March 1997 Number 66
Note: The online and printed editions of this newsletter may differ in content. IN THIS ISSUE
Greetings From The Chapter Chair
GREETINGS FROM THE CHAPTER CHAIR
At our recent Executive Board meeting at the Santa Monica Public Library, a discussion was raised about starting a column in our Newsletter which will highlight members of our local chapter who are active in the National MLA. As a new feature, we do intend to present to our local membership some of the many activities of our Southern California colleagues.
Of course, even the mention of National-level activities brings fondly to mind the enjoyable and memorable National Meeting which concluded in New Orleans just last month! Those of us who were fortunate enough to have been there all had a wonderful time in the partylike ambiance of The Big Easy. Certainly the weather was drier than the town, and the friendliness of the locals made our attendees even more amiable than usual! Important business was conducted, significant plenary sessions expanded our knowledge, and new and significant professional relationships were established.
Back home in Southern California, we are now looking expectantly toward our Spring MLA/SCC meeting, which will be held on FRIDAY, APRIL 18th, at CalArts in Valencia. We must thank Joan Anderson for her efforts in helping us plan and arrange our activities for the day! Please see more details inside this issue. I'm sure you will agree that this will be a great meeting which will appeal to our Media Librarian friends as well. Please forward the information about this meeting to other Librarians and paraprofessionals outside our membership. We'd like to make our existence more widely known.
Our special guest at the Spring meeting will be Jane Gottlieb, Librarian at the Juilliard School in NYC, and immediate past President of MLA. Serving as Chapter Liaison, Jane will be sharing with all interested parties information concerning our preparations to host the National Meeting in 1999.
Speaking of which, kudos to Kathy Glennan and Renee McBride for volunteering to co-chair the Local Arrangements Committee for MLA 1999. In this issue of our Newsletter, you will find an article and request for participation on Committees for Local Arrangements. The Board asks that EACH of you consider making some contribution of your efforts in this endeavor. We have much to do, but we are confident that all of it will be fun and rewarding.
I'm looking forward to seeing each of you at our exciting Spring meeting! Make your reservations now!
Don Brown
SPRING MEETING AT CAL ARTS: FRIDAY, APRIL 18
PROGRAM
MORNING SESSION
9:30 Registration, refreshmentsAFTERNOON SESSION
10:00 Sean Griffith, oral historian, will interview Pulitzer-Prize winning composer MEL POWELL; (information about conducting oral histories will be presented)
12:00 Buffet lunch, held on campus
1:15 Jules Engel, Professor of Animation at Cal Arts will make a lecture/presentation about Animation and Music on the Internet and what the future holds--several internet sites will be examined and demonstration shorts of animation will be viewed.
2:30 Tour of newly-reconstructed Institute and Library
3:00 MLA/SCC Business meeting
Our special guest in attendance at this meeting will be Jane Gottlieb, immediate past President of MLA National, and Librarian at The Juilliard School, who is serving as Chapter Liaison presently. Please help us welcome her to Southern California!
Parking is complimentary and is available in the first lot off the freeway!
If you intend to attend the meeting, please return the enclosed registration form and a check for $20 payable to MLA/SCC to Nanette Schneir, MLA/SCC Secretary/Treasurer, 16842 Livorno Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. The fee includes lunch.
MLA ANNUAL MEETING: LOS ANGELES, 1999
We've been talking about it for four years; but now it's time for action. The MLA Annual Meeting in 1999 has been scheduled for March 1-6 at the Biltmore. Renee McBride and I have agreed to co-chair the Local Arrangements Committee (LAC), and we need your help!
The responsibilities of the LAC are:
1. Host a concert (or some event) and/or reception (customary, but not required).2. Arrange for banquet entertainment and select banquet menu.
3. Provide local information for conference attendees.
4. Select a local printer to print the programs.
5. Select a program cover design and matching or coordinating nametag design.
6. Prepare registration packets (including local map and restaurant guide) and register conference attendees.
7. Arrange for a conference copy service and coordinate all authorized conference coping (handouts, registration packet inserts, etc.).
8. Arrange for local tours and transportation needs including transportation to receptions, concerts, and other events outside the conference hotel.
9. Invite local dignitaries to welcome the conference attendees.
10. Provide names/addresses of local newspapers and radio stations to the Publicity Officer.
To get involved in the planning process, you must be a MLA/SCC member in good standing. To indicate your interests, please return the enclosed form. A reply by April 4 (or as soon after as possible) would be appreciated.
