Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available to stream online, and it’s free to use with your Cork City Libraries card. Along with over 2.5 million tracks to listen to from 940 labels, it also provides access to notes from CD booklets, the libretti and synopses of hundreds of operas and thousands of composer and artist biographies. It also contains a number of additional Resources, especially useful for music teachers and students as described below. To get started, simply click on the Naxos logo and enter your 14-digit library barcode.
1. Explore New Music
While the Rory Gallagher Music Library is closed to physical access at the moment, Naxos Music Library unlocks access to their vast collection of tracks, all available to listen to individually or as part of whole albums (with no ads!). The New and News section provides weekly updates of all Recent Additions and New Releases. In the People section, you can browse alphabetically by Composer or Artist, or you can use the Search box to type in a surname. If you’re looking for a specific work, you can use the Keyword Search, with its included Search Tips. Advanced Search enables searching by fourteen different categories, including year of composition, instrumentation, category and duration; very useful for those programming concerts for the future!
2. Send Recommendations to your friends, students, choir members, colleagues
Naxos Music Library allows you to create static URL links of individual tracks or whole albums, which you can then send to others to access with their Cork City Libraries card. Just click on the Select box for an individual track or album and choose the Show Static URL option. Then copy and paste that link into an email to send it to your contact, who can then open it when logged in with their Cork City Libraries card. Music Teachers – this is a very useful way to share and recommend music to your students, especially now in these times of teaching and learning online. Choir members and directors – this is a good option for considering and preparing repertoire for when you can next meet in person!
3. Extension of the Classroom – For Music Teachers
Under Resources, the Aural Training section provides access to Listen!, which is “designed as an aid for those involved in teaching aural perception skills, either to school classes or individual students”. Whether you’re a music teacher or a student revising your Aural Skills before an exam, this comprehensive resource is for you. The exercises are organised by increasing difficulty, from the beginner to advanced levels. One of the most useful elements of this section is that the audio clips are included for each question, so these can be played easily in a class or one-to-one music lesson, or indeed in teaching and learning online classes at the moment. The Guided Tours section as described below will also be useful for you.
4. Research – For Music Students
If you’re working on research on a certain composer for an assignment, you can use the Dictionary section for the Naxos Dictionary of Music, an excellent reference tool focusing on musical terms, composers and instruments; many with accompanying audio and manuscript examples. The Musicology section links to Naxos Musicology International, an online platform for music scholarship similar to a traditional journal. The Work Analyses section as described below will also be useful for you, and you can compare versions of a specific work recorded by different performers very easily.
5. Music Appreciation – Keep Learning
For those seeking to expand their knowledge of classical music repertoire, the Resources section includes Guided Tours of the Baroque Era, Classical Era, Romantic Era and the 20th Century. These sections outline the features and key composers and works of each Era with links to recommended recordings. The Work Analyses section contains in-depth analysis of core classical works, all written by named musicologists. These are suitable for both advanced level students and also for anyone seeking to explore a work or a composer in greater detail. Notation examples and audio clips are provided throughout, which bring all your learning tools together in one place, so that you don’t have to go and look for recordings separately.
6. First Introduction to Classical Music – Junior Section
If you’re teaching music to young children or would like to play music for children at home, the Junior Section (also under Resources) is for you. All the children’s favourites are brought together in the Stories section, from Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf to Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. There is also full access to The Story of Classical Music audiobook, read by Aled Jones. The Music for Children section lists a number of CDs entitled Music for Kids: Songs to Sing from the Naxos Educational label, and also a number of albums featuring children’s choirs, very useful for those seeking new repertoire for their school choirs.
7. Rediscover old favourites, and create your soundtrack for the day!
The Categories section Includes Orchestral, Opera, Chamber Music, Vocal, Choral, Film & TV Music and more. To set up your own Playlists, just click on the Student / Member Account Sign Up option on the Playlists page and create your own free personal account with your email address and password. You can then add tracks from anywhere on the site to your Playlists in your personal Folders. To get started, here is a very topical album for these times, just click and log in now!
WORK FROM HOME – Classical Music for Peace and Calm (Dennis, Hill, Hurst, Johnson, Kazandjiev, Landor, Marturet, Rezucha, Rolla)
https://corkclib.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=0848033092544
Caitríona Honohan, Executive Librarian, Frank O’Connor Library, Mayfield
Rory Gallagher Music Library 