil Hughes
suggested the Raleigh-Durham area, but pointed out that transportation
is difficult to that area. Overall agreement from those attending is
that there is not enough interest (from local librarians) or
feasibility for a conference in the Carolinas; and there are not
enough MLA members in any one area of Florida to host a conference.
MLA prefers to work with a local group of MLA members and that does
not seem possible in Florida. Consensus was that we would not put
forward any suggestion from SEMLA to the MLA Board.
Neil Hughes brought up the question of how we are recruiting people in
the music library profession, especially catalogers. He is concerned
both with recruiting people, and about the problem that we are unsure
about the availability of jobs in the future. He wanted to know if
there is anything we can do as a chapter about these problems. There
was some discussion on the topic, including the need to encourage
administrators that people with music specialties are necessary where
there is a substantial music program and collection. Laura Dankner
suggested the need to have more chapter-level programs focusing on the
actual concerns of music librarians. There are more and more
generalists who do a little bit of music. We need to make sure that
those people have the support they need, either at the chapter level
or the national level, from MLA. There was no firm conclusion to the
discussion.
8. 1999 Meeting
Mayo Taylor invites everyone to Murfreesboro next year for the SEMLA
meeting. The dates are Oct. 20-22. Middle Tennessee State is 35
miles south of Nashville. The weather should be excellent there at
that time of year. She is also working to try to get other music
library people from the Nashville area to attend.
9. Future Meetings
Suggestions were solicited for the 2000 meeting site. The New Orleans
crowd put forth an offer. Loyola University's new library will be
opening this spring, and they would love to have people visit. Other
suggestions were Greensboro, where they are also moving into a new
facility, and there was a strong ground swell of support for a meeting
in Key West.
10. Election Results
Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Neil Hughes
Member-at-Large: Anna Neal
Thanks were expressed to all who ran for office.
Meeting Adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurie Phillips Gibson
with Lynne C. Jaffe, Secretary/Treasurer
[NEXT STORY]
Member News
Yale Fineman joined the staff of the Music Library at the end of November as User Services Librarian. Formerly a librarian in the Music and Art Division of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Yale will devote a good portion of his time to the transformation of our web pages, so keep tuned to our website: www.lib.duke.edu/music/index.htm. Also, Yale is a guitarist with a deep interest in Hispanic life and culture. He looks forward to meeting members of SEMLA in the near future.
Lois Schultz has helped to assemble, index, and unveil one of the
most recent contributions to Duke's Digital Scriptorium, a project
sponsored by The Library of Congress and the Ameritech Corporation
making available digital images of 3,042 pieces (in their entirety!)
of historic American sheet music dating from 1850 to 1920. Lois's
work on this project represents the culmination of her long-standing
interest in and involvement with sheet music. Among these pieces is
Duke's entire collection of Confederate sheet music, one of the most
extensive such collections in the country. Look for the material at:
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/
contributed by John Druesedow
Music Librarian
Duke University
The University of South Carolina Music Library has recently acquired three important special collections. The Edwin E. Gordon Archive has been established and named for the famous music educator who is currently Distinguished Professor-in-Residence at USC. Dr. Gordon and his wife, Carol, have donated more than 2,000 items representing more than forty years of research and work. The collection includes dissertations supervised by Gordon, all of his publications, letters, video and audio tapes of various seminars and workshops, and miscellaneous memorabilia. The contents of the archive have been indexed and are available via the archive website: http://www.sc.edu/library/music/gordon.html. The other two collections acquired contain original manuscripts by Henry Cowell and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, respectively. The Castelnuovo-Tedesco collection also includes many letters, diaries, and his unpublished autobiography. The contents of both collections will soon be available on the USC Music Library web page (http://www.sc.edu/library/music/music.html) as a project to mount our special collections on the web via a searchable database nears completion.
Jeff Whitson (University of South Carolina) and his wife, Stephanie, are the proud parents of not one, but two baby boys! Alexander Michael and Zachary Jonathan were born one minute apart on September 21.
[NEW STORY]
A Note from the Editor...
It's hard to believe it has already been one year since I began
editing Breve Notes. Each issue has presented new and unique
challenges. Most of the changes in Breve Notes have been to its
physical format. Now it is time to focus on content. The series of
articles about different libraries and collections in the Southeast
will continue. Although I have several ideas for articles which I
believe to be helpful and informative to SEMLA members, I welcome
your suggestions and ideas. Our collaborative efforts help Breve
Notes attain its maximum potential.
One matter of business I would like to raise is the consideration of
posting an electronic version of Breve Notes on the SEMLA web page.
At the Houston business meeting, the group decided that a text
version of Breve Notes should be posted on SEMLA-L as well as the
SEMLA web page. If you have objections or concerns about this,
please contact me, so we may reconsider, if necessary. Regardless,
the directory will not be posted to either SEMLA-L or the website.
Let me close by expressing to you what a privilege it is for me to
serve SEMLA as the editor of its newsletter. In this small way, I
can contribute to our chapter's continued greatness.
Hoping to see you all in LA,
Jennifer Ottervik
Music Library
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
phone: (803) 777-5425
fax: (803) 777-6508
e-mail: ottervikj@tcl.sc.edu
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