With this post, I am launching a new series called "Useful sites & posts." This series continues the focus on resources readily available online, especially those that offer context, analysis, or interpretation that might be, yes, useful for class activities, assignments, and papers. At the end, I've provided a list of nine previous blog posts (these are mostly from 2018) that are similar in intent and could have been included in a series like this.
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Here is the main link to the Library of Congress's blog "In the Muse": Performing Arts Blog": link. There is a most helpful "Categories" tab near the top.
From the now more than 1000 entries (!!), here are a few that might be of interest to HtM students and instructors. All are valuable for providing production and other historical context grounded in LOC-held documents and collections.
West Side Story: link.
State Fair, "It Might as Well be Spring": link.
The Sound of Music, "My Favorite Things": link.
Star Trek: Two Versions of the Opening Theme: link.
A Look Back at A Streetcar Named Desire: link.
Film Music from 1923 and the Public Domain: link.
Richard Robbins and the Music of Merchant-Ivory: link.
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Appendix: Items from this blog in 2018 that also fit my category of "useful posts":
A Man Escaped (Bresson, 1956). Dec 8, 2018.
Nathan Platte on Gone with the Wind (and others). May 4, 2018.
Christopher Doll on The Inception. Apr 27, 2018.
La La Land and Top Hat -- comparison. Apr 21, 2018.
Hollywood Musicals Quiz. Apr 14, 2018.
Film music and psychology (articles by Si-Liu Tan). Apr 7, 2018.
Linda Shaver-Gleason on Beethoven’s Deafness. Feb 4, 2018.
Reba Wissner on Hearing the Unseen. Feb 3, 2018.
Jonathan Godsall on pre-existing music. Jan 31, 2018.