Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild were the first commercially significant record clubs in the world. By applying proven book club methods to the field of phonograph records, these two related companies attracted some hundred thousand subscribers at their peak and serviced perhaps a million members in their existence. Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 tells the history of YPR/CRG, explaining how these two labels intersected important developments in the histories of mass marketing, recording technology, educational philosophy, folk music, contemporary composition, and Cold War politics. David Bonner covers in detail the history of YPR/CRG, tracing its influences back to the beginnings of music education in the 19th Century and incorporating the impact of the American folk music revival on music educators. The narrative follows the career paths of the company principals, such as its progressive founder Horace Grenell; the musicians who recorded for him, like American folk music revival pioneer Tom Glazer; and the record industry offshoots they created in the process. Bonner considers advances the club made in recording technology as the first record label devoted exclusively to "unbreakable" vinyl discs and provides a comprehensive summary of record club marketing, including the application of "music appreciation" to phonograph records. He also charts the commercial, critical, and political response to these endeavors, including an historical footnote to the "Red Scare" unavailable in existing Cold War literature. A complete and detailed discography listing every YPR and CRG recording, including all known writers and performers, concludes this excellent reference for scholars, nostalgists, and phonographic fanatics. |
Other editions - View all
Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children ... David Bonner No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
A/CRG A/YPR advertising album Arthur Malvin author's possession Beatrice Landeck Bill Simon Billboard BOMC catalog number child Children's Record Guild classical composers Concert Cover art CRG's Dance discs Douglas Moore e-mail to author E2KB E2KW E3KB folk music Gene Lowell Goberman Grenell's Greystone Hans Swarowsky Horace Grenell issued Jay Williams jazz John Stevenson Judith Sidorsky kidisk label Landeck Lester Troob liner notes Little Lowell Chorus Magazine mail-order Malvin Margaret Wise Brown matrix number Music Appreciation music education Music Treasures narrator narrator-Norman Rose Nydorf CRG 78 orchestra Script Oscar Brand Parents People's Record Club Performers Pete Seeger phonograph records piano play Pram Press Presumed unissued radio Raymond Abrashkin RCA Victor reissued rhythms Richard Mohaupt Rob Grenell Sally Sweetland School Seeger Sheehy singer singing songs story Sweetland Symphony teacher Tom Glazer traditional Walter Hendl Wunderman Young People's Records YPR and CRG YPR LP YPR's YPR/CRG