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Local Archives, Global History: Post 6 By Matt Darnold

This two-part series will first demonstrate Dr. Helen Hewitt’s commanding place as a woman in musicology, taking a special interest in her time in Paris, which was an integral part of the shaping of the UNT Music Library as it is known today. The second post will chronicle Hewitt’s relationships as a performing organist, and her dedication to UNT’s auditorium organ that almost caused her some legal trouble. Throughout both, one will readily see the lasting impression Hewitt has had on the university and on the field of musicology as a whole. She maintained a number of personal and professional connections across several academic fields and as a result, wielded a degree of influence and reverence that women have not been reflected as having in most histories of academia or musicology as a discipline. Hewitt made a name for herself during American musicology’s early years, and her letters demonstrate that success and her role as a helpful and kind scholar who was a resource to her university and her discipline. 

Dr. Helen Hewitt

Portrait of Dr. Helen Hewitt.

“Dr. Helen Hewitt… is one of the outstanding scholars of the faculty and has made her influence felt far beyond the confines of the School of Music or even of the college. Two years ago she was President of this chapter of AAUP (American Association of University Professors). She has held many offices in our local chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women). She is the perennial Chairman of the Graduate Music Committee… She has been nominated for presidency of the AMS for this next year.”

This quote from Dean Walter Hodgson to the Vassar College Vocational Bureau comes from the various correspondences found in the University of North Texas Helen Hewitt Paper Collection. It characterizes Hewitt as an influential and involved scholar who even during early years at UNT was making a name for herself both in her department as well as the field of musicology. Hewitt’s robust correspondence reveals that her knowledge and expertise was sought in the field. There are several letters asking her opinion on anything, from doctoral students, whom she had never met, manuscript transcriptions, to personal friends asking for her thoughts on other scholars who were being considered for university positions across the country. 

One correspondence that is particularly telling of Hewitt’s influence took place between herself and Hodgson from Fall 1947 to Summer 1948, which coincided with her Guggenheim Fellowship in Paris. Hewitt, at this time, was just being made a full professor in the School of Music at the North Texas State Teacher’s College, later to be known as the University of North Texas, where she had taught since 1942 while finishing her dissertation. These letters contain a mixture of personal and professional details ranging from concerns about the organ studio and the next year’s course schedule, to her living arrangements in Denton and membership in the French Musicological Society as a “foreign member.” Hodgson and Hewitt seemed to have a warm working relationship. Hodgson turned to her with a number of concerns and ideas. Hewitt wrote in a May 1948 letter that she “never wanted nor sought an administrative position… because [she] dislike[d] making judgments of even the most trifling consequences.” She had no problem, however, voicing her opinion on any and all matters in her letters to Hodgson. In the same letter she voices her concerns about the organ studio’s size, hoping to reduce it from 50 to 10 students. This correspondence is also one of the few in which we have Hewitt’s letters along with those she received, allowing us to recapture some essence of Hewitt’s own voice rather than just those who wrote to her. 

The highlight of Hewitt’s Paris letters is perhaps when Hodgson tasks her with scouring second-hand book stores in Paris for material to fill the school’s expanding Music Library, especially its organ collection. This quickly became a more general search for music, from opera scores to reference material, such as the well-known works of nineteenth-century Belgian musicologist and critic François Fétis. Hewitt seemed to embrace this task hardily, based on the enthusiasm displayed in some of her early letters, or she at least took it on eagerly as a young professor who was still establishing herself in her position at NTSC. A notable amount of money was granted to the Music Library at this time with around $700 eventually being sent to Hewitt in various installments to cover purchasing costs. There are also lists of the materials she acquired and shipped back to north Texas that likely remain in the library to the present. 

Hewitt became weary of this undertaking as time passed. In a March 1948 letter She sent an “S.O.S” in which she strongly tells Hodgson to get his “library committee together,” so she knew what books and scores to secure as she felt “uncertain” in making these decisions herself. She also forwarded a great deal of information on several possible purchases that would in her opinion benefit the library, such as three volumes of Couperin’s Pieces de Clavecin, all the volumes issued by the French Musicological Society, or “the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.” Around April 1948, Hodgson recommended that Dr. Doty of the University of Texas write to Hewitt for “a list of musicological items that NTSC was not going to purchase.” Hewitt showed her frustration to Hodgson in her response to him written on April 13, 1948 in which she chides him for not just crossing off the items of her previous list and sending it to Dr. Doty and says that “he can write them directly if he wants.” Here we find Hewitt in a relatable situation as a person overwhelmed by professional responsibilities while attempting to complete her own research, showing us that although she was a renowned and accomplished researcher and educator and this work helped to advance the school’s music library, academia had a number of challenges and obstacles that we still find today in the way of young scholars. 

Despite these early obstacles, Helen Hewitt was determined to fight for the best possible education for both her musicology and organ students. As an organ professor, she oversaw the maintenance and specifications of the school’s organ even during her research in Paris. In 1947, Hewitt received a phone call from Denton, which at the time was quite an undertaking, concerning the organ in the main auditorium. Hewitt had long indicated the need for a new organ console, and while in Paris, she corresponded with Dean Hodgson to guide the school’s negotiation and approval of a repair contract with the Möller organ company. This project awaited upon her return to Denton and presented many of its own unanticipated challenges for Hewitt as she established herself at NTSU. 

 

Editor’s note: Stay tuned for more research on Hellen Hewitt in the next post by Emma Wimberg. 

 

Citation:

[Dr. Helen Hewitt]photograph19XX; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc977101/accessed April 12, 2022), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.

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Local Archives, Global History: Post 5 by Anna Wodny

Today the University of North Texas Music Library is nationally recognized for its scholarly resources and special collections, but just over eighty years ago the entirety of UNT’s music collection fit inside a single storage closet. The music library’s rapid development may be largely attributed to Anna Harriet Heyer, who became the Southwest’s first full-time music librarian in 1940. Heyer served as the founder and head of the music library until 1965 and actively participated in UNT’s musical activities through the early 1990s. She is often depicted as the “isolated pioneer” of music librarianship because she entered the field in its early stages and worked thousands of miles away from other major music libraries, which were concentrated in the Midwest and along the East Coast (Bradley 2007). In a 1991 oral history interview, Heyer even used this term to describe herself, noting how her location made professional collaboration difficult (Heyer 1991). While Heyer was certainly isolated geographically, framing her life’s work in this way sidelines the rich and varied connections that she fostered locally and nationally throughout her career.
 
I must admit that my own research process began with an isolated mindset, and during my first few visits to the Edna Mae Sandborn Reading Room, where I worked through materials belonging to the Anna Harriet Heyer special collection, I approached her work from the perspective of a solitary individual working more or less alone. My initial objective was to reconstruct Heyer’s process of conceiving, compiling, and publishing her landmark bibliographical work titled Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music. The more time I spent with the collection, however, the clearer it became that Historical Sets was not the product of an isolated woman on the fringes of her field, but instead a highly collaborative endeavor that included librarians across the globe in sometimes surprisingly personal ways. Following this realization, I became increasingly interested in Heyer’s apparent knack for creating or contributing to communities: at UNT, across her profession, and in her personal life.
 
