Music Research Works
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1625
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Item John Philip Sousa and ‘The Menace of Mechanical Music’.(Cambridge University Press, 2009) Warfield, PatrickIn 1906 Appleton’s Magazine published John Philip Sousa’s most celebrated—and vitriolic— article, “The Menace of Mechanical Music.” In it Sousa predicts that piano rolls and recordings will end amateur music making in the United States. Modern writers have often condemned Sousa as a hypocrite (the Sousa Band was itself a major recording ensemble) and chastised him for failing to see the cultural and financial benefits of mechanical music. But, in fact, Sousa’s article was part of a larger scheme to gain public support for the 1909 copyright revision. It was also just one step in Sousa’s lifelong battle for composers’ rights, a battle with five distinct phases: (1) the debate over the right of public performance precipitated by the success of Gilbert and Sullivan in the United States, (2) a test of the limits of contractual obligations between performers and managers, (3) the instigation of an international copyright law, (4) the battle over mechanical rights, and (5) the ability of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) to collect royalties as related to public performance.Item The Nature of Music(1987) Signell, KarlEthnomusicologist Karl Signell proposes a fresh approach to thinking about music. In twelve half-hour programs originally heard on National Public Radio (USA), The Nature of Music series offers new ideas from the experts, from musicians such as violinist Yehudi Menuhin, from scholars such as Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, and from people in the business such as record producer Amy Horowitz. It attempts a grand synthesis of old truths and recent discoveries about music, from psychoacoustics to biomechanics, from poetry to philosophy. By searching for universals, The Nature of Music asks what it means to be human.Item Music in a New World: America's Ethnic Traditions(1982) Signell, KarlMusic in a new world: America's ethnic traditions, a series of 26 half-hour audio programs, documents musical traditions brought to the United States by first-generation immigrants from around the world. Ethnomusicologist Karl Signell recorded their music and words on location across the country, from New York to Honolulu. Each program concentrates on a single ethnic group. Complete musical performances predominate; brief introductions by the program host and interviews with performers provide context. Further details and short audio samples can be found online: http://www.research.umbc.edu/eol/world/brochure.html