Subscribers to Alexander Street's music collections can now cross-search all music listening, scores, video, and reference content through a single search interface.* This change makes Music Online the broadest and most comprehensive resource available for the study of classical, jazz, world, and American music and represents a significant milestone in digital reference.

If you’re already a Music Online user, you've received your activation notice.  If you don’t currently subscribe to Music Online and you would like to see it in action, you can request free trial access now.

*Please note that the tracks in African American Music and Smithsonian Global Sound® for Libraries will be added to the cross-search interface in August.

Read More about the new Music Online cross-search

Be among the first to access this collection of more than 19,000 tracks licensed from leading jazz music labels.

Playlist of the Month
One of the best loved features of Music Online is the ability to create and share playlists. Every month, we will feature a different playlist and interview its maker, with an eye toward sharing library promotion tips or teaching aids that you can replicate on your campus. If you have a playlist you’d like us to consider featuring, please email us at music@alexanderstreet.com.

In his playlist called Awesome Piano Music, Stanford Music Library public services librarian Ray Heigemeir challenges students and faculty to create a better showcase of piano compositions than he has done.

Says Heigemeir, “I created Awesome Piano Music in order to show students and faculty how to use playlists to organize tracks for research or teaching. I think the tracks I selected are compelling interpretations of pieces I have long loved, but more importantly, these playlists are really useful tools, and not everyone is aware of them or knows how to use them. At Stanford we don’t have the opportunity to do lots of faculty training sessions, so I try to put as many user and research guides up on the library Web site as possible to get the word out. By putting together a playlist, faculty can drive students directly to the tracks they want them to listen to. They’re very easy to create and use.”

Asked if anyone had responded to his challenge to create a “more awesome” compilation of tracks, Heigemeir said, "Not yet, but I'm curious to see what people come up with! I may need to award a prize!"

If you are not able to access Ray Heigemeir's playlist, email sales@alexanderstreet.com for a free trial to Music Online.

Playlist Tutorial
We’ve put together a playlist tutorial for Music Online that walks you through the fundamentals of creating, annotating, and sharing playlists. Access it now. You can also upload it and make it available to users on your library Web site.

FREE MARC Records
In June, we'll release the first batch of MARC records for Classical Music Library. Over the summer, we’ll add free MARC records for more music titles.

MARC records already available and ready for download include the following product-level and item-level records. You can find them at http://marc.alexanderstreet.com.

Product-Level MARC Records
African American Music Reference
African American Music
American Song
Dance in Video
Opera in Video
Smithsonian Global Sound® for Libraries

Item-Level MARC Records
African American Music Reference
Classical Music Reference Library
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online

Through this newsletter, we’ll let you know every time we release MARC records for any of our music and performing arts collections—or visit the MARC Records page on our Web site regularly to check for updates at http://marc.alexanderstreet.com.

New Content
We’re continuously adding new content to Music Online. To see a complete listing of all new content added in the past month, visit the Music Online cross-search interface and click on the “What’s New” tab at http://muco.alexanderstreet.com/WhatsNew. Or consult the “What’s New” tab on any one of our individual music and performing arts collections.

Here’s what’s been added in March and early April:

• We’ve added 379 classical scores from Edition Peters and University Music Editions, including works by composers Anton Webern, James Dillon, Jonathan Dove, Dunstaple, Brian Ferneyhough, Philip Grange, Stephen McNeff, and Jonathan Rathbone (added to Classical Scores Library).
• 150 tracks from Rounder Records, including The 20th Anniversary Concert: Live at Carnegie Hall—The New Lost City Ramblers, Jelly Roll Morton: Anamule Dance, Tom Paxton: And Loving You, Deep River of Song: Louisiana (added to American Song).
• 470 tracks from Six Degrees Records, including Issa Bagayogo: Tassoumakan, Azam Ali: Elysium for the Brave, Spanish Harlem Orchestra: United We Swing, Gaudi / Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Dub Qawwali (added to Contemporary World Music).
• 550 pages of full-text reference, including Live at the Village Vanguard, by Max Gordon, and The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop-And Why It Matters, by Tricia Rose (added to African American Music Reference).

Content Coming Soon
We’ve just licensed content from the following record labels and music publishers:

• The George Balanchine Foundation (for Dance in Video). New works licensed include rare and unpublished films of the choreographer’s work.
• Charles Dennis Productions (for Dance in Video). The “Alive and Kicking” video documentary series showcases cutting-edge dance and performance artists.
• ArtHaus Musik (for Opera in Video). Works include Wagner’s Tännhauser (Camilla Nylund) 2008 performance; Verdi's Simon Boccanegra (Thomas Hampson) 2002 performance; Verdi's La Traviata (Angela Gheorghiu, Ramon Vargas) 2007 performance; and Janacek's Jenufa (Eva Marton) 2005 performance.
• Sun Records (for American Song). Artists from this legendary Nashville record label include Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Patti Page, Sleepy LaBeef, and The Dixie Cups.
• High Tone Records (for American Song). New recordings licensed include great American artists such as Honeyboy Edwards, Otis Rush, Sonny Burgess, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Tom Russell.
• Universal Edition (for Classical Scores Library). We’ve licensed 2,000 new scores from a wide variety of composers, including Berg, Berio, Boulez, Bruckner, Chopin, Debussy, Granados, Grieg, Janacek, Kodaly, Messiaen, Milhaud, Mussorgsky, Reger, Satie, Stockhausen, Weber, Webern, and more.

Stay tuned for updates as this content is added to Music Online!

Recent Reviews of Alexander Street Music Collections

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
CHOICE, January 2009
“An ambitious undertaking. . . . This encyclopedia is indispensable for institutions offering undergraduate courses on world music or graduate degrees in ethnomusicology, and perhaps anthropology. . . . Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty / researchers.”

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WELCOME to the following recent subscribers in the global Music Online community:

• British Library (UK)
• Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
• City University of Hong Kong
• Codarts, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (Netherlands)
• Florida Atlantic University – Boca Raton (FL)
• George Mason University (VA)
• Gonzaga University (WA)
• King County Library System (WA)
• Kunitachi College of Music (Japan)
• Liberty University (VA)
• Loyola University of Chicago (IL)
• Mahanaim University (NY)
• National University of Singapore
• National University of Taiwan (Taiwan)
• Oakland University (MI)
• Old Dominion University (VA)
• Princeton University (NJ)
• Rutgers University (NJ)
• Tufts University (MA)
• University of Oklahoma Norman (OK)
• University of Regina (Canada)
• University of Richmond (VA)
• University of Western Ontario (Canada)
• Wesleyan University (CT)

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The Alexander Street Music Online Blog   
Between issues of Music Online News, our blog is a great way to keep up with the Music Online community. Read it now and bookmark it for future reference—or subscribe via our RSS feed.

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Free Music Download from Classical Music Library
Every two to three weeks, Alexander Street posts a new classical music download. The latest download selection is Edmond Audran's breakthrough work, the operetta La mascotte, written in 1880 and first performed at the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens on December 29, 1880. This is the lively overture to the operetta.

This recording is performed by the Luxembourg Radio Orchestra; Jean-Pierre Wallez, conductor. Download the selection now.

To keep up with all Alexander Street free music downloads, visit http://musicdownloads.alexanderstreet.com/promo/ and subscribe to the Music Online blog.

Liz Dutton, Music Editor
Alexander Street Press
music@alexanderstreet.com
http://alexanderstreet.com/products/muso.htm