A large portion of Heyer’s archival collection consists of her prolific correspondence, and while most of her letters are professional, frequent personal touches and informal slips suggest relationships deeper than strictly business acquaintances. For instance, Heyer’s closest liaisons with the American Library Association, Marion Dittman and Pauline Cianciolo, often commented on the weather, asked after projects unrelated to her book, and celebrated Heyer’s success more enthusiastically than one might expect from professional contacts (Image 1).
 
 
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Image 1. Letter from Pauline Cianciolo dated 13 December 1972 (Box 26)

 
In a letter dated April 22nd, 1969, for example, Dittman invokes whooping Valkyries to congratulate Heyer on the upcoming publication of Historical Sets’ second edition (Image 2). Another business contact, Catherine Miller of Columbia University, also developed a personal relationship with Heyer. At one point the two women discussed collaborating on a manual that would help “isolated” librarians acclimate themselves to the profession; ironically, the physical distance separating them prevented this project from coming to fruition. Nevertheless, Heyer and Miller maintained a regular correspondence, discussing personal and professional matters, and occasionally sharing inside opinions about their field (Image 3).
 
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Image 2. Letter from Marion Dittman dated 22 April 1969 (Box 12)

 
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Image 3. Letter from Catherine Miller dated 28 December 1951 (Box 12)

 
Beyond her inner circle, Heyer’s book generated widespread enthusiasm within music libraries across the United States. Historical Sets sought to provide complete bibliographic information for significant publications of single-composer music collections available in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. Her project quickly developed a sort of fan club, and in addition to the correspondence that Heyer maintained to gather information about libraries’ holdings, she regularly received friendly letters inquiring after the work’s progress. Following publication, many exuberant librarians sent letters of thanks, including a handwritten postcard from Harriet Nicewonger at Berkeley (Image 4). Another librarian, Margaret Lospinuso, wrote that at UNC Chapel Hill they affectionately referred to Historical Sets as simply “Heyer.” Initially, the book was supposed to become a completed project after two editions, but once the second went out of print, Heyer and the American Library Association received such an outpouring of interest for additional copies that Heyer’s publishing contract was renewed for a third and final update.
 
front of the postcard with an image of a flower and its stem, the back of the postcard with writing from Harriet Nicewonger

Image 4. Postcard from Harriet Nicewonger dated 29 June 1969 (Box 11)

 
Heyer’s community connections to UNT also ran deep, and her library colleagues clearly valued her for more than her professional competencies. For many years, Heyer was the face of the music library, and her skillful guidance in its formative years paved the way for its present-day success. It is therefore no coincidence that events celebrating the music library’s twenty-five year anniversary overlapped with events honoring Heyer’s retirement. Within the Heyer collection, it is sometimes difficult to tell which items are tied to general library events and which pertain specifically to Heyer’s career—the two were practically inseparable in the minds of the UNT music community. Unquestionably the most memorable item that I came across during my research, a custom, Mardi-gras-esque bracelet commemorates Heyer’s years of service and the music library’s active years (Image 5). The engraving on the back of the pendant reads: “Music Librarian, NTSU, 1940–1965.” Although the quality and age of the accompanying photographs make it difficult to tell for certain, I believe that this picture, taken in 1965 at Heyer’s retirement luncheon, captures the moment of the gift’s exchange (Image 6). Following her retirement from UNT, Heyer relocated to Fort Worth but continued her library work by assisting Texas Christian University, her Alma Mater, with its music collection development, much as she had done for UNT. 
 
 
a gold chain bracelet with a large golden pendant with the number 25 and accented with red gems

Image 5. Bracelet commemorating Heyer’s twenty-five years as NTSU’s music librarian, 1965 (Box 12)

 
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Image 6. Photograph of Heyer taken at her retirement luncheon, possibly accepting the bracelet, 1965 (Box 12)

 
Despite several decades of absence, in 1990 Heyer was again called to serve the UNT music library leading up to its fiftieth anniversary celebration. She wrote a history of the library that appeared in a special fiftieth anniversary booklet, and judging from the numerous outlines found among her papers, she was very involved in curating the exhibits that showcased the library’s holdings (Image 7). As with the twenty-five year anniversary celebrations , Heyer’s name was front and center, even appearing above the library’s on invitations (Image 8).
 
 
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Image 7. Several pages from Heyer’s fiftieth anniversary curation planning, undated (Box 22)

 
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Image 8. Cover and inside of UNT’s fiftieth anniversary reception invitations, 1991 (Box 22)

 
While many of Heyer’s friendships stemmed from professional connections, she also found time to maintain outside interests. She was an avid hand weaver and an active member of the Contemporary Hand Weavers of Texas Association, even serving as their vice president for several years. Perhaps her most tangible contribution to this community was the Index that she complied in 1962. It served as a guide to all articles printed in the Contemporary Hand Weavers’ newsletters between 1949 and 1961, its intent being to help new members quickly locate information relevant to their specific interests (Image 9). The guide’s formatting resembles the second edition of Historical Sets, which Heyer worked on concurrently. In this way, a touch of the professional crossed over to the personal (Image 10).
 
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Image 9. Cover and page 1 of Heyer’s Contemporary Hand Weavers of Texas Newsletter Index, 1962 (Box 10)

 
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Image 10. Page 7 of Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music, Second Edition (Heyer, 1969)

 
“Isolated Pioneer” may be a fitting title for Anna Harriet Heyer in some contexts, but it does not adequately summarize the profound impact of her life and work. Despite the distance, Heyer connected many librarians across the country as she worked to increase knowledge and circulation of musical materials. Whether local or national, Heyer was an integral and beloved member of many communities, sometimes blurring the line between personal and professional commitments. Heyer’s thoughtful attention to individuals and dedication to realizing group goals are the threads that connect each of her relationships, demonstrating that her strength was truly one of numbers.

Reference List

Bradley, Carol June. 2007 “Anna Harriet Heyer, An Isolated Pioneer.” Notes 63, no. 4 (June): 798–809.
 
Heyer, Anna Harriet. 1969. Historical Sets, Collected Editions and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
 
Heyer, Anna Harriet. 1991. Interview with Richard Dickey. November 30, 1991. Transcript. University of North Texas Oral History Collection. University of North Texas at Denton, Texas.

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Local Archives, Global History: Post 4 by Chandler Hall 

Many famed musicians have passed through the music program at the University of North Texas (UNT), but has anyone ever heard of UNT’s accountant-to-organist pipeline? One alumnus who came down it was Robert R. Miller, who graduated from what was then the North Texas State College (NTSC) in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Boxes in UNT Library’s small Robert R. Miller Collection reveal his unique career path: accountant by day and organ consultant and substitute organist by night—or by Sunday. Miller may have been the only accountant-organist in the area at the time, but he was far from the only organ consultant in the Metroplex. For instance, famed musicologist and organist Helen Hewitt supervised the renovation of the Möller Organ in the UNT Main Auditorium, and Robert Anderson, Chair of Organ Studies at Southern Methodist University, acted as consultant on several organs, including St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church in Mesquite and First Presbyterian Church in Dallas. How could Miller hope to compete with these pedigreed, well-known, and highly credentialed figures? His archival traces offer some clues.  

