Notes for Notes

The Librarian and the Banjo is the title of a new film about the life and legacy of music librarian and musicologist Dena Epstein (b. 1916). In studying the history of slave music in the United States, Dena documented that, contrary to popular opinion, the banjo was brought to this country by slaves. The fifty-six-minute documentary was premiered 14 April 2013 at the Wisconsin Film Festival to excellent reviews, and will soon be available on DVD. Further information may be found at the Web site of the film's maker, Jim Carrier (http://jimcarrier.com/). Dena's biography and a list of her publications appear in Grove Music Online.

Michael Ochs

Columbus State University Libraries recently received a significant donation of solo and duo guitar music from guitar enthusiast Mr. Dan Blaylock. For several years Mr. Blaylock purchased performance scores and compact-disc recordings of primarily classical solo and duo guitar music as he traveled the world in his profession as a consultant drilling engineer. In the summer of 2011 the Schwob School of Music's professor of guitar, Dr. Andrew Zohn, contacted Mr. Blaylock regarding his impressive library. As a result, Mr. Blaylock generously donated his sizeable collection to the Columbus State University Music Library.

The Blaylock collection totals 5,439 scores and 623 compact discs (571 titles). This collection represents most all of the major and many lesser known composers for guitar and guitarists from all over the world. The repertoire covers several centuries, representing major sixteenth-century composers such as Joan Carlos Amat, Giovanni Foscarini, Francesco Corbetta, Robert de Visée, and Girolamo Frescobaldi, up through the present with composers such as Ned Rorem, Benjamin Britten, Elliott Carter, and Toru Takemitsu. In addition, major composers that did not specifically write for the guitar are represented by arrangements created by other composers, arrangers, and guitarists. A considerable number of compositions set for guitar are based on anonymous works handed down over the centuries. In addition to standard musical forms, this collection includes representations of traditional types of music associated with Spanish/Latin American guitar, such as the choro as well as many compositions based on folk music from around the world and both hemispheres. Of particular interest is the large number of contemporary compositions published by the composers' national music centers. Thus far, over one-thousand scores are cataloged and available through interlibrary loan.

Roberta Chodacki Ford
Columbus State University

The Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University is pleased to have recently received two national grants, as well as an important collection of personal papers. In collaboration with the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, the center was awarded a grant in excess of $127,000 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize, catalog, and provide Web-based public access to their American vernacular music manuscripts. These handwritten manuscripts, which date ca. 1730-1910, include commonplace books, copybooks, and single and double leaves. Each manuscript is unique, and each typically documents music making by a single person at a specific time and place and for a specific function. Since the manuscripts are primary evidence of musical taste or usage, they serve a scholarly function distinct from printed music, which typically documents only accessibility. This award, made under provisions of the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program, will enable the construction of an American Vernacular Music Manuscripts Web site featuring a searchable database and high-resolution images. A far-reaching aspect of the project is that it will create a manual of guidelines for cataloging vernacular music manuscripts so that other archives, libraries, and historical societies with similar manuscripts may catalog and make available their holdings.

The two collections to be cataloged and digitized hold fiddle/fife/flute dance tunes, hymns, songs, ballads, and keyboard pieces, totaling about 9,000 pieces of music. Together there are more than 8,000 manuscript pages in approximately 250 manuscripts, most of American provenance. A sense of the American Vernacular Music Manuscripts Web site and its intended function may be enjoyed by visiting the demonstration Web site at http://popmusic.mtsu.edu/AVMM/vernacular.html, and following the instructions...