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NZ Music Month in pictures

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NZ Music Month is over for 2010, so I thought it was time to have a look back at some of our events. If you're anything like me you didn't have time to make it along to everything we had going on. Lucky for us Matthew was on hand throughout the month with a camera. Click the image to enlarge.

New Zealand Music Month - Greg Fleming New Zealand Music Month - Greg Fleming New Zealand Music Month - Tono New Zealand Music Month - Record Club

A massive thanks to everyone who played, and to everyone who came along to listen.

~Ashley

Listen to music online via Naxos

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The library doesn't just offer physical things like manuscripts and CDs to music fans, we also have a solid collection of Music eResources in our Digital Library. During NZ Music Month we're running a special class in one of these resources, the Naxos Music Library. Unfortunately this class is all booked up already, but I'll give you a run down so you can have a browse yourself.

The Naxos Music Library is a collection of music that Auckland City Libraries members can listen to online for free. Just login with your barcode number and PIN and you're hooked up to more than 600,000 tracks streaming in CD or near CD quality.

Naxos, with its excellent classical music content, is perfect for listening to pieces you might need to learn for music lessons or theory tests. The recordings come from all the big classical labels like Chandos Records and Hungaroton, so you know that the recordings are of the top quality.

I don't tend to spin up classical music for much more than soothing background sounds, but one thing that caught my attention was the Pop & Rock section. "Listen to an impressive array of Scandinavian rock and pop music, jazz, indie-pop and folk/acoustic pop," says the catalogue listing, so of course I had to check it out. A quick trawl turned up what seems to be a mash-up of the scores from The Two Towers and Requiem for a Dream, Requiem for a Tower by Clint Mansell of Pop Will Eat Itself. Totally LOL-worthy, and not at all bad.

I also stumbled across some pretty sweet electronic pop by Nashville-ites Venus Hum. Check out 'Pink Champagne', but steer well clear of the remix. You have been warned.

Naxos also has classic and contemporary jazz, folk, blues, world, nostalgia, and even Chinese collection. Jazz, in fact, gets its ownNaxos Jazz Music Library. It's possible to search by country, and yeah, there are some kiwi tracks on there. Have a dig.

If you're already set up to log in to the library website then you have all you need to get on to Naxos. Chuck on some strings while you study, bone up on some classic jazz to match your new beret, or get ready for your next Young Workers' meeting by singing along to some Pete Seeger. It's free music on the internet, imagine that!

~Ashley

Tony Paki song workshop at Glen Innes

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New Zealand Music Month isn't just an opportunity for the library to show off its sweet collections, and brag about all our influential friends. It's also an opportunity for us to do something that a lot of people don't instantly think of when they think about libraries: teach.

At community libraries around Auckland City we run Akozone homework centres, where school children can come and work on their homework and have a librarian on hand to help them out. On Wednesday 19 May local musician Tony Paki is stopping by the Glen Innes library to teach some of his songs, including a song he's written for Glen Innes.

Tony's a local, a father of three, and a member of the Tu Wharetoa, Te Arawa and Tuhoe tribes. He's been involved in music since he was young, getting started in a a Kapa Haka Group called Nga Tapuwae Junior Maori Club. We were lucky enough to get Tony along to share his love of music and Glen Innes with the Akozone kids. The workshop starts at 3pm on Wednesday 19 May, and is for under-13s.

If you've got the learning itch and can't be part of Tony's workshop, don't forget we've still got beginner's ukulele lessons at Central, and soon I'll be posting some information on our class on how to use the Naxos Music database.

~ Ashley

Nick Bollinger and the essentials of music lists

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A lot of the talk around Nick Bollinger's latest book, 100 Essential New Zealand Albums, seems to focus around how music lovers love to love lists, and how it's the hardest thing in the world to compare albums across time, genre and popularity. This is all true, but this all falls second to something I think we've all overlooked: music criticism and appreciation as conversation.

Each new album in Bollinger's book is introduced by an iTunes-style transport bar at the top of the page; a play button, back and forward, the volume on full. It's this reference to an album as a digital artifact that reminded me that most of the lists I see these days are online. Blogs, music sites, Facebook pages, this is the home of the top ten list for me. You can even make your own lists on this website, like this one called 'Kiwi music.' The best part about this is that allows for reply, for discussion, for defence and for outright flaming. We all come off being a hell of a lot more invested in the list, even if we still hate it.

Even print magazines like Rolling Stone and Q publish their lists online, and when they don't a reader will do it for them. That's because we want to discuss this stuff. Music listening is a relationship for us nerds, it's not a one-way street. And while yelling at a record won't change that record, yelling about a record can change how you relate to it.

When Bollinger talks at the Central City Libray on Thurdsay 13 May I hope it's more of a conversation than a lecture. It's all kicking off with a complimentary glass of wine, which I hope proves conducive to a little bit of back and forth on the subject. Bollinger is a pro, but he's not staying on the mountaintop. I'm not saying that he needs to be shouted down, but a little bit of back and forth can be a good thing. You might not change his mind on anything, but you might just make up yours.

Nick Bollinger is in the Central City Library this Thursday 13 May from 6pm. Bookings are recommended, phone 377 0209.

~Ashley

Ukulele lessons

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Thanks to groups like the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestraand the Play It Strange Trust the ukulele is becoming more and more prevalent in New Zealand. It's easy to see why, as ukes are lightweight, small, and pretty easy to learn quickly. Unlike recorder lessons in primary school, songs learnt on the ukulele are worth remembering and fun to play.

It really is super easy to play the uke, and websites like Ukulele Huntmake it easy to find the music for songs you want to play (yes, they've got 'Hey Ya').
It's not just here in New Zealand, either. Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) has been touring round the world these last two years doing Ninja gigs on her days off which she announces on Twitter. She just shows up with her uke and does songs for whoever showed up for as long as they feel like it. A ukulele is perfect for this kind of thing, because it's small enough and light enough to take it with you.





Play It Strange have come to the party once again this year, allowing Auckland City Libraries to offer free ukulele lessons during NZ Music Month. These are popular events, so it's pretty essential that you book in for the lesson. Just phone us on 307 7780, or email Steven.Harley@aucklandcity.govt.nz to make a booking.

Ukuleles. Flickr photo by ian_ransley. I you can't make it to any of the lessons don't fear. We've got a stash of ukulele books here at the library. We've got lesson books likePlay ukulele today! to get you started. Then you can start branching out. You could try a little Blues ukulele, or go local with Kiwi ukulele, featuring both our national anthem and The Verlaines' 'Death and the Maiden.' 

Did I mention how easy and fun this instrument is? I keep forgetting because I am having so much fun.

Ukulele lessons:
Tuesday 4, 18 and 25 May, 1:15pm, Central City Library

Other ukulele events:

Blockhouse Bay Community Library:
2 May, 2.30pm – The Grey Lynn Ukuladies

Grey Lynn Community Library
7 May, 7pm-9pm – Great Grey Lynn Uke Jam
21 May, 4pm – Grey Lynn Ukuladies 

Mt Roskill Community Library
26 May, 1.30pm – Mt Roskill Primary Ukulele Band

Remuera Community Library
13 May, 11.30am – Meadowbank School Ukulele Group

~Ashley

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/ph otos/design-dog/ / CC BY 2.0

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