In an urban area chock-full of professional musicians with enough degrees to fill a stadium, Miller spun his amateur status as an asset. By positioning himself outside of institutions, he demonstrated to his clients that he was above the politics of the organ world, independent and unable to be bought. His integrity became his selling-point. By focusing on his character, Miller was able to skirt around the subject of his credentials (see figures 1-4).  

the cover page of recital program with organ imagerythe inside of the program listing the music that'll be played at the recitala list of the contributors to the organ concert in the programWritten list of specifications by organ type

Figures 1-4: 1986 Recital program for the dedication of the restored 1925 Kimball Organ at Grace United Methodist Church, Dallas. Miller was the organ consultant for this project (box 1, folder 11).   

Take, for instance, this response to a 1951 letter in which a woman asked for advice about her church’s organ. In the letter, Miller reaffirms that if he were hired as a consultant, he would ensure that the church receives a well-designed organ. He goes on to cite his non-musical career and his independence from builders as assets: 

“Yes, I am an Organ Consultant. This type of work is in addition to my regular work at the Magnolia Petroleum Company. As you can well realize, one could not hope to make alliving [sic] at this sort of thing since the calls are few and far between. The reason I do it is that as an organist and a great lover of the organ, I want to help churches obtain the most and best for the money they have to spend… I know of several instances where a church might of [sic] had a better organ if someone that knew about such matters had been called in to go over the plans, rather than just let an organ man or company rebuild the organ as it was.” 

In this letter, Miller glosses over his qualifications. By claiming to know of “several instances” in which a church would have benefitted from a consultant, he comes across as knowledgeable without needing to acknowledge his relative lack of formal training. Additionally, by mentioning that consulting is not his main career, Miller implies that he is not in the pockets of any business that would incentivize him to deliver an inferior product. According to Miller, his supposed interest was the church, not the industry. 

Miller's business card from Tellers Organ Company

Figure 5: Miller’s business card from Tellers Organ Company (box 1, folder 18).

Of course, one does not need certain formal credentials to be proficient in an area of expertise; earning a music degree is not the only way to learn music. Although Miller did take some organ coursework at NTSC, he also took lessons before college, played substitute organ at various churches around the Dallas area, and had a (possibly brief) stint as the Southwest Representative for the Tellers Organ Company based in Erie, Pennsylvania.

A list of Miller's organ consultant duties he outlined to his letter to Rabbi Annes

Figure 6: Miller’s duties as an organ consultant as outlined in his letter to Rabbi Annes (box 1, folder 15).

These experiences certainly helped Miller gain expertise regarding how various organs function and sound. Another 1951 letter to Rabbi Pierce Annes of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, offers further insights into how Miller may have trained as an amateur consultant. In the letter, Miller writes that part of his service as a consultant includes creating tonal schemes (the list of pipe sounds to be used in the organ) and sending them to several organ companies to obtain quotes. Some of these tonal schemes and quotes survive in the collection. In some, a company representative offers Miller suggestions to improve his submission. Other documents in the archive, such as catalogs, design guides, marketing materials, and tonal schemes from hundreds of organs, likely served as reference materials for Miller as he planned projects for his clients. Even as Miller professed his independence from builders in his private correspondence, he clearly relied on them as part of his training.  

Miller’s attitude toward institutions was quite different when his audience was public facing. For instance, a worship bulletin at First Presbyterian Church, McKeesport, Pennsylvania, includes a brief biography of Miller’s organ career. This is the church where Miller grew up, and he played substitute organ there just before Christmas 1962, perhaps while visiting family for the holidays. Although it is unclear whether the biography of Miller was written by him or by someone on his behalf, it emphasizes his accreditation as tied to institutions, including NTSU and the American Guild of Organists (AGO). It is not unusual for biographies such as this to list a performer’s musical pedigree and awards, but Miller’s sole accolade by 1962, a “Service Playing Certificate” issued by AGO, is neither particularly impressive nor necessary, considering that the congregation could judge his skill. Rather, the biography is a testament to Miller’s status as a professional on the periphery. By engaging with rhetorical conventions of the profession, Miller attempted to “fit in” as a bona fide musician despite struggling to fill the template. This is not to suggest that a musician needs a music degree or prestigious awards. Rather, the biography highlights the disparity between Miller’s training and what the field and the public expected. 

This disparity is at the fore in a 1977 report on the NTSU Möller Organ. Miller compiled the report but concluded it with a reflection on his own qualifications: “Some may wonder why a B.B.A. graduate of N.T.S.U. is writing the survey of the organ instead of a music student or graduate.” Indeed, Miller’s path is curious. His parallel work in accounting, organ consulting, and organ performance forms an unlikely combination, and he capitalized on thwarted professional expectations to brand his identity. 

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Sketch of Willie Nelson flying in a shoe

Local Archives, Global History: Post 3 by Robbie Segars  

By the early 1960s, the Country Music Association decided to shed its negative “hillbilly” image and market country music to a sophisticated blue-collared audience (Pecknold 2007, 135). This initiative caused a cultural shift in the genre aimed at promoting a clean-cut image. By the early 1970s, however, a subculture emerged that opposed this polished and commercialized Nashville sound (Cobb 1982, 87). This style of country music went by the prefix “outlaw” in reference to song themes based on criminal activities such as lying, stealing, cheating, and substance abuse. Among the leaders to spearhead this movement were songwriters Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Willie Nelson, to name just a few. During this era, Willie Nelson’s image underwent a drastic change starting with the release of his first “outlaw” album, Shotgun Willie (1973). As his fame skyrocketed, Nelson became known for his outlaw compilation albums and annual music festivals, including the ongoing summer concert, Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic. During these years, Willie Nelson hired Steve Brooks as his primary artist for promotional works. The Steve Brooks collection housed at the UNT Special Collections archives provides a glimpse into an extraordinary historical moment in country music. This collection offers a unique perspective on how one outlaw country artist both drew from and resisted country music tropes.  

The basis for my archival project was to explore the artwork done by UNT alum Steve Brooks. This collection contains a broad assortment of art ranging from sketches, handbills, posters, t-shirts, and a few miscellaneous items like plastic cups, matchbooks, and an odd-looking cardboard shoe. While I consulted a diverse selection from Brook’s other clients, I focused specifically on his Willie Nelson art. I wondered what these archives could tell us about the state of country music at the specific historical moment in which Brooks worked. Who was the intended audience? By trying to understand the purpose of these artifacts, I hoped to glean a few possible motivations that guided their creation. Over the last several weeks, I searched through the Steve Brooks collection to see whether I could detect reoccurring themes with the hope that I might start a conversation about their historical relevance.     

The first box I opened from the archives contained approximately fifty manila folders, roughly 12 x 10 inches in size, with sketches that ranged from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. Based on the drawings from this box, which were consistent throughout this collection, Brooks could best be classified as a cartoonist with a few pieces that resembled realistic portraits. The first folder had a Willie Nelson caricature holding his famous nylon-stringed guitar wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, as seen in figure 1.  

Two Willie Nelson figures as ketches, one with guitar

Figure 1. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 5, Folder 1, “Cowboy Willie,” Sketch, undated.

He sported a thick bushy beard, long shaggy hair, beady eyes, and a wide, friendly grin. Next to his name read “Cowboy Willie” in a cursive font designed to look like a cactus. A few folders later, another Nelson cartoon appeared (figure 2) with a similarly bearded smile, but with the addition of a headband holding back his braided hair.

