The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag

Looking back to what is called the first Thanksgiving in 1621, we know the participants in this harvest festival or religious giving of thanks for the bounty were the Pilgrims and the First Nation tribe who had shared new world agriculture with the Pilgrims -- the Wampanoag. What we don't know about is the music from the gathering.

The music of the Pilgrims is more complex than their religious singing of psalms without instrumental accompaniment. Likewise, the music of the Wampanoag, while full of religious song, is much richer than that. Was there music at the feast? Who sang for whom? Were there instruments?

Today, Thanksgiving is filled with music -- from church music to the marching bands at the football games and the parades. May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy -- and music.

November 19th, 1868

On November 19th, 1868, the first presidential election after the civil war took place. That day, 172 women from New Jersey, including 4 black women, attempted to vote, in a test of the 14th Amendment. Needless to say, they were denied, so they put their uncounted ballots in a "women's ballot box" monitored by an 84 year old Quaker woman, Margaret Pryer.

Typical suffrage songs from around 1868 include "Female Suffrage," "Clear the Way, For Woman Voting," and "Woman is Going to Vote."

Of the 5.7 million votes cast in the election, 500,000 were cast by black men, including former slaves who had just won the right to vote. U.S. Grant's margin of victory in the popular vote was only 300,000 votes, although he readily won the Electoral College. American women wouldn't gain the right to vote throughout the country until 1920.

Nebraska Music Educators 75th

Congratulations to the Nebraska Music Educators Association on 75 years. The music educators -- school and college music teachers -- have given many Nebraskans their introduction to music as an activity that can be enjoyed throughout their lives.

NMEA is meeting in Lincoln this week with programs, clinics, formal presentations and other activities for professional development and continuing education. Many young musicians will be in attendance, too, performing in their selected school ensembles or in All-State band, chorus, orchestra, or jazz band.

The gala opening tonight is A Concert and Conversation with Peter Buffett. The public is welcome, and tickets are available through the Lied Center box office. More information is available on the NMEA website.

Again, congratulations to the Nebraska Music Educators Association from the Polley Music Library. May there be many more years filled with music.

Got Sax?

Adophe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone was born on Nov. 6, 1814. Even as a child, Sax was working on "improving" various wind instruments. He attended the Brussels Conservatory, where he studied clarinet and flute. In 1842, Sax took a metal reed instrument he called the saxophone to Paris, and won a silver medal in the Paris Exposition of 1844. He finally won a gold medal in 1849 at the Paris Industrial Exposition. While ridiculed by critics and other instrument makers, composers such as Berlioz and Rossini supported his innovations. Sax taught sax at the Paris Conservatory from 1858-1871. Sax died in 1894, and interest in the instrument declined until it was taken up by jazz bands. And the rest is history.

I Feel the Earth Move

The first song that came into my head this week, as I heard about the moderate earthquakes in Colorado and the East Coast, was Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move. I was here in the Polley Music Library when I heard about the quakes, and I know from experience that "I feel the earth move under my feet" is the usual feeling in an earthquake (although I went through a few as a child oblivious to what was going on).

For those people who don't expect quakes because they don't live in "earthquake country," earthquakes may be frightening. As a child I learned to "duck and cover" for earthquakes (just like for civil defense drills). Get under a sturdy table or desk and protect your head. I also learned as a child that another place to ride out an earthquake is in an interior reinforced doorway, where the frame may provide some protection as the building sways. The bookstacks in a library are not the place to be in a quake, as not just the books, but the book stacks themselves, may sway to the point of failure, crushing anything in the path on the way down. Leave the book on the shelf and get to safety away from the book stacks -- then duck and cover, or these days, "duck, cover and hold."

May all your library visits be safe ones.

The Eagle Has Landed

Space shuttle Atlantis arrived home just before dawn this morning, ending thirty years of NASA shuttle flights. The wake-up song for the astronauts on the final day of this last mission was "God Bless America" by Kate Smith. Wake-up song? That's right, for every space shuttle mission since the Apollo Program in the 1970s, the capsule communicator back on earth has selected the music that is transmitted to the shuttle to act as an alarm clock for the astronauts. Music for this mission included songs by Coldplay, Beyonce, Kool and the Gang, and ELO, among others. Head over to the NASA website to check out more details about the artists selected, and for great video coverage of the shuttle as it orbited earth.

Release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Soundtrack

The wildly popular Harry Potter series began humbly in June of 1997 when Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone, as it is known in the US) was published with an initial print-run of only 500 hardback copies. This Friday, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the final film adapted from the series, will be released in theaters across the country. For those of you who can't wait, the soundtrack was released today.

As anyone who loves music or film knows, the soundtrack plays a critical role in capturing the mood and flow of the story. This score, written by Alexadre Desplat, is no exception. Even the song titles act as a kind of "spoiler" for the action that will be seen on the big screen this Friday.

Desplat is the final of four composers to score the films, following Nicholas Hooper, Patrick Doyle, and John Williams, who scored the first three films and came up with the original and memorable musical themes heard throughout the series. David Yates, the director of the final films, says that Desplat included "Hedwig's Theme" (by Williams) during any moment in the film that felt nostalgic or relflective of the past. But the bulk of this score is exciting, new material composed to fit the dark mood and the intense action. Desplat was resposible scoring huge battle scenes, the deaths of major characters, true love, and new beginnings for characters that millions of people have grown up with and have grown to love.

While you are counting down the minutes to the release of the final film, stop by Polley Music Library to check out soundtracks from the Harry Potter series, and even some sheet music to play at home!