Hudson Mohawk Recorder Society – HMRS

The library was originally referred to as the Nancy Young Memorial Library, honoring her memory and comprising an initial donation of her personal library. Nancy was an early , influential member of one of the chapters later consolidated to form the current Hudson Mohawk Recorder Society. Subsequent substantial donations and acquisitions have increased the size of the library to 7173 cataloged pieces of music. Method and technique volumes are also included in the collection.

A data entry for every piece in the library is housed in an Access relational database. A more widely accessible list of information is exported to an Excel spreadsheet. A copy of the spreadsheet may be obtained by request from the librarian.

All individual pieces and bound collections are housed in separate folders. Each folder is assigned a 7-digit accession number with 1 as the first digit. Pieces within collections are assigned accession numbers where the first digit is a 2. Fields within each record hold information for title, composer, and in the case of pieces contained in collections, the accession number of the collection’s folder. Other fields contain codes for the number of players, parts assignments, era and seasonal classifications. Records may be filtered with the spreadsheet to produce customized lists such as all alto-alto duets by Baroque composers, or all pieces of any description by Mozart.

For those wishing to browse the holdings, a glossary of codes used to systematize descriptions may be obtained when requesting a current spreadsheet of the holdings. Use of the HMRS library is limited to members of HMRS. Items may be borrowed for personal use for a reasonable length of time.

To make arrangements to use the HMRS library contact the librarian by email at birdman329@gmail.com.

Greetings from the Hudson Mohawk Recorder Society. We have a glimmer of hope for 2021—- a vaccine is on its way to your area.  Most people I know have initial appointments in February, March and April.

Wasn’t that a great workshop with Glen Shannon in January?? Glen brings his “joie de vivre” and personal style to his workshops. And that enthusiasm transcends the fact that we are all sitting in our living rooms and playing on Zoom. It was a lot of fun.

And direct from Scotland our February workshop will be with composer, Marg Hall. Here is her website.  http://marghallmusic.co.uk/  

I have played many of her compositions over the years. Much music for recorder players was originally written for voice or strings. However, Marg is a recorder player and composer/arranger and each part—whether soprano, alto, tenor or bass (or lower)— hits the “sweet spot” for that instrument’s  fingerings and sound.

I hope you have found some consolation in playing music and that you all are taking advantage of the many online recorder workshops that are available—it is transforming the business—including the Hudson Mohawk Recorder Society. The American Recorder Society has fantastic recorder resources for beginners through advanced.

In addition there is information and links to other recorder groups. Yes!! you can take a class from a local recorder organization in Denver or Boston or Phoenix.  Please review all the great resources and support the American Recorder Society by joining today:  http://americanrecorder.org/

HMRS has planned a full schedule of Zoom meetings through June 2021 led by Kathy Kuhrt and Lee Danielson. In addition, we have scheduled three more recorder workshops left in  2021—

Marg Hall in February,

Anne Timberlake in April and

Lisette Kielson in May.

Let’s celebrate 2021 by attending our Marg Hall workshop on February 28^th. Only $10.  Free to members.

I will be looking for you in the Zoom “gallery” this month.

Linda Botimer, President

Greetings from the Hudson Mohawk Recorder Society.

Wasn’t 2020 a gloomy and woeful year???  But out of the confusion and concern for the pandemic, our recorder society transformed itself into a virtual organization. The Zoom phenomena has taken over HMRS and many recorder and music groups across the world as a way to share music and to stay in touch with members. As a result, I foresee that HMRS will have a mix of in-person and Zoom meetings in the future. 

HMRS has planned a full schedule of Zoom meetings through June 2021 led by Kathy Kuhrt and Lee Danielson. 

In addition, we have scheduled four recorder professionals to lead workshops in 2021:

Glen Shannon in January,

Marg Hall in February,

Anne Timberlake in April and

Lisette Kielson in May.

Let’s celebrate the New Year by attending our Glen Shannon workshop. Only $10. Free to members.

See the attached flyer. Meet me in the Zoom “gallery” this year.

Let’s toast to a more hopeful and peaceful 2021. Happy New Year.

Linda Botimer, President