Sketch of Willie Nelson head with lasso text spelled out as Willie

Figure 2. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 5, Folder 4, “Rope Letter, Willie with Character,” undated.

The “Willie” logo in this picture was written with a lasso and presumably two Texas stars to dot the lowercase I’s. The first themes I noticed appeared to be based on wild west cowboy tropes such as lassos, cactuses, cow skulls, and boot spurs. 

While these associations with country music were somewhat common, there were apparent differences that clashed with previous generations’ straight-laced style worn by Buck Owens, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and even Willie Nelson himself.

Sketch of Willie Nelson with a large hat

Figure 3. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 5, Folder 37, “Willie for ’75,” 1975.

By the 1970s, Nelson’s identity had more in common with the hippie counterculture of the 1960s. The outlaw country version that Brooks captured in his caricatures emphasized Nelson’s rejection of clean-cut country values (figure 3). His long braided, scruffy beard, worn-out t-shirts, jeans, and tennis shoes contrasted starkly with the crewcut, freshly shaven, collared-shirt cowboy image he had formerly sported. His carefree facial expressions were another feature that struck me as thematic. Indeed, early country music stars almost always smiled. It occurred to me that Willie Nelson’s smile in the Brooks caricatures might be drug-induced (see figure 4).

Sketch studies of logos for Willie Nelson

Figure 4. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 7, Folder 13, “Premium Willie Music in Wichita Falls, Texas – Sketch Studies,” 9-15-1978.

By the 1970s, Nelson made his affection for drugs, especially marijuana, well known to his fans—a reputation he still carries today (Patoski, 2008). It is plausible that Brooks emphasized this side of Nelson’s personality to appeal to his outlaw country audience. Even his choice to use cartoons undercuts the sophisticated image that mainstream country aimed to instill. Aside from one or two still-life drawings—among the select few where Nelson is not smiling—cartoons dominated this collection, like in figure 5.

Sketch of Willie Nelson flying in a shoe

Figure 5. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 5, Folder 113, “Air Willie – Sketch,” 1981-1982.

For comparison purposes, I consulted a few boxes with flyers for Brooks’ other high-profile clients including the Allman Brothers, the Beach Boys, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles. From these samples, I was surprised that none of them had cartoon depictions of the musicians. Some had only band logos with a photograph, while others contained a few life-like drawings similar to those from the Willie Nelson collection (figures 6-8). 

Cover art sketched in green ink for Jethro Tull

Figure 6. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 2, Folder 41, “Jethro Tull – Dallas Memorial Arboretum,” 6-18-1972.

Sketched cover art for the band Pink Floyd drawn with sketches of band members in red ink

Figure 7. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 2, Folder 46, “Pink Floyd – SMU McFarlin Auditorium,” 9-10-1972.

Drawing of Willie nelson in black and white. Image states Willie Nelson and family.

Figure 8. Steve Brooks Collection, Box 5, Folder 12, “Willie Nelson and Family Sportatorium,” 1-15-1980

The date on the outside of the folders showed that these pieces originated from 1972 to 1975, the same time period when Brooks worked with Willie Nelson. This detail reaffirmed my suspicion that the Willie Nelson art expressed cultural values and ideologies meant for a specific audience. 

After learning about country music’s history in conjunction with events from Willie Nelson’s life, I began to see Brooks’ art in a new light. My goal was never to discover a missing piece of popular music history; rather, I wanted to provide some insight into how country music’s cultural values started to change in the 1970s. More importantly, I wanted to learn how Steve Brooks reflected these changes with art that would still resonate with Willie Nelson fans as they gather for his annual Fourth of July Picnic each year. While working with the Steve Brooks archives, I was unable to glean how much artistic freedom he had for these commissions. However, the sheer size of this collection convinced me that his clients must have felt he had an innate gift for accurately capturing their musical identity with his drawings.

Bibliography

Cobb, James C. 1982. “From Muskogee to Luckenbach: Country Music and the ‘Southernization’ of America.” Journal of Popular Culture (16-3): 81-91.

Nelson, Willie. 2015. It’s a Long Story: My Life. New York City: Little, Brown, and Company.

Patoski, Joe Nick. 2008. Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. New York City: Little, Brown, and Company.

Pecknold, Diane. 2007. “Masses to Classes: The Country Music Association and the Development of Country Format Radio, 1958-1972.” in The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry, 133-167. Durham: Duke University Press. 

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Local Archives, Global History: Post 2 by Camila Zimmerman

 

 

picture of the Regina Music Box

Figure 1. The Regina Music Box in the UNT Collection is a 15 ½″ music box made out of oak. The box was made in 1907 and somehow made its way to the home of Whit Ozier (1919-2004) before being gifted to UNT.

 

overhead view of the two combs and arm of the Regina Music Box

Figure 2. Overhead view of the two combs and arm of the Regina Music Box in the UNT Collection. 

 

Figure 3. Side view of the arm, star wheel and combs of the Regina Music Box in the UNT Collection.

 

overhead view of a tune disc of the song Freishutz

Figure 4. Freischutz, Prayer tune disc from UNT Collection. There are 46 tune discs in this collection. The discs faces vary. Some bear only the title of the song and its patent, while others portray Regina’s trademark and images. Due to use, some marks have been worn away from the discs. 

 

overhead view of a tune disc of Gounod, Flower Song

Figure 5. Gounod, Flower Song tune disc from UNT Collection. 

Music boxes are charming devices that play some of our favorite tunes. Perhaps they remind us of an event in our past or recall the person who gave it to us. But music boxes are more than just entertainment or a vessel for personal memories. Each box has its own special origin story and history, which inspire many different types of questions, even scholarly ones. My first question for the UNT Regina Music box was simple: how do I make it play?! After extensive research and multiple correspondences with Alan Bies from the Musical Box Society International (MBSI), I finally heard a full, rich sound emanate from the box unlike any other music box I had ever experienced. Once I overcame this basic obstacle, I began to make more inquiries. My focus soon turned to the listening cultures surrounding these instruments, concentrating on the people to whom the Regina Music Box Company sold their products. To whom was the Regina Music Box Company catering? How did those consumers relate (if at all!) to the types of song discs that the company sold? Regina music boxes originated in Europe and later came to America, so their discs offer a rare glimpse into the changing listening cultures of domestic audiences in Europe and America at the turn of the twentieth century.  

a black and white photo of Gustav Brackhausen

Figure 6. Image of Gustav Brackhausen (Al Meekins Collection, Photos, The Meekins Antique Regina Music Box Company, Zephyrhillis, FL, https://antiquemusicboxes.com/wood.html).

 

a black and white photo of the Regina Music Box Factory from a wide perspective

Figure 7. Image of the Regina Music Box Factory (Al Meekins Collection, Photos, The Meekins Antique Regina Music Box Company, Zephyrhillis, FL, https://antiquemusicboxes.com/wood.html). 

