Get a free Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Library eCard instantaneously. It can be used to access online resources including eBooks, eAudiobooks, eNewspapers, eMagazines, online classes, online tutoring, and learning games, as well as streaming movies and music, and more!
Music Playlists
Listen to a streaming playlist from Freegal Music, Naxos Music Library, Naxos Jazz Music Library, Hoopla or Music Online from Alexander Street free with your library card. Alexander Street will ask for an academic institution, use Glendale Public Library.
Today's recommending listening is Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2021 Nominees, Calypso Legends, Stanley Clarke Band, and Bruckner Symphonies.
Do you like Dr. Seuss? There are some fun spoken word Dr. Seuss recordings with music on Freegal. You can login with your Glendale library card number.
Read About Music
The Proquest Music Periodicals Database includes full text of over 140 music magazines and indexing to many more, including articles from Guitar Player, Jazz Times, Keyboard, Fanfare or The Musical Times? Login with your library card.
Music Podcasts
Riffs on Riffs is a fun podcast with musician Joe Watson and Hip Hop producer Toby Brazwell. Some recent episodes include Am I Wrong for Loving K Pop?, Songs That Are Just Plain Wrong and Chainsmoking and the Nickleback Effect. Too much fun, take a listen.
The History of Hip-Hop is a collection of interviews from National Public Radio (NPR) that chronicle the seminal people and events in the hip-hop movement.
Learn about The Birth of Hip Hop with this introductory video from Black History in Two Minutes (or so). The series is produced "to help preserve the African American experience and democratize online learning sources.” Author Joan Morgan, Professor Jelani Cobb, rapper Nas, and filmmaker Ava Duvernay tell the story of hip hop’s transition from underground to mainstream. In 1973, DJ Kool Herc set up his turntables and introduced a technique at a South Bronx house party that would change music as many people knew it.
Dance Online
Explore ALL ARTS from digital shorts to feature films by WNET. They have a collection of dance films including Young Stars of Ballet, Carnival in The Guadeloupe Islands, and the Richard Alston Dance Company along with more films in other art genres including theater, music and film.
Watch Reclaiming the Legacy of Oakland’s Boogaloo Dance Culture, part of KQED Arts' If Cities Could Dance series. Meet OG Oakland boogaloo dancers who take us back to where the movement began and show how they are passing the art form onto a new generation - bridging the gap between boogaloo, pop-locking and turf dancing.
Check out Dance Break! These videos are designed to give a fun and active break. Start with the Orientation:
Films Online
Directed and animated by Istanbul-based Gökalp Gönen, a camouflaged cast dances to Ilhan Ersahin’s track, Hurri-Mitanni, in a mesmerizing series of transformations. The anonymous characters don animated costumes as they dance throughout the streets and in empty pockets of the city.
Take a time out to appreciate the otherwise unseen life cycle of the western toad. Maxwel Hohn submerged himself in a remote lake on Vancouver Island to record the stunning footage culminating in the award-winning short film, Tadpoles: The Big Little Migration.
Get in and out of collective anxiety with the poignant animation 3:45 PM by Alisha Liu. The main character asks about the meaning of life and human insignificance. Through minimal scenes, the short film shifts between moments with passersby and the star-studded galaxy.
Brand Library Staff Reviews
Genghis Blues (1999 Film). This film won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Documentary and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Feature Category. The film follows blind blues singer Paul Pena’s (1950-2005) 1995 journey to Tuva and his love and study of Tuvan throat singing. Pena had a career as a singer, guitarist and bassist having played with T-Bone Walker and Bonnie Raitt. Steve Miller’s 1977 hit Jet Airliner was a cover of a Pena tune. Pena became interested in throat singing in 1984 when he picked up a Radio Moscow transmission of a Tuvan performance on shortwave radio. This style of singing is very distinctive, and several notes can be produced at once. He studied the style of singing on his own before traveling to Tuva and also learned the Tuvan language. He came into contact with famous Tuvan singer Kongar-ol Ondar who invited Paul to compete in the 2nd annual Khoomei Symposium. His gracious personality and his respect for the Tuvan culture and their interactions are inspiring. My favorite part of the film was his performances; he performs both blues and Tuvan music, sometimes mixing the two. A fantastic subject for the film. -BW
Atlantic Jazz: New Orleans. This high-energy album is a collaboration of two major New Orleans bands (the George Lewis Band and the Eureka Brass Band) and a handful of guest artists. The album comes out swinging (literally) with a banger of an opener, “Bourbon Street Parade”, which introduces the listener to the classic sound of the bands and whets the appetite for more. The effortless virtuosity and insane improvisational skills of the musicians have plenty of room to shine here. With a track list that jumps between soulful blues, fast-moving stomps, classics like “Maple Leaf Rag” and traditional favorites such “Eh La Bas”, this album creates a sonic landscape of the city of New Orleans, highlighting the rich musical traditions in the region and the instantly recognizable, brassy, raucous, old-timey jazz sound that is just as much a part of New Orleans as its air. In the spirit of Mardis Gras, give this a listen and experience a unique American art form that celebrates our nation’s plurality by combining multiple cultures, languages, and music. Atlantic Jazz: New Orleans is available on Naxos and Hoopla. -LD
Light as a Feather. Jazz fusion pioneer, Chick Corea, who passed away last week, left the world a wealth of musical offerings. One of his most acclaimed works is Light as a Feather, performed by Return to Forever, a group Corea formed after leaving the lineup of Miles Davis’ early jazz fusion groups, with which he toured extensively. Jazz fusion is a combination of jazz, funk, rock, electronics and technology. With the exception of Corea on Fender Rhodes electric piano, this 1972 release is a melodic, airy version of mostly acoustic fusion, a style which was a transition point in Corea’s career. However, much straight-ahead jazz can be found here, and, to some extent, the music is more like electric jazz than jazz fusion. Brazilian musicians, vocalist Flora Purim with her husband, percussionist Airto Moreira, contribute considerably to the Brazilian jazz/Bossa Nova elements of the music. Underappreciated reedman, Joe Farrell, displays his improvisational mastery on flute and tenor and soprano saxophones. Stanley Clarke, foregoing his usual electric bass for the double bass, showcases his exceptional bowing skills, while longtime Corea collaborator, drummer Lenny White completes the percussion section. Corea told Stanley Clarke, who, at age 18, wrote the title tune of the album, “If you write this music, we will name the album after this piece.” So, the album was named! This joyous, introspective album won the 1972 Playboy Jazz Album of the year award and is widely considered to be one of the seminal jazz albums of all time. -PR
Covid-19 Resources
Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) is available from the World Health Organization, the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the City of Glendale, and the Library, Arts & Culture department.
Resources for Music Businesses And Industry Workers, Playing for Change, Sounding Point LA
Resources for Freelance Artists, California Arts Council, Americans for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts
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