Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:09 pm
I received this from Jean Cunningham. I thought about forwarding it to the musicians I know, and then realized that they all read this, and probably others would find it here as well. The Paramount Theater Music Library includes silent film music, but also a lot of music that originally belonged to radio big bands through the 1940s.
Welcome to the first newsletter from the Paramount Theatre Music Library, Vol. I, No. 1!
I'm happy to report that we are making progress, inching closer to fulfilling our Mission:
“The Paramount Theatre Library of Popular Music exists to identify, preserve, and make available historically significant printed music and related material from about 1880 to the mid-1950s.” Thus, much of our present activity concerns developing and maintaining a searchable online database.
Thanks to some very dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers, there are now over 180,000 records in the database, and we still have quite a few cartons of unknown content to be cataloged. Having started from zero, we are very proud of this achievement. There are also thousands of incomplete records which contain only the original index card notations of title and call number. As the material passes through our hands, additional data for each record is added. As we continue to enhance the catalog records, our collection becomes more accessible through many fields: Version, Composer, Arranger, Lyricist, Dance Form, Ethnic Culture, Regional interest, Instrumentation, Soloist, Artist’s Name, Sound Recording, Cover Art, Place and Date of Publish. However, searching by the title of the work continues to be the best way to find a desired item. Pertinent information as mentioned above is always helpful in choosing from the many versions of a given title that may be in the Library.
As a result of the recent inception of our website, http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org, and very favorable media publicity (including this article in the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org/chronicle011711.html, we have received several donations of interesting vintage vocal and instrumental music. We were especially intrigued by a book (weighing 6 lbs!): "Motion Picture Sounds", compiled by Erno Rapee, was a standard source for silent film music. This copy belonged to a pianist at a movie house in South Carolina.
The favorable publicity has also produced modest monetary yield, but every bit is welcome and needed. In addition to cataloging, attention must be paid to archiving and preserving the music. This is a huge task, for which we will need outside support and funding. It is undoubtedly a worthy goal because much of our material is unique and of historical and artistic value as well as its obvious use for entertainment. See our website for ways to make tax-deductible contributions of money and/or music (http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org/donate.html). We encourage you to do so.
I attended two interesting conferences last spring. The Society for American Music (SAM) met in March in Cincinnati. Many of the presentations were of purely academic interest but there were also topics relevant to our library, and some fine concerts of music by Sousa and others. The second conference was in May at the California Institute of the Arts (CIA). This was a joint meeting of the Music Library Association Northern and Southern chapters (MLA/NCC + MLA/SCC). Many members of the Southern chapter are connected with the film industry and spoke on fascinating topics alien to most outsiders. Distributing business cards and fielding questions have resulted in inquiries from the SAM folks about topics and from MLA members about titles.
This newsletter is being sent only to those for whom we have email addresses. Please share with any and all who may be interested and encourage them to join our email list.
Happy Holidays!
Jean Cunningham, Librarian
Paramount Theatre Music Library
2025 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612
info@paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org" target="_blank
jcunningham@paramounttheatre.com" target="_blank
510.893.2300 ext.810
Fax: 510.893.1894
Welcome to the first newsletter from the Paramount Theatre Music Library, Vol. I, No. 1!
I'm happy to report that we are making progress, inching closer to fulfilling our Mission:
“The Paramount Theatre Library of Popular Music exists to identify, preserve, and make available historically significant printed music and related material from about 1880 to the mid-1950s.” Thus, much of our present activity concerns developing and maintaining a searchable online database.
Thanks to some very dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers, there are now over 180,000 records in the database, and we still have quite a few cartons of unknown content to be cataloged. Having started from zero, we are very proud of this achievement. There are also thousands of incomplete records which contain only the original index card notations of title and call number. As the material passes through our hands, additional data for each record is added. As we continue to enhance the catalog records, our collection becomes more accessible through many fields: Version, Composer, Arranger, Lyricist, Dance Form, Ethnic Culture, Regional interest, Instrumentation, Soloist, Artist’s Name, Sound Recording, Cover Art, Place and Date of Publish. However, searching by the title of the work continues to be the best way to find a desired item. Pertinent information as mentioned above is always helpful in choosing from the many versions of a given title that may be in the Library.
As a result of the recent inception of our website, http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org, and very favorable media publicity (including this article in the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org/chronicle011711.html, we have received several donations of interesting vintage vocal and instrumental music. We were especially intrigued by a book (weighing 6 lbs!): "Motion Picture Sounds", compiled by Erno Rapee, was a standard source for silent film music. This copy belonged to a pianist at a movie house in South Carolina.
The favorable publicity has also produced modest monetary yield, but every bit is welcome and needed. In addition to cataloging, attention must be paid to archiving and preserving the music. This is a huge task, for which we will need outside support and funding. It is undoubtedly a worthy goal because much of our material is unique and of historical and artistic value as well as its obvious use for entertainment. See our website for ways to make tax-deductible contributions of money and/or music (http://www.paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org/donate.html). We encourage you to do so.
I attended two interesting conferences last spring. The Society for American Music (SAM) met in March in Cincinnati. Many of the presentations were of purely academic interest but there were also topics relevant to our library, and some fine concerts of music by Sousa and others. The second conference was in May at the California Institute of the Arts (CIA). This was a joint meeting of the Music Library Association Northern and Southern chapters (MLA/NCC + MLA/SCC). Many members of the Southern chapter are connected with the film industry and spoke on fascinating topics alien to most outsiders. Distributing business cards and fielding questions have resulted in inquiries from the SAM folks about topics and from MLA members about titles.
This newsletter is being sent only to those for whom we have email addresses. Please share with any and all who may be interested and encourage them to join our email list.
Happy Holidays!
Jean Cunningham, Librarian
Paramount Theatre Music Library
2025 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612
info@paramounttheatremusiclibrary.org" target="_blank
jcunningham@paramounttheatre.com" target="_blank
510.893.2300 ext.810
Fax: 510.893.1894
Rodney Sauer
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
www.mont-alto.com
"Let the Music do the Talking!"
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
www.mont-alto.com
"Let the Music do the Talking!"