Music boxes and other mechanical instruments have existed for centuries, but the disc musical box did not come to prominence until Paul Lochmann began selling them in Germany in 1886. Soon thereafter many rivaling companies emerged throughout Europe (Tallis 1971, 52-53). An employee of the Symphonion Company in Leipzig, Gustave Brackhausen, saw how successful the disc musical boxes were and decided to bring them to the American market. In 1892, Brackhausen left Germany to start the Regina Company in Jersey City, New Jersey. Once there, he first produced the 15 ½ inch Regina music box which was based on the Polyphon model so that the 15 ½ inch Polyphon tune discs could be used for the Reginas. However, he no longer wanted to rely on European companies for his disc supply. His solution was to have his company make their own discs. He brought Octave Chaillet, a Swiss disc master, to the States to create new discs that featured popular American styles like spirituals and Souza marches to add onto the preexistent European repertoire (Tallis 1971, 52-55). The company was successful, holding 80-90% of the American market from 1892 until 1919 (Gallo 2001, 4). They ultimately created many different types of musical boxes such as the Reginaphone, Regina piano player, Regina Corona, and the Regina Automatic Concerto. 

a 1904 Trade Music Review advertisment for different types of Regina boxes

Figure 8. Advertisement for different types of Regina boxes from the 1904 Music Trade Review (Music Trade Review, Magazine, 1904, The International Arcade Museum, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com.) 

Regina music box advertisements from 1895 to 1905 reveal that the company catered to wealthy white people who either had a family or liked to entertain in their homes. Figure 9 through 11 depict well-dressed men and women socializing. Figure 9 contains many men in tuxedos and women in ball gowns dancing to the sounds of a Regina music box in a lavish salon. The image on the right of figure 10 also depicts a similar scene although in a simpler imagery with the short text of “plays for Afternoon Reception or for Evening Dancing.” The image on the left implies wealth in a different sort of way. A couple lounges on their boat as they listen to their Regina. Figure 11 portrays multiple scenes, some similar to figure 9 and 10 and some different. In the top right corner is once again an image of a well-dressed man and woman dancing and in the bottom left corner is a couple on their boat. This advertisement, however, features more familial images as well. The middle image on the left specifically references Christmas time offering the Regina as the perfect Christmas gift. On the bottom right, children appear in the image dancing to the music of the Regina music box while adults in fine clothing sit by and watch. The middle left image features a woman holding a baby reaching towards the music box with the heading, “even the baby finds entertainment in the Regina music box.” These advertisements indicate the Regina Company’s aspirational customers and anticipated the types of environments and events in which their customers might use the Regina.  

A Century Magazine advertisement for Regina Music Box from the December 1895 Issue

Figure 9. Advertisement for Regina Music Box from Century Magazine December 1895 Issue (The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, The Regina music box, 1895, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, New York Public Library Digital Collections, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-1d71-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99).

 

A 1902 Trade Music Review advertisement for the Regina Music Box

Figure 10. Advertisement for Regina Music Box from Music Trade Review 1902 (Music Trade Review, Magazine, 1902, The International Arcade Museum, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com). 

 

A 1896 Trade Music Review advertisement for the Regina Music Box

Figure 11. Advertisement for Regina Music Box from Music Trade Review 1896 (Music Trade Review, Magazine, 1896, The International Arcade Museum, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com). 

The texts of these advertisements emphasize the quality of the music box: it plays over 1,000 tunes, has indestructible discs and a brilliance and richness of tone, is easy to use, and does not require tuning. One other element that is pointed out is the tunes themselves. Some mention a few popular titles or composers, but most of the advertisements say something like “plays all your favorite music both classic and popular,” or “all the latest music.” Figure 12 provides more detail than the others assuring listeners that, “The Regina Music Box makers keep right abreast of the composers who are continuously writing all kinds of popular music— ‘rag time’ if you want it. And they have provided tune-discs…of all the best music of all composers of all times—the great master-pieces of the Masters.” 

A 1905 Trade Music advertisement for the Regina Music Box

Figure 12. Advertisement for Regina Music Box from Music Trade Review 1905 (Music Trade Review, Magazine, 1896, The International Arcade Museum, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com). 

As is evident in the advertisements, popular music and the most recent tunes were emphasized, meaning these were the types of tune discs people in America were buying. A comparison between the genres found in the UNT tune disc Collection and those housed in the National Museum of American History’s collection1 and музея cобрание (Russian Museum Collection)2 shows a clear trend. In the collections from the United States, the number of discs based on American musical genres outnumbers the disc with European musical genres, while in the European collection, European derived music appears much more numerous than American music.  

A bar graph comparing the number of European and American music forms found in the tune disc collections from the UNT Collection, the National Museum of American History and the Russian Museum Collection  

Figure 13. Table comparing the number of European and American music forms found in the tune disc collections from the UNT Collection, the National Museum of American History and the Russian Museum Collection.  

However, the divide between European and American genres in both of the American collections (a two disc difference in the first and a six disc difference in the second) do not have the same disparity as the European collection which has an 86-disc gap. Breaking down these numbers further into specific genres provides a better idea of what exactly constitutes part of these American4 and European5 genres. In the American collections, American folk and popular songs outnumber the other categories. European dance music, however, far exceeds all other genre categories in the Russian collection. From this data, I speculate that American consumers very much enjoyed and potentially preferred new American popular genres even as they clung to the fashion and tradition of their European ancestry, while European music box customers preferred their own genres to the American ones.  

A bar graph comparing tune disc genres found in the tune disc collections from the UNT Collection, the National Museum of American History and the Russian Museum Collection 

Figure 14. Table comparing tune disc genres found in the tune disc collections from the UNT Collection, the National Museum of American History and the Russian Museum Collection. 

While these findings are based on a very limited pool of data, they offer a preliminary look at trends in the types of music consumed through this medium from the 1890s-1920s. Music boxes have a long and complex history that can offer us a glimpse into listening practices of the past, the technical aspects of mechanical instruments, musical preferences, the art of arrangement, and much more. Perhaps this will inspire you to pull out an old music box and see what types of stories it can tell! 

 

Bibliography  

Special thanks to the Musical Box Society International (MBSI) for all of their help.

Collections:  

Al Meekins Collection. Photos. The Meekins Antique Regina Music Box Company. Zephyrhillis, FL. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://antiquemusicboxes.com/wood.html.  

Metal Discs Collection. Music box discs. музея cобрание, Moscow, Russia.  

Music and Musical Instruments Collection. Music box discs. National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.  

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “The Regina music box.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-1d71-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.  

Regina Music Box Records Collection. Regina music box and discs. University of North Texas Library, Denton, TX.  

Music Trade Review. Magazine. The International Arcade Museum. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://mtr.arcade-museum.com.  

 

Secondary Source:  

Birch, John. “Reginaphone & Regina Hall Clock.” Mechanical Music 53, no. 1 (January 2007): 17–18.  

Boehck, Steve. “The Rare and Elusive Regina Musical Savings Bank.” Mechanical Music 53, no. 4 (July 2007): 12–25. 

Boehck, Steve. “The Regina Musical Salesman.” Mechanical Music 58, no. 6 (November 2012): 8–23. 

Carli, Philip C. “”You Will Certainly Have Something that Will Give Great Pleasure, and Be a Marvel in Pittsburgh”: Henry Clay Frick and American Millionaires Living with Mechanical Music, 1872-1919.” American Music 32, no. 4 (Winter 2014): 377-399. 

Chapuis, Alfred. History of the Musical Box and of Mechanical Music. Summit, N.J.: Musical Box Society International, 1980. 

Clark, John E. T. Musical Boxes; A History and an Appreciation. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1961. 

Gallo, Denise P. “Verdi’s Music on Mechanical Boxes.” Verdi Forum, no. 28–29 (2001-2002): 4–7.  

