30 Days of Sheet Music: Day 1

My November gig is to raid my large collection of sheet music and post them for my own and possibly others’ amusement.  I’ll say more about the collection as the month winds on–it came down  mostly from my mother and father, both amateur musicians, as am I.

But to start, for people who may not know, sheet music is typically a single printed song with musical notation and lyrics.  It was once the main way songs were distributed, with song pluggers in the early years of say Irving Berlin’s long career, selling sheet music on the street, not recordings.  You would buy the music, go home and plunk through it on your piano.  That world has changed needless to say (well not for so much for me) but the sheet music is still around. Much of it sitting on my piano right now.

The first selection is from Jerome Kern’s “Roberta,” a throwback in many ways (using smoking to evoke a romantic aura?), but still a lovely tune.  Hit the link for a wonderful bit of dancing to the tune by Astaire and Rogers.

And a nice version by Nat King Cole.