As a part of my integration into the symphony society, my supervisor had me meet with the orchestra librarian to get a better understanding of how everything works. At Meymandi Hall, in the depths of the basement, through seemingly a million doors and small corridors, Deb (the orchestra librarian) sits amongst thousands of scores that the symphony has collected over the years.
The Orchestra Librarian, I have learned, has one of the most important jobs of the NC Symphony. Deb not only delivers and sets up the musician’s music, but also deals with a plethora of copyrighting laws, the composers wants and 14 series of music to prepare for the upcoming season. She explained that the process of buying and/or renting pieces of music starts almost a year in advance to the time it is actually played. She deals with all of the companies selling the music and HAND WRITES all of the conductor’s and other musician’s markings into all of the other sets of music.
We talked about the history of written music and why some pieces can or cannot be purchased, as well as how the history of the U.S. has affected the music, the composers, and the direction of classical music itself. We talked about our mutual love of Duke Ellington and how she became the NC Symphony’s principal orchestra librarian. We talked about how she never thought she would be in the position she’s at today, that she always planned on playing percussion in an orchestra, but how ultimately she feels that everyone ends up where they are supposed to be in life. (<my favorite takeaway)
