NLS: That All May Read

Instructional Cassette Recordings Catalog: Instruments

General

And the Band Played On
CBM 355
Describes the main instruments of the band and summarizes the principles on which they work. Includes a brief history of band music in America.

Instruments around the World
CBM 1467
Narrated by Andy Jackson.

The Voices of the Orchestra
CBM 224
Walter Damrosch discusses the human voice-the first musical instrument. Illustrated with musical examples by Haydn, Schubert, Handel, and Bach.

Brass

Ballad of the Brass
CBM 36
Introduction to brass instruments by members of the New York BrassQuintet. Demonstration of each instrument also includes discussion of theirhistory and versatility moderated by Thomas Scherman.

Brass Instruments, Parts 1-2
CBM 310-311
Walter Damrosch reviews the history of brass instruments and gives examples of ways composers have used them. Musical examples include compositions by Mendelssohn, Bach, Mozart, Wagner, and Meyerbeer.

Nuremberg: The Brass Makers
CBM 383, CBM 385
Discussion of Nuremberg's role as the center for production of fine brass instruments; sacred and secular works by Nuremberg composers Johann Staden and Johann Erasmus Kindermann, Johann Pachelbel, Georg Kaspar Wecker, and Johann Krieger.

Opposites Attract
CBM 638
Musicians John Barrows and Vera Brodsky illustrate the relationship of the piano to the French horn with many musical examples.

Electronic

Electronic Keyboards
CBM 1302
Vinnie Martucci discusses how to arrange music for synthesizers in a variety of styles. Concentrates on bass parts, rhythm sections, keyboard lead line parts, and overdubs. Teaches how to combine these different sounds to make the finished sounds of originally composed tunes or tunes written by others.

Glenn Gould on the Moog Synthesizer
CBM 244
Glenn Gould talks about the Moog synthesizer used in the production of the recording Switched-on Bach. Includes interviews with synthesizer performer Wendy Carlos and Canadian poet Jean Le Moyne.

Good Vibrations
CBM 204
An anthropologist examines the evolution of music and musical instruments. The discussion ranges from Bach to Moog synthesizers and Muzak.

Keyboard

The Harp and the Piano
CBM 261
Lecture on the development and uses of the harp and the piano. Musical examples include "The Waltz of the Flowers" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and a Hungarian rhapsody by Liszt.

The Immortal Piano
CBM 959
Intriguing story of the Siena pianoforte and its endurance through misuse, abuse, and final restoration. Music of Debussy, Bach, and Mozart is performed on it.

The Keyboard Instruments
CBM 250
Selections from Byrd, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, and Bart¢k are used in tracing the evolution of keyboard instruments.

Opposites Attract
CBM 638
Musicians John Barrows and Vera Brodsky illustrate the relationship of the piano to the French horn with many musical examples.

Percussion

From Cave to Cavern
CBM 1464
James Blades discusses the history of percussion instruments.

Percussion Discussion
CBM 153
The New York Percussion Trio demonstrates a variety of percussion instruments and their musical potential.

Percussion Instruments, Parts 1-2
CBM 210-211
Conductor and composer Walter Damrosch discusses the importance of percussion music in cultural life and how percussion instruments are used to define the intricate rhythms of dances in various countries. Examples illustrate the importance of percussion in the indigenous music of Africa, Arabia, Mexico, and South America.

Strings

The Glory of Cremona
CBM 914
The story of 250 years of superb violin making is told beginning with the Amati family and followed by Guarneri and Stradivarius. Ruggiero Ricci plays the musical selections on several instruments created by Antonio Stradivari, Joseph Guarneri del Gesu, Andrea and Nicolo Amati, Carlo Bergonzi, and Gasparo da Salo.

The Stradivarius
CBM 48
Members of the Stradivarius Society discuss the fine quality and unique tone of Stradivarius instruments.

The String Instruments
CBM 223, 225
Walter Damrosch illustrates how the string instruments can produce coloristic effects. Shows how the cello and double-bass violin produce the baritone and basso equivalents of the human voice.

String Orchestra
CBM 303
Three selections illustrating the changes in musical composition for strings-Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso in D minor for strings, Grieg's Last Spring, and Hanson's Concerto for organ, strings, and harp.

The Violin in Mr. Greenstreet's Window
CBM 972
Fictional life story of a violin which was on display in a pawnshop window.

Violins Old and New/Authenticity of Performance
CBM 1499
An investigation conducted by John Amis with Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zucherman, Parikian, and Charles Beare. Four violins are examined here: a Stradivarius, a Guarnerius, a 19th-century French instrument and an English instrument made in 1975, which won a competition for violin makers. An "authentic" performance is one which seeks to reproduce the performing conditions and style of the period when the music was written and to avoid anachronisms. George Malcolm here explains what this involves and the difficulties that might be encountered.

Woodwinds

The Flute and the Harp
CBM 256
Edna Phillips explains, demonstrates, and compares one of the first harps made with those used today. Flutist Samuel Baron joins Phillips in performing pieces arranged for flute and harp.

Mr. Hohner's Amazing Harmonica
CBM 348
History of the harmonica, concentrating on the influence of Matthias Hohner, who in 1857 produced the first modern harmonicas.

Woodwind Quintet
CBM 304
Demonstrates the great variety of color and expressiveness in a woodwind quintet of flute, clarinet, oboe, French horn, and bassoon in works of Percy Grainger, Maurice Ravel, Philip James, and Leo Sowerby. Narrated by Walter Damrosch.

The Woodwinds, Parts 1-2
CBM 335-336
Walter Damrosch discusses and illustrates the history of woodwind instruments and their relationship to the orchestra, using Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5 and the second movement of Schubert's C minor Symphony as examples.

The World of Woodwind
CBM 334
The New York Woodwind Quintet demonstrates and describes how woodwind instruments are played. Narrated by Yehudi Menuhin. Illustrated with numerous musical examples.

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Posted on 2010-08-25