Kathy Glennan
MLA/SCC FALL 1996 MEETING AT CAL STATE LA
The Fall meeting of MLA/SCC was held on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles. The program included a presentation on the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, located on the University campus, a tour of the Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, and presentations on the composer Roy Harris and the Harris Archive.
The morning began with a welcome by University Librarian, Douglas Davis. Then Ben Fonseca, recruiter for the High School for the Arts, assisted by students in the visual arts, dance, theatre and music, described the School's recruitment activities, its diverse student body, curriculum and atmosphere.
The school draws students from all over the county, and many travel long distances to attend. Funding comes from a variety of sources, both public and private. The students who spoke of their experiences were very positive, describing their intense involvement with the arts and the benefit of such a varied body of students. Generally the mornings are spent in traditional academic study, with the afternoons kept for artistic and performance studies.
A group of students--Tamara Aguilar (clarinet), Melissa Bee (flute), Elizabeth Cyran (oboe), Peter Huitzacua (horn), Ivory King (clarinet) and Samantha Pankow (clarinet)--then performed for us. The program began with a canon from the Suite, op. 57, by the French composer, Charles Lefebvre (1843-1917), winner of the Prix de Rome in 1870 and professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1895. Next we heard a Caprice for Clarinets by Clare Grundman, and the program ended with a Pastorale by Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937), another Prix de Rome winner (1882). It was apparent, both from their performances and their descriptions, that the students benefit greatly from the concentrated academic and artistic environment of the school.
The focus of the meeting then moved to the composer Roy Harris, with a presentation by composer John M. Kennedy. Kennedy studied with Leslie Bassett, William Albright and Fred Lehrdahl, graduated from the University of Michigan, and is now on the faculty at Cal State LA.
Professor Kennedy's presentation included biographical background, principal influences on Harris, and a discussion of his style. Harris grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, but after winning a competition that led to performances under Howard Hansen he left for the east coast, and then Paris for study with Nadia Boulanger. He was quite independent however: Boulanger called him her autodidact. He engaged in intensive study of music of the past, in both Paris and upon his return to the United States. His career included three commissions from Koussevitsky (Symphonies 1, 3 and 5), and included numerous teaching appointments all over the country.
Kennedy discussed the influences on his style of his early California years, folksong and worksongs, and his study of early music. He then compared four works from the 1930s--the Berg Violin Concerto, the Webern Concerto for Nine Instruments, the Bartok 5th String Quartet and the Harris Symphony No. 3-- identifying the stylistic elements of each. Despite his comparatively conservative style, Harris speaks with a unique American voice. He rejected the progressive styles of Schoenberg and Stravinsky and was not interested in current trends. Instead his style displays the influence of his early music studies, roughhewn background and interest in folksong.
During the afternoon session John Thornbury, Head Reference Librarian, Cal State LA, continued the Roy Harris presentation with two videos and a "show and tell" from the Harris Archive.
The first video clip was of a CBS report on the death of Harris in 1979. The second video was of an extended interview of Harris at his home in Pacific Palisades in July 1966. In this interview Harris describes how he came to be drawn to composition, and his view of the fine arts as the highest achievement of mankind.
In another segment he describes his approach to composition, the necessity of making a living, the importance of commissions and other practical contraints. He goes on to describe his wartime Symphony No. 3--in which he encapsulates a survey of the history of western music. He also discusses obstacles to performance of contemporary music, and the difficult choices faced by young composers.
After these video presentations we were treated to a description of the Harris Archive and presentation of some of the materials. The Archive was established in 1973, and includes memorabilia and correspondence donated by both Harris, and later by his widow, Johana. Examples of correspondents represented in the collection include Arthur Farwell, Howard Hanson, Leonard Bernstein, Sergey Koussevitsky, Otto Klemperer, Jascha Heifetz, Walter Piston, Olin Downes, William Schuman and Nicolas Slonimsky. Although there are some musical fragments in the Archive, the bulk of the Harris scores are located at the Library of Congress.
Our visit to Cal State LA included a tour of the very impressive Luckman Fine Arts Complex. The complex currently consists of a theatre, a small open air amphitheatre, and an art gallery. There are also plans for an intimate theatre to seat up to 300 that is yet to be built.
