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Ensemble librarianship


Ensemble librarianship (or performance librarianship) is an area of music librarianship which specializes in serving the needs of musical ensembles, including symphony and chamber orchestras, opera houses, ballet companies, wind ensembles and educational institutions. Ensemble librarians acquire printed music and prepare it for performance.

Ensemble or performance librarianship is a relatively new and evolving field with an oral history, so in many instances, there is no written history upon which to rely. Aside from a few surveys and recorded interviews, there are very few documents describing the history of the profession at this point in time. Many of the musicians who developed and defined the job as it exists today are still living (for example, librarian Clinton Nieweg). Historically, music librarians were only required to handle acquisitions and distribution – they did not have the requirements many librarians have today to mark individual parts for performance, correct errors, work in close consultation with the music director and/or artistic staff, and conduct scholarly research. Traditionally, many orchestra librarians were string players, since they already possessed a working knowledge of bowings (markings made in string parts). “Until the 1970's, in all but the largest orchestras the librarian had a playing position in the orchestra and engaged in part time library work to supplement his or her income. In other cases the librarian had retired from playing and still wished to remain a part of the orchestra. A survey at the 1998 MOLA annual conference (conducted by Andrew S. Holmes) revealed that in some smaller orchestras..., the library position had remained part-time for the most part until the mid 1980's to early 1990's.” In some organizations, librarian duties were alternatively fulfilled by an administrative staff member (i.e. personnel manager or orchestra manager) and this is still the case with many smaller organizations today. Gradually, particularly with the larger orchestras and bands, the role of music librarian has become a job obtained on an audition basis and which requires the demonstration of extensive knowledge of not only music notation, history, and performance practice, but also specialized technique and research ability. Today, larger and more established organizations can have multiple librarians and a hierarchy has developed, where a principal librarian is often identified and compensated accordingly (much like principal string or wind/brass/percussion players in an orchestral setting). This principal librarian may then work with one or more assistant librarians and can delegate tasks.


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