Dances For Camera 2013 - Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow

The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is so pleased to be working with the San Francisco Dance Film Festival again to bring dance films to the public. This year we will be screening the feature length film Never Stand Still, the winner of last year’s San Francisco Dance Film Festival, on Thursday, March 25th at 6pm in the Koret Auditorium.

Legendary dancers and choreographers Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Suzanne Farrell, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison and Bill Irwin appear alongside new innovators to reveal the passion, discipline, and daring of the world of dance in Never Stand Still. Filmed at the iconic Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, this thrilling documentary features amazing performances by world-renowned dancers interwoven with intimate interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and rare archival footage.

Never Stand Still will be screened at 6:00 in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library.  This program is supported by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

All Library programs are free and open to the public.

The following resources are available at the library to learn more about the art of filming dance:

Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image by Erin Brannigan (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, Judy Mitoma, editor (Routledge, 2002).

Filmdance Festival: A Project of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation at the Public Theater, New York, Nov. 29-Dec. 11, 1983, Amy Greenfield, catalog editor (The Foundation, 1983).

The Conflicts - an exhibit on the 4th floor through July 6, 2013

Local artists Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth recently their fellowship at the de Young producing over many years a series of tapestries, the replicas of which are now on display on the fourth floor of the Main Library. Inspired by research that began within these library walls, the triptych reflects three fundamental conflicts in literature, the conflict of human versus nature, human versus himself/herself, and human versus human.

The Conflicts Tapestries - image courtesy of the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum

As described on the de Young website, “the first [tapestry], Allegory of the Monoceros, illustrates the end of Darwinian natural selection and the growth of human-centric evolution. The second, Allegory of the Infinite Mortal, portrays a garden for contemplation of the scientific and philosophical structures humans have used throughout history to explore the concepts of infinity and immortality and our place therein.” The third tapestry, Allegory of the Prisoner’s Dilemma focuses on “how human evolution has been driven by a combination of cooperation and competition in the face of conflict,” using images of iconic architecture to create a historic timeline in the form of a Tower of Babel.

Study drawings and symbolism keys are displayed alongside the artwork. The library exhibit also includes information about the tapestry weaving process as translated from paper to textile by Magnolia Editions (Oakland). To learn about the artists' research, these books are available for checkout.

The Artists' Library Books - image courtesy of the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum

This exhibit is jointly presented by The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public and the de Young Artist Fellows. It will be display from April 6 through July 6, 2013.

Comparisons of Music Indexes and Databases

Below is a comparison of online databases and print indexes.

Databases:

Music Index Online -

• primarily an index, has limited full text, is strictly limited to music as a subject
• index from the early 1970s, full text from the early 1990s
• indexes peer-reviewed journals, magazines and trade publications
• many citations include an abstract
• uses a controlled subject vocabulary, has an excellent system of filters to refine the search
• Search can be combined with other Ebsco databases (such as Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, Film & Television Literature Index, Art Full Text, Art Index Retrospective)

A .pdf file detailing the periodicals indexed by the Music Index Online

JStor -

• primarily full text, covers all subjects
• index from 1899; often lacks full text for the most recent articles
• indexes only peer-reviewed journals
• can search within a periodical
• lacks a controlled subject vocabulary, advanced and Beta search allow for refinement
• full text of articles can be found in search engines

A listing of music periodicals indexed in JStor

Print Indexes

Music Index -

• print index only, from 1949 to 2009
• citations must be found in our catalog - through online sources, in our Magazine and Newspaper Center or through Interlibrary-loan
• each volume covers a year
• uses a controlled subject vocabulary that differs from Music Index online

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature -

• print index only, from 1967 to 1999
• includes abstracts
• extensive international coverage, mostly peer-reviewed articles
• citations must be found in our catalog, in online sources, in our Magazine and Newspaper Center or through Interlibrary-loan

Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums -

• print index only, covers 1936-9, 1956-1978
• in German, mostly peer reviewed articles

See also:

Searching Music Databases - a class on Tuesday evening, April 16, 2013 (blog entry 4/14/2013)
The Music Index Online (blog entry 12/12/2012)

Searching Music Databases - a class on Tuesday evening, April 16, 2013

Come to a demonstration of two library databases - The Music Index and JStor - on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 6:00 PM in the Sycip Conference Room on the 4th floor of the Main Library.

