Not the Sound of Silence Footnoting the Pop/Rock Sounds of the Library
While in the University of Arizona's Music Library evaluating their reference collection for a class project, I came across the following book and annotated it for my pathfinder:
Green, J. (2002). The Thematic Guide to Popular Music, Nashville: Professional Desk References.
This massive guide categorizes music by lyrical theme(s) and/or song titles. For instance, there are listings of songs by days of the week, women's first names and cities around the world. The perennial themes of love, romance and relationships are broken down into 25 sub-categories.
Paging through it spurred me to wonder about songs written about or songs referring to libraries or librarians. While there were song listings galore referring to books (e.g., "Book of Love" by the Monotones and "Little Red Book" by Burt Bacharach/ Hal David), librarians and libraries were not even a category, subcategory or even crossed-referenced! This void gave me the impetus to do my own brief exploration and survey, drawing upon the vast resources of the web, friends, and my record collection, of the brief instances where the music world danced in library land.
Tori Amos-"Tales of a Librarian"
Classmate and Health Science librarian Virginia Sanchez filled me in on this one. I looked it up on Allmusic.com and found it was a collection of her hit songs. The record reviewer MacKenzie Wilson even writes, "Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection is not only one of the most intriguing titles for a hits compilation, but the package itself captures only the best from Amos' years spent with Atlantic."
BiblioTech editor Lori Ito Hardenbergh recently mentioned that songs on this album are even organized according to the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system! Check out the following link from Library Journal, which succinctly provides "an abstract" to her recorded tales: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA341766
The Librarians
A now defunct power-pop band from Oakland, CA who used librarian stereotypes as part their shtick. For example, their band logo includes an illustration of a pair of black-framed glasses with one shattered lens. A photograph of the same motif appears on the back cover of their lone CD (properly clogging the used CD racks of the Bay Area). While they do have a song titled "Peace & Quiet, " I would have bestowed them all with "Superstar Reader" awards if they recorded a concept album where every song had a library theme.
Librarians are defined as “a person, typically with a degree in library science, who administers or assists in a library.” In truth, they are much more than that. In a recent interview with Traci Glass, the Teen Librarian at the Eugene Public library, we explored her personal story with becoming a librarian, including how it has benefitted and affected her life.
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
This work is directly inspired by Der Blaue Reiter Almanach. Primarily a work of prose, it consisted of plays, essays by leading artists and musicians detailing works of the era, and commentary on art, music, theater, and related subjects. The Brooklyn Rider Almanac is conceptually a modern recreation of this idea in music, in that musicians are providing a commentary of artists or their work through their music. In a way, The Brooklyn Rider Almanac approaches the idea of cross-disciplinary art from an opposite prospective as the Onomatopoetic Project. Many of the works presented during the concert as a part of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac were inspired by looking an artistic muse or idea as an inspiration to create music that reflects the muse. Artists from classically trained composers to jazz and rock musicians contributed to this collection of works, and the results are both fascinating and inspiring. One great example of this is Necessary…Henry by Albanian Cellist Rubin Kodheli. Inspired by the jazz musician Henry Threadgill, this work incorporates the styles of rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix into and what could be perceived as the farthest possible medium from rock: the string quartet. Like Threadgill’s earlier use of non-jazz instrumentation and ideas in jazz works, Kodheli uses sounds from the rock genre like virtuosic guitar-like riffs, rock groves, and highly
"Songs and the Civil Rights Movement." Songs and the Civil Rights Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
8. Waley, Arthur, and Joseph Roe. Allen. The Book of Songs. New York: Grove, 1996. Print.
I memorized Don Mclean’s American Pie in grade school, before I fully understood its relevance or who it spoke to. The haunting lyrics fascinated me and left a trail of inexplicable shivers down my arms. How could music die? I couldn’t comprehend the wistful look on the adult’s faces when they talked about that day. It’s hard for children to grasp that look or the deep place where it originates. I vaguely knew of those three but not really, so I just nodded my head along. I didn’t know about Waylon Jennings or that a spot on
Willoughby, David. "Chapter 11." The World of Music. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 249-53. Print.
Resilience is having the motive to go through hard times and ‘bounce back’ from them and learnt how to deal with certain situations. To be resilient you must have a positive point of view on life. Anh’s book ‘The happiest refugee’ He was born into a 1970’s Vietnam, He and his family were forced to leave their country due to seeking safety and freedom from war. Anh uses resilience through his comedic, selfless actions. Resilience has allowed Anh to improve the quality of his life, and the lives of those around him.
Resilience and hardiness has long been a topic of research and discussion within different paradigms and fields of study, for example, in military psychology, psychiatry, health statistics and measurement, medical anthropology, education, medicine and organizational settings. Resilience means the skills, abilities, acquaintance, and insight that accumulate over time as people struggle to conquer adversity and meet challenges. It is an ongoing and developing fund of energy and skill that can be used in current struggles (Saleebey, 1996; Liebenberg, 2005).Most commonly, the term resilience has come to mean an individual's ability to overcome adversity and continue his or her normal development.
Resilience is not an attribute or personality characteristic of an individual but a dynamic process wherein people show positive adaptation despite experiences of major adversity or trauma. (LUTHAR & CICCHETTI, 2000) Resilience is a two-dimensional construct regarding adversity exposure and the proper adjustment outcomes of that adversity. (LUTHAR & CICCHETTI, 2000) The two-dimensional construct means implies two judgments about the significance of adversity and a positive adaptation to adversity. (Masten & Obradovic, 2006).
Having a positive attitude is important when it comes to being resilient, as in order not to dwell on difficult situations a person must look at the brighter side of things, and remain positive even if they face difficulties that make them angry or sad. Being optimistic is also a positive factor in being resilient, as optimism ensures that the person is hopeful for the future and wants to look forward rather than back into negative past experiences. The ability to regulate emotions allows a person to get in touch with their emotions and to know what triggers different emotions and why, this is important in being resilient as if the person can regulate their emotions they can then move forward and not let their emotions get in the way of their everyday life. The ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback rather than a negative aspect, is an obvious feature in a person who is resilient, as to be resilient you would have to learn from your mistakes rather than dwell on them. American Psychological Association’s definition of resilience, while similar to other definitions, indicates that a person who is resilient adapts well when encountering sources of
Oliver Strunk and Leo Treitler, eds., Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998), 897.
Nunzio, Alex Di. "Trevor Wishart." musicainformatica music computer resources. 1 6, 2012. http://www.musicainformatica.org/topics/trevor-wishart.php (accessed 1 3, 2014).
Resilience; the word may seem foreign but it actually shines in some of the most difficult times. Resilience strikes courage into the heart of the most anxious person, and it makes the most difficult task turn into the easiest. Now, the question may be asked: if a difficult task, that seems impossible to overcome is presented, why might it seem so hard to be resilient? Well, although it may seem that resilience depends on the difficulty of the adversity, it depends on the strength of the person affected by the adversity and it’s their own choice they make whether they overcome it or not. In the articles How People Learn To Become Resilient, The Deafening Silence, 15 Common Defense Mechanisms, and Jericho, the contrast is show that while people
Burkeholder, Peter J. et al, A History of Western Music, New York, W.W. Norton & Company Ltd, 2010. 626 -632