Perry discussed the library Music Department, owner of one of the largest collections of music and dance materials in the country, with over 100,000 volumes. The department lends piano vocal scores of operas, Broadway musicals, choral music, folk, classical, jazz and popular music. The collection includes books on music and dance history and criticism; theory and performance technique; musical instruments; biographies of musicians and composers, dancers and choreographers. An extensive reference collection of LP and CD recordings can be played on 6 listening stations in the department. The sheet music collections contain over 250,000 popular, classical and folk titles from the colonial era to the present day.  He also discussed the Music Instrument Collection, instruments are available for three-week loan periods and can be checked out from Parkway Central Library’s Music Department.

He discussed the live jazz performances at neighborhood libraries in celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month in April, part of the citywide Philly Celebrates Jazz, a program of the Office of Arts, Culture.  We spoke about Mysterious Travelers, where librarians commission composers to write music inspired by resources culled from Parkway Central’s subject departments, including voodoo and the afterlife with the Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department; railway maps of Philadelphia with the Maps Collection; Brazilian and Cuban percussion with the Music Department; Oscar Wilde, Clemens, Edgar Allan Poe with the Rare Book Department; and more.

Upcoming performances:

Jack Saint Claire | Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m.

South Philadelphia Library, 1700 S. Broad Street

Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble | Wednesday, April 25, 6:30 p.m.

Falls of Schuylkill Library, 3501 Midvale Avenue

Rob Martino | Monday, April 30, 7:00 p.m.

Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street

For a calendar of ALL musical events, information about the library and its collections and catalogs visit FREELIBRARY.ORG.