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Many people avoid the LoC like it is the black plague.  However, even though it seems like it would be boring and stiff, they have many amazing resources and their digital catalogue is growing by leaps and bounds every day!  Additionally, if you cannot find something fully digitized and you believe the the LoC has it somewhere, just ask a librarian and they will be more than happy to help!

The Library of Congress collects digital recordings of historically significant music. Access to these recordings is free and can be used in your classroom to present this music to your students.

Collection of very old recordings of various genres of music provided by the Library of Congress. Features a searchable database.

The National Jukebox serves as an archive for older recordings from a variety of genres. The purpose of the site is to provide public access to recordings in the Library of Congress collection. The site contains a variety of musical recordings that could be used by teachers, students, or the everyday music consumer. 

The Library of Congress maintains an encyclopedia of all performing arts collections they curate. This website can be used to access content from some of these collections and find information about most collections.

The Library of Congress website has a plethora of free historical recordings. For example, I found The Liberty Bell March from 1905. You should listen to the recordings in advance to check for inappropriate language. I think it would be very valuable to have authentic historical recordings for students to listen to, which would present the opportunity to discuss the history of recording music.

The concert band began to come into its own during the Civil War era

The Library of Congress has a plethora of information and media related to music education. Within the archives of the Library of Congress are recordings of folk songs, articles about music in America, and podcasts. One of these podcast collections is about Music and the Brain where research related to music and how it affects the brain is reviewed and discussed. This is an excellent resource for music advocacy. It is also a great resource for better understanding music learning.

The life and works of 20th Century composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) is showcased in this skillfully compiled Library of Congress collection, featuring a detailed biography, images from different periods of his life, written correspondences between Copland and others, and different hand-notated selections.