Abstract
Library instruction is often concentrated on academic aspects of music education, particularly in music history, therapy, education, business, and sometimes in performance-based courses. Ideally, library instruction is preparing our students to not only be functional library users and informed citizens, but also will be preparing them for a future as working musicians. This presentation will describe a collaborative project between a librarian and a percussion professor that included typical library instruction, instructing students how to search the catalog and browse for scores, but also gave students a real-life scenario to implement these skills that was centered in performance: the percussion studio was invited to perform selected works from their browsing activity in a concert in the library, which required them to be aware of how context and space can inform performance. For the instruction aspect, the librarian educated students on how to search and browse the library’s printed scores based on instrumentation and genre, locate printed music on the shelf, and browse multiple works based on stylistic criteria. The act of using the library to browse and evaluate scores is particularly important for percussionists, whose repertoire falls almost entirely out of the public domain, and libraries can serve as an equitable space for students to explore the repertoire for their instruments. The performance aspect included an invited recital by the percussion studio in the Performing Arts Collection, highlighting how music, sound, and space shape and modify each other. Questions considered included: how much sound the students could make, how to organize the logistics of the space and flow of daily activities, or how the Library’s own soundscape may actually shape one’s performance. Students were also directed to analyze the scores that they found in their instructional activity for suitability of performance in the space. Reconciling, recontextualizing and at times challenging the divergent historical sound trajectories of the Library - and its pretense of “silence”, with the performance of Percussion instruments - and their pretense “loudness”, became a focal point for the project. This paper will expand on how collaborations between performers and librarians can benefit both parties in many ways, while at the same time creating engaging learning environments for college students.