The concert hall features flexible seating, for 500, 700 or 1175, with similar acoustics in each configuration, and the stage is flexible enough to accomodate anything except the grandest of opera. A eclectic variety of programs are presented: dance, opera, orchestral and chamber music, jazz, drama, and comedy acts, with ensembles both large and small, and styles ranging from popular to the most serious.
When we visited, the gallery was hosting a fascinating touring exhibit entitled "Panoramas of Passage: Changing Landscapes of South Africa." Conceived shortly before the elections of April 1994, the exhibit consisted of art drawn from a variety of South African galleries and private collections, and aimed to exhibit the "coming together of cultures and harmony."
The day concluded with the Chapter Business Meeting. The three important items of discussion were: 1) the upcoming meeting at CalArts; 2) the 1999 MLA Meeting in Los Angeles; and 3) a proposed workshop for library paraprofessionals to be co-sponsored by the Council of Library Technicians (COLT). More information about the CalArts '97 and MLA '99 Meetings may be found in these pages.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES & THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FILM MUSIC PRESERVATION PROJECT
Paramount Pictures and the Society for the Preservation of Film Music have completed the task of cleaning, cataloging and preserving orchestral scores and parts for approximately 1500 feature film and shorts in a program designed to safeguard the musical legacy of Paramount Pictures. The first film studio to undertake a music preservation program of this magnitude, Paramount has completed its project at a time when scholars, students recording companies and the general public have become deeply interested in film music both current and from years past.
The collection, which spans the years from 1929 to the present, is currently stored on the Paramount studio lot in Hollywood. Long-range plans are to move it to a Los Angeles-area location yet to be determined that is accessible to scholars, musicians and students.
Although Paramount Pictures sold its pre-1948 films to MCA, it still maintains the publishing rights to the music for all the films it produced, from "Mission Impossible" to "The Ten Commandments" to some 1500 others through its publishing affiliate, Famous Music Corporation. Music from the original "Star Trek" series and other television shows is also included in the collection, as are composers' sketches, notes, conductor books and much more.
Among the composers represented are Elmer Bernstein, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, James Horner, Maurice Jarre, Henry Mancini, Alfred Newman, Basil Poledouris, Nino Rota, Lalo Schifrin, Victor Young, Hans Zimmer and many others.
The preservation work, which began in September 1995, involved seven months of intensive efforts by music preservation specialists and librarians. Not only does the preservation work secure the future of these materials, once endangered because of less-than-ideal storage conditions, but it also makes them more easily accessible.
Established in 1984, the Society for the Preservation of Film Music has led the effort to salvage and protect the film music legacy. The Society promotes the preservation of film and television music in all its manifestations: scores (sketches, orchestrations, orchestral parts), recordings (discs, tapes, music tracks), and documents (contracts, correspondence, cue sheets). For more information about the Society, or the Paramount Project, contact Jeannie Pool, SPFM, Box 93536, Hollywood, CA 90093-0536.
CONTRIBUTIONS WANTED!
Future issues of the newsletter will contain news of the activities of MLA/SCC members. Please send news of your activities, publications, exhibits, acquisitions of interest, projects, presentations etc. to the editors. Tell us about your colleagues too!
MLA/SCC EXECUTIVE BOARD
Chair: Don Brown, El Camino College
Vice Chair: John Thornbury, CSULA
Secretary/Treasurer: Nanette Schneir, Santa Monica Public Library
Members-At-Large: Renee McBride, UCLA
Joan Flintoff, UCLAPast Chair: Leslie Andersen, LACPL, Norwalk Regional Lib.
MLA/SCC Newsletter, No. 66, March 1997
Co-editors:
Stephen Davison, UCLA
Valencia Mitchell, Cerritos College
The MLA/SCC Newsletter is published three times a year. Please send articles, reviews, conference summaries, communications, and membership news to: Stephen Davison, UCLA Music Library, 1102 Schoenberg Hall, Box 951490, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1490; e-mail:sdavison@library.ucla.edu; phone: (310) 825-3369; fax: (310) 206- 7322 or: Valencia Mitchell, Cerritos College Library, 11110 Alondra Boulevard, Norwalk, CA 90650; (310) 860-2451, ext. 2416; fax: (310) 467-5002; e-mail: vmitchell@cerritos.edu
Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter