GRISCOM, Richard 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born September 14, 1956, in Chattanooga, TN; son of Richard (a chemist) and Mary Elizabeth (a homemaker; maiden name, Line) Griscom; divorced; children: William, Thomas. Education: University of Tennessee, B.A. (music), 1978; Indiana University, M.A. (music and library science), 1981.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Pennsylvania, Otto E. Albrecht Music Library, 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206. E-mail—griscom@pobox.upenn.edu.

CAREER:

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, music cataloger, 1981-88; Dwight Anderson Music Library, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, head, 1988-97; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, music librarian, 1997-2004; University of Pennsylvania, Otto E. Albrecht Music Library, Philadelphia, head, 2004—.

MEMBER:

Music Library Association (member of board of directors, 1989-91; executive secretary, 1992-96).

WRITINGS:

(With A. Peter Brown) The French Music Publisher Guéra of Lyon: A Dated List, Information Coordinators (Detroit, MI), 1987.

(With David Lasocki) The Recorder: A Guide to Writings about the Instrument for Players and Researchers, Garland (New York, NY), 1994, second edition, Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor) Music Librarianship at the Turn of the Century, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2000.

Editor of Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, 1997-2000.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Research for a "catalog of music written for the recorder before the nineteenth century."

SIDELIGHTS:

A music librarian and semiprofessional recorder player, Richard Griscom worked with musical scholar David Lasocki to write The Recorder: A Guide to Writings about the Instrument for Players and Researchers. Drawing on articles in journals such as Tibia and American Recorder, the authors offer a bibliography of contemporary research on this "fringe" instrument, so often overlooked or downgraded by musicologists. In addition, Griscom and Lasocki provide commentary regarding contemporary writings in thematic chapters on physical, historical, biographical, and musical aspects of the recorder. Robert Ehrlich, writing in Early Music, noted that "each listed work is summarized and commented upon in a direct, colloquial style, a refreshing help to the reader trying to decide what to buy, or to order at the library."

The Recorder was written for an audience of experienced performers and scholars, so the authors largely ignore instructional manuals and articles in mass-market publications. With over 1,500 entries, the book constitutes a major advance and a valuable resource for students and proponents of the instrument. Notes contributor William E. Hettrick observed, "The chief value of The Recorder lies not so much in the bibliographical entries themselves (although it is certainly useful to have them collected in a single volume) as in the authors' commentary on them."

Griscom told CA that he "cites the essays and letters of E. B. White and the scholarship and essays of Richard Marius as major influences on his professional writing." In addition, he noted that he "worked on The Recorder over the course of several years and during that time tried to devote at least half an hour to the project early each morning before beginning his workday as a librarian." Griscom "learned the importance of maintaining a regular writing schedule from A. Peter Brown, one of his professors at Indiana University, [who] said 'All that matters is what you get down in black and white. Write every day. Even if you're able to write only fifteen minutes each day, over time, it will add up.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Early Music, May, 1997, Robert Ehrlich, review of The Recorder: A Guide to Writings about the Instrument for Players and Researchers, p. 311.

Music & Letters, November, 1995, John Turner, review of The Recorder, p. 615.

Music Library Association Newsletter, September-October, 1992, profile of Griscom, p. 12.

Notes, March, 1996, William E. Hettrick, review of The Recorder, p. 796.