Music and Dance
Clientele: The Music Collection serves the needs of the faculty and students of the Music Department and the Dance Program as its primary mission. This includes a relatively small number of undergraduate majors, a large population of undergraduates who take music and dance courses but do not major in the subject, graduate programs in three articulated fields: musicology, which can be subdivided into music history, music theory, and ethnomusicology; composition and historical performance practice. In addition, the collections support primary research being carried out by members of various other departments in the University, including History, Psychology, Anthropology, Physics, English and German Studies. The collection is also regularly used by area studies and minority studies programs. Existing Collection: Overall Music: ECS 4W; Dance: ECS 3F Current Collecting: Overall Music: CCI 4W; Dance: ECS 3F The collection has three separate elements: the literature of the discipline; the music itself; and audio/visual manifestations of the works. Each of these segments requires its own explanation. Literature of music and dance: The Music Library currently collects, as comprehensively as money allows, the scholarly literature about music. With the exception of East Asian and Southeast Asians materials in the vernacular, which are collected and housed in the Wason and Echols collections, the Music Library buys as extensively as possible from all parts of the world. That is not to say that every subject is collected at research level. The history of organs is collected at level 3F, although we have been buying more materials recently as the Cornell organ renaissance has developed (and with the generous support of a relatively new endowment), music education at 2E, and all dance materials, except those in the history of dance, at level 3E. Dance history is collected more broadly because we have music scholars and graduate students in music and in other disciplines using this material. The library acquires important titles in all western European languages and in those non-western languages that support the University's area studies programs. Printed music: The library collects as broadly as it can in the art music of the western world. For selecting 20th century compositions, Music Department faculty and the Music Library selectors compile a dynamic list of composers whose works particularly interest faculty and students working and studying at Cornell. Selectors buy the publications of works of these composers according to one of three levels assigned in the list. Selectors purchase most music by women art music composers, of whatever time period, as it is available. With respect to music of earlier periods, selections of new editions represent those items that contribute something new to the collection-- either because they represent a better edition or a different manifestation, for example a score and a vocal score, a set of performing parts, or a libretto of a work as appropriate. For some works the library has a whole history of editorial practice represented on the shelves. While most of the music of other cultures does not appear in print manifestations, the library attempts to acquire what is available. Some cultures produce more materials than others because they have a stronger notated tradition. Popular and vernacular music: Music selectors acquire a representative sample of the music of our own popular culture. We try to determine what music is having an influence on our culture and to acquire works by most of the leading groups as it becomes available in anthologies. We buy even more selectively in the popular musics of other cultures. Audio/visual materials: The policy for buying recordings of contemporary music parallels that for printed music except that the library has had blanket orders for several major series of contemporary American musi, sat least one of which ahs now ceased.. We buy interesting new recordings of the canonical works, that is those where the performance represents some new insight into the work, but not all of the recordings of them that are released. As with printed music, the works of women composers are of particular interest. Although it is very difficult to get recordings made in third world countries without buying them on-site, the library adds as broad a range of musics of other cultures as possible. We collect a representative sample of our own popular culture. We collect video recordings including of late DVDs of musical theatre and opera, of jazz performances and of performances of musics of other cultures. We also collect videos of classical ballet, modern and historical dance. Dance video materials are extremely expensive and we have had to limit the number we can afford to add to our collection each year. Subjects Covered: All of the M (Music) classification; GV 1580- (Dancing) Geographical Information: no geographical restrictions Exclusions: See above
revised, September 2003