Karp, Larry. “Regina and Ragtime.” Mechanical Music 59, no. 2 (March 2013): 28–35. 

Tallis, David. Musical Boxes. London: Muller, 1971. 

Posted by & filed under Musicking in the Sandborn.

Image of the reading room with a carpet and wood table and chairs. Art is hanging on the walls.

 

Local Archives, Global History: Post 1 by Dr. Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden

As pandemic lockdowns settled into place during the spring of 2020 many scholars felt profound disappointment as their summer research plans disintegrated amidst the stressors of illness, upended family life, and disrupted work routines. Historians in particular grieved the personal loss of a favorite job-related activity, archival research, and faced the anxiety that came along with a year-long archival exile, which threatened to set back publications and possibly even hiring and promotion opportunities for years to come. Sitting in my backyard day in and day out last summer called to mind one of my favorite essays, “History in a Backyard,” authored by late 19th- and early 20th-century historian Lucy Maynard Salmon. Confined to my home in North Texas due to global pandemic, her words took on new meaning for me and eventually inspired the course that generated the blog posts in this series.   

Salmon begins her essay bemoaning how a nine-month teaching commitment at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, which typically granted three months of blissful summer research leave, had stretched into twenty-one long months without a single trip to European archives. Reflecting on this situation, she stares into her yard, the only primary source available. She describes its fence, the hedges, an orchard just beyond, dangling electrical wires, and a passing garbage truck. Salmon comes to realize that these sights, much like archival texts, testify to rich histories of everything from property to agriculture and technology. “Our back yard,” she writes, “has the records of all the ages within its narrow enclosure” (19). Although in the past I sympathized with Salmon’s European archive withdrawal, staying still for one year has compelled me to consider the unique interconnected histories that every place holds, especially the University of North Texas and the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Wondering what “records of all the ages” might be found in our own backyard, this spring doctoral students in the graduate seminar on Music and Archival Practice in the 21st Century developed research projects using UNT’s Music Library and Special Collections.   

Black and white image of a backyard with trees, a shed, and a walking path.
Williams, Byrd M. (Byrd Moore), III. [Photograph of a backyard taken from a high view], photograph, [1950..1959]; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707998/: accessed June 29, 2021), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

Our course began with practical skills in archival research and an introduction to archival theory through the lens of recent music scholarship. Musicologists have long relied on archives for sources like compositional sketches, personal letters, and legal records related to musical production. The institutional history of archives began in earnest with the French Revolution, implicating archives in a nineteenth-century positivistic drive to categorize knowledge toward imperial and colonial ends. Recent work in music, however, has changed that state of affairs. We consulted scholarship by historians and musicologists including Glenda Goodman, Maria Ryan, Sarah Eyerly, Mary Caton Lingold, Jillian C. Rogers, Lisa Barg, Tammy Kernodle, Dianthe Spencer, Sherrie Tucker, and others to consider how our methods and methodology might inform the music histories that we write from archival materials. Olivia Bloechl shared the possibilities of  “Doing Music History Where We Are”  in her keynote address for UNT’s Graduate Association of Musicologists und  Theorists virtual conference in February. As the students began their own archival research, they learned to question the provenance of collections and how they are catalogued. Like Salmon, we engaged cultural and social histories that went far beyond the “great figures” of history allowing us to tell the stories of local people whose influence extended in some cases around the globe.   

This series of blog posts presents the results of our research. You’ll find a diverse collection of stories from pioneering women professors and librarians at UNT, to white jazz collectors who shaped the reception of jazz, listening cultures transferred via music boxes, the social meaning drawn into 1970s Willie Nelson ads, and DFW citizens who moonlighted as organ technicians and contributed to the LGBTQ movement of the early 1990s. There’s even more to this research than what is written here. Other projects in the course revealed the ethnic biases of Chinese music historiography, the values built into the materials of UNT’s Murchison Performing Arts Center, and the influences of a UNT composer in 1970s experimental music. Indeed, our backyard contains “records of all the ages.”  

With these blog posts we invite you to consider the history in your own backyard and to use the vast archival collections of public and university libraries to help us add to the rich histories that connect your backyard to our shared global history.  

Note from the Editor

The door to the Edna Mae Sandborn Music Reading Room had remained closed since mid-March of 2020 due to the ongoing global pandemic. The fourth floor of the Willis Library, where the Music Library and Special Collections reside, was generally sleepy but still visited by avid researchers. Much to our excitement, Dr. Geoffroy-Schwinden arranged with Maristella Feustle to retrieve materials from the music archives for study in “The Sandborn,” as we endearingly refer to this research space. The doors to The Sandborn opened, and the students diligently visited weekly—at minimum—and oftentimes more. The Music Library staff had the pleasure of observing their discoveries (students occasionally leapt from their seats after finding something unexpected). After students synthesized their findings, we now have the pleasure of learning about what they uncovered while musicking in the Sandborn in this monthly series aptly titled by Dr. Geoffroy-Schwinden, “Local Archives, Global History.” We hope you enjoy. 

Kristin Wolski, Music Information Literacy and Outreach Librarian

Posted by & filed under Student Features.

At the Music Library, we are incredibly grateful for our student employees! They keep everything running behind the scenes, as well as assisting visitors at the service desk. Learn about some of our many amazing students in this Music Library Student Spotlight series. 

Picture of Mikayla

Mikayla Dupont

Trumpet Performance / Graduate

What are you looking forward to at the music library? I look forward to cataloging all the new acquisitions & finding cool stuff to investigate in my free time.

If you were in a movie, what song plays during your character introduction? If I were in a movie, I would definitely want “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson to play! 


Picture of Emily outside

Emily Maher

Cello Performance and Spanish / Sophomore Undergraduate

What are you looking forward to at the music library? Working with and being surrounded by music, as well as the opportunity to learn some new skills and work with others!

If you were in a movie, what song plays during your character introduction? The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” 

 

Picture of Emma standing under vines outside

Emma Cook

Classical Trumpet Performance / Junior Undergraduate

What are you looking forward to at the music library? Learning more about music, and how it is shared or kept! 

If you were in a movie, what song plays during your character introduction? I think I would like  “Concerning Hobbits” from the Lord of the Rings or “You are the Sunshine of my Life” by Stevie Wonder to be my theme song, but more likely be “It’s Nice to See You” by Louie Zong.

 

Picture of Matthew with his chin resting on his hand

Matthew Velilla

Freshman Music Education and Tuba Performance / Freshman Undergraduate

What are you looking forward to at the music library? The discovery of new music and upcoming projects.

If you were in a movie, what song plays during your character introduction? Anna Karenina (2012), “She is of the Heavens,” when Princess Kitty is introduced.

 

Picture of Jason smiling with his saxophone outside

Jason Lewin

DMA Saxophone Performance /  Freshman Undergraduate

What are you looking forward to at the music library? I want to see some really awesome, really old records. Also, video game music!

If you were in a movie, what song plays during your character introduction? “Giant steps” by John Coltrane, and Britney Spears “Oops I did it again” playing at the same time. 

Posted by & filed under Student Features.

Linda Jenkins

April is Jazz Appreciation Month and the UNT Music Library is celebrating by highlighting one of our many, wonderful student assistants: Joshua Cossette. Cossette is a current master’s student in Jazz with a specialization in Arranging and Composition; he also helps run the Music Library service desk by assisting patrons and keeping the music stacks in top condition.

