Songbook Foundation Partners With Forté On BONE RECORDS

The Great American Songbook Foundation has reached a multiyear agreement for Carmel-based Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics to serve as title partner for a uniquely appropriate historical collection.

Some call them "bone records."

The Songbook Foundation, headquartered at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts, preserves and celebrates the history of the Tin Pan Alley tunes, jazz standards and songs from Broadway and Hollywood that form the foundation of American popular music. Among other education and preservation initiatives, the nonprofit organization maintains a vast Songbook Library & Archives with more than 500,000 documents, recordings, images and memorabilia representing the music's creators and performers.

Among the holdings are bootlegged copies of pop and jazz recordings that were etched into used X-ray film for underground sharing among music fans in the former Soviet Union, where Western music was illegal. Though the film is cut into discs - with a cigarette used to burn a spindle hole in the center - the ghostly images of ribs and other bones are still clearly visible.

The 18 recordings of songs such as "Begin the Beguine" and "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye" were donated to the Songbook Library & Archives by late Indianapolis resident Richard W. Judy and his wife, Jane M. Lommel. Judy acquired the items while he was an exchange student in Moscow from 1958 to 1959.

"These bone records are always a highlight for people who visit the archives, because they are just so unusual and tell a unique story about the power of music in adverse circumstances," said Christopher Lewis, executive director of the Great American Songbook Foundation. "This partnership enables us to share that story more widely with the public."

Under the agreement, the collection is now known as the Bone Records Collection presented by Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. Among other elements, the partnership includes plans for a lobby display of the records to open early next year at the company's offices off U.S. 31.

"This exhibit presents a unique opportunity to further our support for the community while making a direct connection to our name and its double meaning," said Forté President Dr. Mark Ritter. "Forté is a word that refers to a person's strong suit or something that shows one's special ability. It also has a musical reference of playing loudly, which is exactly what we hope to do by helping the Great American Songbook Foundation broaden awareness of and increase access to these historical materials."

The Songbook Foundation typically displays items from its collections at its multimedia exhibit gallery at the Palladium, but is laying the groundwork to establish a standalone Songbook Hall of Fame Museum designed to be an international attraction.

Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics, previously known as Methodist Sports Medicine, is an independent, physician-owned orthopedic practice recognized as one of the region's most respected orthopedic groups. Founded in 1983 as one of the country's original sports medicine practices, Forté's physicians and staff provide comprehensive, specialized sports medicine and orthopedic care to patients of all ages.

Clinical evaluations performed by highly skilled fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons, combined with advanced surgical techniques and comprehensive non-surgical treatment options, provide patients with exceptional treatment outcomes and a return to active living. Forté provides patients with expert orthopedic care in several sub-specialties, including hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder; foot and ankle; hip and knee; joint replacement and revision; spine care and sports medicine. Forté has been trusted by the Indianapolis Colts as their official team physicians since 1983 and serve as the orthopedic provider for Purdue University, Butler University, Indiana State University and numerous high schools and public safety departments throughout central Indiana.

Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics also innovates daily through a separate 501(c)(3), Forté Orthopedic Research Institute, which improves the lives of patients everywhere through advanced clinical research and education.

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