These databases index periodical articles about all styles of music.  They often include full-text that can be read online.  Although The Music Index is not considered to be a full-text database, it does contain the text to articles that are included in other Ebsco full-text databases.  It also includes the full-text to a seven volume reference encyclopedia - Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World.

Here is a list of magazines and periodicals that include full-text in the Music Index.

American Harp Journal
American Music Teacher
American Record Guide
ARSC Journal
Canadian Folk Music
Canadian Journal of Music
Canadian Music Educator
Canadian Musician
Canadian Winds
Classical Recordings Quarterly
Clavier Companion
Choral Journal
Computer Music Journal
Contemporary Music Review
Crescendo
Czech Music
Electronic Musician
Empirical Musicology Review
Entertainment Weekly
Ethnomusicology Forum
FADER
Fanfare
Flutist Quarterly
Fontes Artist Musicae
French Historical Studies
Harpsichord and Fortepiano
IAJRC Journal (International Association of Jazz Record Collectors)
Illinois Music Educator
International Journal of Community Music
Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music
Journal of Band Research
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Journal of Music, Technology & Education
Journal of Musicological Research
Journal of the International Horn Society
Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America
Journal of Voice
Latin American Music Review
Leonardo
Leonardo Music Journal Maverick
Mix
Music and Letters
Music Analysis
Music Education Research
Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography
Music Performance Research
Music Trades
Music Week
Musical Opinion
Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa
New Sound: International Magazine for Music
Notes
Offbeat
Opera Quarterly
Organ
Organists' Review
Popular Music and Society
Popular Music History
Pro Sound News
Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain
Recorder Magazine
Remix
Rolling Stone
Il Saggiatore Musicale Sing Out
Sondheim Review
Soundtrack
Stereophile
Strad
Studi Musicali
Teaching Music
World Harp Congress Review

Cypress String Quartet - Call and Response 13 at the Library

The Cypress String Quartet returns to the Library this Sunday at 2:00pm for another fascinating and mellifluous program in our Koret Auditorium.

For 13 years the Cypress String Quartet has presented the Call and Response program to expand chamber music repertoire and inspire all audiences’ imaginations.  This year, Call and Response is focusing on the influence of poetry in music and will feature a new work for string quartet and voice by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Higdon's piece is based on the poetry of former American Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin and is entitled "In the Shadow of Sirius." Higdon's new work is a response to the other string quartets -- "The Cypresses" arranged by the composer Antonin Dvorak for voice and string quartet, as well as Franz Schubert's 13th String Quartet known as "The Rosamunde."

The Cypress String Quartet will be joined onstage by soprano Christine Brandes for the performance.  This program will be a sampling of the program which will be performed in its entirety at the Herbst Theater on April 19th.

All Library programs are free and open to the public.

Dedication - Art and Music Department - 50th Anniversary

We just let an important anniversary date pass.  The Art and Music Department of the San Francisco Public Library was dedicated on March 7, 1963.

Prior to 1963 there were two distinct Art and Music departments housed at the old Main Library at the corner of Larkin and McAllister Streets. The Art Department was located on the 1st floor and the Music Department was located on the 3rd floor.  The Music Department, in fact, was the Library's first subject department.

The dedication began with a welcome from Library Commission President John M. Bransten.  The dedicatory address was made by Supervisor John J. Ferdon who was acting-Mayor in George Christopher's absence.  The event also featured a performance of Madrigals and Motets by Claudio Monteverdi sung by the San Francisco State University College Chamber Choir.

The opening day brochure also lists a number of distinguished guests, including a number of luminaries in the local arts such as Kurt Adler, Elmer Bischoff, Beniamino Bufano, Richard Diebenkorn, Lou Harrison, Andrew Imbrie, Darius Milhaud, and Antonio Sotomayor.  It's not clear how many actually came to the dedication, but Lou Harrison, a close friend of music librarian James Cleghorn and a long-time user of the music collection, was certainly there.

During the 1980s our department became known as the Art, Music and Recreation Department.  Upon our move to our present building we became the Bernard Osher Foundation Art and Music Center.  By the mid-2000s we assumed our present title - the Art, Music and Recreation Center.

Happy anniversary to us!