Joshua Cossette sitting at piano

Joshua Cossette in the Edna Mae Sandborn Music Reading Room

The One O’Clock Lab Band, UNT’s premier jazz ensemble, featured one of Cossette’s recent compositions ‘Under Pressure’ (2020) on their recent April 8th concert. Led by director Alan Baylock, the One O’Clock recently appeared on PBS in a Doc Severinsen documentary and produces annual studio albums, which have garnered an impressive seven GRAMMY award nominations. When asked to elaborate on his composition and the experience working with the One O’Clock, Cossette had this to say:

“As a pianist, one of my main influences is McCoy Tyner, who I remember hearing when I was about 5-6 years old. One of his compositions, ‘Passion Dance,’ which is on the album The Real McCoy, was and still is a favorite song of mine.

On my tune ‘Under Pressure,’ I’ve taken many influences from Tyner, but I also took influence from another source, a pianist, educator and friend of mine, Bill Peterson ( Professor of Music in Jazz Studies and Music Theory/Composition, Florida State University). We had sent original compositions back and forth to each other and he just so happened to write something that was based in modal harmony and was also up-tempo.

For a long while, I’ve wanted to write an up-tempo tune that fit within these guidelines that I had admired for so long. After hearing Bill’s piece, it sparked a creative interest for me to compose something like it but also drawing the influences of my favorite players like McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson, a saxophonist who was on the recording session for The Real McCoy. So was born my composition, ‘Under Pressure.’

Hearing your compositions performed in a rehearsal is one thing. Hearing them played live is a totally different experience…there was a certain energy that [felt different from] rehearsals that excited me. The musicians seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a great time had by everybody!”

Current UNT students and faculty can access the archived version of this concert through the College of Music Recording Archives.

Joshua Cossette

Joshua Cossette playing piano in the Edna Mae Sandborn Music Reading Room

In addition to his studies, Joshua Cossette is a founding member of the JAS trio. Formed in 2017, the group recently debuted their album Solace earlier this year. The album features original works by Cossette and bassist Anthony Casolari (B.M. Jazz Studies, UNT) in addition to standards by jazz greats such as Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson.

“I formed my trio, the JAS Trio, after collaborating with these two musicians on separate occasions for years. I’ve known Anthony Casolari, bassist, since my undergraduate studies at Florida State University and now we’re both students at the University of North Texas. The drummer, Shay Eischen, is a working musician in the South Florida area who I’ve known for about 6-7 years at this point. I knew that there was a special chemistry when I would work with these musicians on their own so I decided to see what would happen if all three of us got together.

We’ve been working together, as a trio, since 2017. Our debut album, Solace, was recorded between 2018-2019. The inspiration for our album was to record some really great music and just have fun with the record. The product is something that we’re proud of and we’ve gotten a great response so far from it. As a trio, we never settle for anything less than exceptional quality in the music, no matter what. We’re now in the process of planning a follow up recording, Hold up Your Legacies, which will be an album with more original compositions. These compositions are a homage to the important people in our lives, both personal and musical. Heroes, educators, and family members.

Shay Eischen playing drums

Shay Eischen

Anthony Casolari playing bass

Anthony Casolari

Please follow us on Bandcamp, Youtube, and Facebook! We have some exciting stuff to present to you and you don’t want to miss it!!”— Joshua Cossette, April 2021

 

Posted by & filed under Student Publications.

Linda Jenkins

Headphones on table

Did you know that listening to certain types of music can enhance focus and improve information retention? Your brain generates a certain amount of electricity that is displayed in the form of brain waves. The four different types of brainwaves are:

Beta

Beta waves are characteristic of a strongly engaged mind, this is the fastest or most active wave at 15-40 cycles per second. (e.g., a person engaged in active conversation).

Alpha

These waves are slightly slower with a higher amplitude at 9-14 cycles per second. This state of mind allows you to be more open or receptive, and is usually associated with imagination, memory, or intuition. (e.g., taking a break from a task to walk outside).

Theta

Theta is even slower waves with a higher amplitude than the alpha state at 5-8 cycles per second. This is the daydreaming state where a task becomes repetitive or monotonous enough that you can mentally disengage. (e.g., knitting, running, or even brushing your hair).

Delta

Delta is the slowest brain waves, down to 1.4 cycles a second, indicate sleep. You can read Ned Hermann’s explanation in more depth the Scientific American.

Studies have shown that the “alpha state,” or brainwaves at 9-14 cycles per second, is most effective for studying and understanding ideas. Music that meets certain parameters can help your brain settle into this state of mind, particularly music that you are familiar with and enjoy that is set between 50 and 80 beats per minute. Here are some examples of popular tunes that might meet these criteria, some of which are found in article by Deep Patel (2019):

  • ‘Mirrors’ by Justin Timberlake
  • ‘The Lazy Song’ by Bruno Mars
  • ‘Chasing Pavements’ by Adele

…and some classical tunes:

There is also music specifically designed to blend into the background, serving as an unobtrusive yet atmospheric setting for conversation, mediation, or mental focus. Written partially out of distaste for “Muzak,” Brian Eno’s album Ambient 1: Music for Airports contains music designed to enhance the listener’s environment and give the listener space to think. In the liner notes Eno states, “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular, it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” (Eno, 1978). Try Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

At the end of the day, everyone has a different preference when it comes to study music! The more you like the music playing, the more positive benefits you might get by adding music to your studying habits.

Here are some more streaming music options from the UNT databases:

Sources

Capritto, A., (2020). The best music to listen to while ou work or study. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/health/the-best-music-to-listen-to-while-you-work-or-study/

Eno, B. (1978). Music for airports liner notes. http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.html

Hermann, N. (1997). What is the function of the various brainwaves? Scientific America. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-function-of-t-1997-12-22/

Patel, D. (2019). These 6 types of music are known to dramatically improve productivity. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325492

Thompson, W., Schellenberg, E., & Husain, G. (2001). Arousal, Mood, and the Mozart Effect. Psychological Science, 12(3), 248-251. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40063588

Edited by Kristin Wolski

 

Posted by & filed under Composers, Student Features.

Linda Jenkins

What do you think of when you hear the name ‘Ludwig van Beethoven’?

Maybe it’s the iconic opening figure of his Symphony 5 (think: dundundunDUNNNNNN from a sample of these performances).

Or his famously thunderous countenance:

Image of Beethoven with score and pencil

Joseph Karl Stieler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Beethoven is one of the most celebrated composers in Western classical music. In his lifetime, Beethoven enjoyed a privileged lifestyle as the musical darling of Vienna’s aristocracy. Unlike many of his predecessors, such as Joseph Haydn, he was not tied to a royal court and still managed to be financially successful through the support of aristocratic patronage. His contributions to form and harmony across the genre directly inspired composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To this day, Beethoven remains one of the most frequently programmed composers in the United States. In a study of participating orchestras across America from 2000 to 2012, Beethoven was the most programmed composer in all but three seasons. And for the seasons he wasn’t first on the list, it was a close second to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (League of American Orchestras, 2020).

On the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, some scholars are examining the mythos surrounding Beethoven and have chosen to recognize Beethoven’s birthday in alternative ways, such as identifying lesser known works of Beethoven and unrecognized works of others (Wilson, 2020).

