Where in the Upper Valley can you find 10,000 sheet music titles?
The Music Library at Upper Valley Music Center.
The collection started slowly, and was organized by instrument then by composer. After UVMC moved from Hanover Street to 8 South Park Street in 2017, the library required reorganization.
Volunteers have donated their time to catalogue sheet music and methods by instrument — brass, violin, cello, flute, recorder, etc. — then by level, such as beginner, intermediate, Suzuki music for the violin. But more help is needed. There are boxes of Christmas music, special collections of oversized music, and the donations keep coming in.
“There’s a lot of sheet music and methods here,” said Ann Stephens, music librarian and volunteer. “On average, a box a week is donated, about 50 boxes a year.”
Volunteers try to catalogue right away, but some items are just stored for the time being. “We can’t turn donations down until we know what is here,” said Stephens. “Sometimes a box of music has a missing part, and that part might show up when other boxes are catalogued. We are storing some things until they find their home.”
If you would like to volunteer, Stephens and her team would welcome the help. “Whether you have any musical knowledge or not, our cataloguing system is simple and you learn a lot just by handling the music,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll find something I sang or played, or a historical item I knew about as a music student, and it’s like finding an old friend.”
The Music Library is currently available to UVMC faculty and their students but Stephens hopes one day it will be available to the entire Upper Valley music community.
“When Dartmouth’s Paddock Music Library closed, the community lost its ability to browse, try out, and read through pieces they might want to study,” she said. “We need to figure out a way to manage circulation first, but I would love to see all the sheet music and methods being used.”
