Breve Notes Banner
No. 65January 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:

  1. Approve the minutes from the Houston business meeting
  2. Report on the 1999 chapter meeting in Murfreesboro, TN
  3. Review host site choices for 2000 and 2001
  4. Chapter grant possibilities
  5. Other old or new business
Please send any additional agenda items to me. My address, phone and e-mail are listed below.
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, III
NEXT 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 Expenses
Balance as of October 11, 1998: $3,452.48
It was noted that our expenses for this meeting were nil because it was a joint meeting. This meeting was extremely successful. Other joint meetings have been less successful.

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


Home Who We
Are
Join
Today
Annual
Meetings
Breve
Notes
Libraries of
SEMLA
SE Music
Collections
MLA on
the Web
Site
Index
Last updated 10/13/03
©SEMLA