Regardless of how people are choosing to reflect on Beethoven at his 250th birthday, two and a half centuries later, Beethoven’s body of work still speaks to the concert-going public. What makes his music so impactful? Let’s explore some of his background and musical influences.

Early Life

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December of 1770 to a musical family in the town of Bonn, Germany. Both his father and grandfather were musicians in the choir of the archbishop-elect of Cologne; so, like most of the working class at this time, Beethoven was born into his profession. Beethoven took violin and piano lessons from his father Johann, who hoped his son would be seen as a child prodigy a la Mozart. Johann even passed his son as younger to mirror Mozart’s debut age, a fact that Beethoven himself only found out as a young teen (Biography.com Editors, 2020).

Around 1780, political shifts and new appointments resulted in Bonn becoming a thriving city of culture with a newly established university and an influx of German renaissance literary minds like Goethe – widely considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era (Boyle, n.d.). It was in this environment that 12-year-old Beethoven became the assistant to Christian Neefe, the appointed court organist and Beethoven’s teacher (Knapp, 2020).

Over the next ten years, Beethoven was able to make important societal connections. The first important family in this network was the house of the late Joseph von Breuning, who hired Beethoven to teach two of their children piano and to perform for a variety of social events. Beethoven acquired a number of wealthy students and patrons through the Breunings, including the Count Waldstein (whose name you might recognize as the dedicatee to Beethoven’s famous Waldstein Sonata, opus 53). Beethoven even composed a ballet score for the Count to pass off as his own composition, although it was well-known to be Beethoven’s work. This ballet ended up being his ticket out of Bonn when, in 1790, London-based composer Josef Hadyn saw the score while staying with the arch-bishop. Haydn was impressed enough that he invited Beethoven to study with him in Vienna when Hadyn returned from his London residency (Budden, 2020).

Beethoven in Vienna

Beethoven received a warm welcome from the Viennese aristocracy, his reputation as a performer preceded him thanks in large part to Count Waldstein who heralded Beethoven as the successor to Mozart. With the support of wealthy patrons for food and lodging, Beethoven was able to fully cut ties with the Electorate in Cologne in 1794.  

In his composition studies, Beethoven worked with Haydn on piano, Antonio Salieri for choral composition, and counterpoint with organist Johann Albrechtsberger. In 1795, he performed his public debut recital in Vienna with a program featuring his piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 19, as well as works by Mozart and Haydn. Around this time Beethoven was also able to publish a set of Trios to a long list of subscribers. Beethoven’s symphonic debut in Vienna occurred in 1800 and featured a performance of his Symphony No. 1, a piano concerto, and the Septet (Opus 20) alongside works by Mozart and Haydn (Biography.com Editors, 2020).

Musical Influences

Working in the Breuning’s household, Beethoven was introduced to the literary movement ‘Sturm und Drang’, which is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as a “German literary movement of the late 18th century that exalted nature, feeling, and human individualism and sought to overthrow the Enlightenment cult of Rationalism” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.).

In music, this movement translated to grand and sudden contrasts of tempo and dynamics aimed at expressing vast extremes of emotion. Beethoven’s affinity for improvisation is heavily reminiscent of his study of this movement, as well as the work of C.P.E. Bach.

Other early musical influences came from Bonn’s proximity to the city of Mannheim and the Mannheim Orchestra, the first orchestra comprised entirely of elite players, who had strong ties to Paris. Beethoven supported the French Revolution and greatly admired Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven’s Third Symphony was originally dedicated to the French military leader but, upon hearing that Bonaparte had declared himself Emperor of France, Beethoven changed the dedication to “for the memory of a great man”, and renamed the symphony “Eroica(Budden, 2020).

Heiligenstadt and Beethoven’s Second Period

The turn of the 19th century marks a shift in Beethoven’s compositional style. Around 1800, his writing becomes more nuanced and widens in scope, using large musical forces in new and unconventional ways. Until this point, his works were mostly for solo piano and conformed to the musical forms and rules of the time (Budden, 2020). A major reason behind this shift is Beethoven’s growing realization that he was going deaf. As this illness progressed, his efforts moved from solo performances to composing. He began to avoid public gatherings, confessing in an 1801 letter that he “leads a miserable existence…because [he] find[s] it impossible to say to people: I am deaf.” (Biography.com Editors, 2020). This internal turmoil came to a head in the poignant note Beethoven penned in 1802 while taking a respite in the country village of Heiligenstadt titled “The Heiligenstadt Testament”. Addressed to his brothers, it also outlines a basic will and was kept in a private drawer to be discovered after Beethoven’s death. An excerpt from this unsent letter reads:

“O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me” (Beethoven; Thackara (Ed)., 1902; 1979).

Beethoven returned home from Heiligenstadt and continued to compose in a fervor. The next period of composition (~1802-1814) is considered his most productive era, producing six symphonies, his only opera (Fidelio), four solo concerti, five string quartets, six-string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs (Biography.com Editors, 2020).

Beethoven’s Private Life

Financially and artistically, Beethoven was extremely successful. However, in his personal life, Ludwig van Beethoven struggled to maintain relationships with his patrons, fellow musicians, and relatives. He was infamously temperamental, prone to being incredibly defensive, and thus constantly feuded with those around him. Beethoven never married, although he is rumored to have been in love with multiple female students. Upon his death, along with the “Heiligenstadt Testament”, secret letters addressed to the “Immortal Beloved” were found hidden away in Beethoven’s desk. The identity of the recipient is still unknown, and each letter is labeled only by month and day (Biography.com Editors, 2020).

More on Beethoven

We have so much information about Beethoven’s life and musical output thanks to the letters, journal entries, and notebooks left behind after his death in 1827. Want to read more? Here are some online resources from UNT’s online library catalogue:

Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph: a biography by Jan Swafford

Beethoven the pianist by Tilman Skowroneck

Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna (1792-1803) by Tia DeNora

References

Beethoven, L.V.; Thackara, W.T.S. (Ed.) (1802; 1979). The Heiligenstadt Testament of Ludwig Van Beethoven: Notes by W.T.S. Thackara. The Society. https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sunrise/28-78-9/s28n07p244_the-heiligenstadt-testament.htm

Biography.com Editors, 2020. Ludwig van Beethoven: c. 1770-1827. Biography. https://www.biography.com/musician/ludwig-van-beethoven

Boyle, N, (n.d.). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe/First-Weimar-period-1776-86

Budden, J.M., (2020). Ludwig van Beethoven: German Composer. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven#ref21581

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (n.d.). Sturm und Drang: German Literary Movement. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/event/Sturm-und-Drang

Knapp, Raymond. Ludwig van Beethoven: German Composer. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven#ref21580

League of American Orchestras, (2020). ORR Archive. https://www.americanorchestras.org/knowledge-research-innovation/orr-survey/orr-archive.html

Wilson, J. (2020). Celebrate Beethoven by resisting ‘Beethoven’: how to programme concerts for the great composer’s 250th anniversary. Classical Music from BBC Music Magazine. https://www.classical-music.com/features/composers/celebrate-beethoven-by-resisting-beethoven-how-to-programme-concerts-for-the-great-composers-250th-anniversary/

Edited by Kristin Wolski

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