What is OHAM?

Would you like to listen to Aaron Copland’s voice describing how Appalachian Spring was named? or John Cage on mushrooms and musical form? or Lou Harrison on the influence of Balinese Gamelan on American music? They are part of Yale’s collection of about 1800 audio and video recordings at the Oral History of American Music (OHAM) archive.

The only ongoing project of its kind in the field of music, OHAM collects audio and video memoirs in the voices of creative musicians. The sound of a voice links can be a direct link to the past. Gestures, laughter, and quirks of speech are vivid reminders of a personality, and they reflect the atmosphere of one’s time and place in history.

OHAM’s holdings include materials directly in the voices of composers and from their colleagues and friends: for example, commentary about figures like Charles Ives, Duke Ellington and Paul Hindemith. Many videos interviews were filmed on location including footage of Virgil Thomson in his New York apartment in the famous Chelsea Hotel.

To share the richness of its holdings with the public, OHAM has begun a multi-volume book and CD publication based on its collection of interviews. The award-winning first volume, Composers' Voices from Ives to Ellington, co-authored by OHAM Director Vivian Perlis and Associate Director Libby Van Cleve, was published in 2005 by Yale University Press.

Hours : Academic Term
Mon-Fri Sat-Sun	12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Closed
Location 310 Prospect St, First Floor  The entrance for OHAM is located on Prospect St, just south of Edwards St.
Phone E-mail	(203) 432-1988 oham [at] yale.edu