Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

^UDIO by Max U. Bildersee rhree separate requests for assist:.ie, but the invitations were remark!il\ similar! The librarian who called !i(l. "We are inaugurating a program I lending records to our patrons. We red advice on both equipment for 111 use here and on the selection of (lords for our loan collection. Can nil help us?" The school superintendent wrote. We are looking for someone who can pend some time with us and help us understand the place of tape recorders tnd phonographs in instruction. We jire particularly interested in the needs j)f our gifted children. Can vou help IS?" The teacher training specialist said, fWe must expand the audio aspects !)f our audiovisual program. But we lave a minimum background of inormation and we don't know where ve can seek aid. Can you help us?" The invitations were remarkably like— we need help! The imphed juestion was not "Can you help us?" )Ut rather "tuiU you help us — and vhat do you propose to do?" It is not strange that the answers vere equally parallel— "Yes!" And it s not strange, either, that the pro)osed activity in each instance in/olved more listening than talking, nore experimentation than exploraion. I The Library The visit to the library was pleasant but very brief. We spent an evening with the librarian, her assistant and several members of a local board representing communit\' organizations. We carried just a few samples: an inexpensive phonograph, a pair of commercial headphones and a heavy armful of records. We started the evening by mentioning that great varieties of non-musical recordings are available for library collections. We reminded our friends in the library that poetry was available in tremendous quantity, plus drama, historical events and re-enactments, stories read 'word-for-word' as well as stories presented dramatically. Then we introduced the idea of library collections of language recordings for home study enthusiasts. Going a bit afield from the purely spoken record there are a number of American folk-song recordings as well as other folk-song recordings from all over the world. In response to a question about the publishers we informed the group the records were produced by well-known as well as lesser-known producers. There was, for instance, the comparatively new JB (RCA Victor LD 6075) and the much older and yet delightful Death of A Salesman (Dacca DX102) and John Brown's Body (Columbia SL 181). Lesser-known producers have offered School for Scandal (Angel 3542-5S) and Merchant of Venice (Caedmon 2013). And then there are such recordings as Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (Theatre 3) and the Hamlet produced by Word Recordings. We went further, and talked of some independent producers who offer small but very select catalogs. These included Lexington and such book publishers as Harcourt, Brace. "But," we were asked, "aren't these all adult recordings?" We admitted they were, but pointed to the recordings of stories for children— straight readings with appropriate musical backgrounds— produced by Weston Woods, the simple poetry for the younger group in the Harcourt, Brace catalog of recordings, the tremendous literature produced by major producers already cited, and other producers including Disneyland, M-G-M, Capitol and more. We made special mention of the broad offering included in the Folkways catalog, which covers all the areas mentioned and others as well. We stressed the audio contributions of Enrichment Materials not only to classroom instruction but to library listening programs and to home hstening. We mentioned the National Association of Broadcasters and, to give adequate attention to the records, we introduced side 1 of their album The Ways of Mankind. Side 1 is subtitled "A Word in Your Ear" and discusses in detail the functions of language. We didn't talk much after that because our friends wanted to listen to spoken records. And they did. They sampled many of the records already mentioned and more from the catalogs of Spoken Arts, Caedmon, Period, Spoken Word and others. To cap the evening we offered the idea that libraries could become important record producers. My friends were skeptical. They viewed their own facilities and thought this impossible. But we told of Yale University's new venture in offering many records of modem American poets reading their own works. And then we suggested that they listen to a bit of what the Clements Library at the University of Michigan had already done, and we played a side of Voices of the American Revolution for them. The one hour meeting broke upafter two hoursonly because the library had already closed and the building superintendent wanted to get home. But as we left, one of the participants remarked, "You've opened up a whole new world for us." Visiting the Teachers Visiting the teachers was quite different. To begin with, we carried no equipment. The school supphed it all. /iutiia CARDALOG Record Reviews on Cards 823 INDIVIDUAL CROSS-INDEXED CARDS ALREADY ISSUED! SUBSCRIBE NOW $25.00 a year Audio CARDALOG Box 1 77 1, Albany I, New York A WORLD OF SOUND ON FILE Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — April, 1960 183