Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 42 items.
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“I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song, “I Don’t Want to Play in Your Yard,” was composed by H. W. Petri and written by Philip Wingate. The music was published by the Petrie Music Company in Chicago, Illinois in 1894. The music is dedicated “To the Ladies of the Charity Circle, La Porte, Ind.” The cover features an image of a small child, labeled Pearl, who would sing “I don’t want to play in your yard” to Mamie Shepard who is also pictured in the center of the cover.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1894
- composer
- Petric, H. W.
- lyricist
- Wingate, Philip
- user
- Woodside, Lura
- publisher
- Petrie Music Co.
- ID Number
- 1979.1154.11
- accession number
- 1979.1154
- catalog number
- 1979.1154.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“I'd Leave Ma Happy Home for You” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song “I’d Leave Ma Happy Home For You“ was written by Will A. Heelan and composed by Harry Von Tilzer. The sheet music was published by Shapiro, Bernstein, and Von Tilzer in New York, New York in 1899. The cover calls the song, “The Funniest in Years, The Great “Oo, Oo, Oo Song, rendered by Little May Hoey,” and features an inset portrait of Ms. Hoey. The cover also features a caricatured illustration of a young black woman wearing a fancy hat singing.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1899
- composer
- Von Tilzer, Harry
- performer
- Hoey, Little May
- publisher
- Bernstein and Von Tilzer
- ID Number
- 1979.1154.19
- accession number
- 1979.1154
- catalog number
- 1979.1154.19
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Les Gardes Municipaux” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song “Les Gardes Municipaux” was composed by Paul Courtois and arranged by Paul Pryor. The music was published by Richard A. Saalfield of New York, New York in 1892. The plain white cover has black lettering, the song is described as a march, and the title is French for “The Municipal Guards.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1892
- publisher
- Richard A. Saalfield
- ID Number
- 1982.0440.11
- accession number
- 1982.0440
- catalog number
- 1982.0440.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Virgil Practice Clavier
- Description (Brief)
- This practice clavier was made by Almon Kincaid Virgil in New York around 1896. Practice pianos such as this were popular for their ability to weight the keys, forcing the pianist to press them harder and in doing so building up finger strength and enforcing muscle memory. The inscription reads Virgil/ Perfected/ Practice Clavier/ New York, and has patent dates of June 29, 1888, Oct. 23, 188, July 19, 1892 on it. The piano is serial number 3614 and has a compass of AA-c4.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1896
- maker
- Virgil, Almon K.
- ID Number
- 1983.0485.01
- accession number
- 1983.0485
- catalog number
- 1983.0485.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fairbanks Five-String Banjo
- Description (Brief)
- This banjo was made by The A.C. Fairbanks Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1899. It is a "Regent" model and stamped with serial number 18151. It has 28 brackets, neck and fingerboard with mother-of-pearl inlay, and a metal-covered wood hoop.
- Albert Conant Fairbanks began making banjos in 1868 with William A. Cole, a well-known Boston banjo player and teacher. Around 1888, the A.C. Fairbanks Co., Fairbanks was joined by David L. Day. Six years later, Fairbanks sold his interest in the company to businessmen Cummings & Dodge. In 1904, the Vega Co. acquired the business and continued to produce popular banjos made by Fairbanks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1899
- maker
- A. C. Fairbanks Co.
- ID Number
- 1999.0296.01
- serial number
- 18151
- accession number
- 1999.0296
- catalog number
- 1999.0296.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Steinway & Sons Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This grand piano was made by Steinway & Sons in New York, New York in 1892. It was played by composer and pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski during his first U.S. tour in seventy-five concerts from1892-1893. This piano is serial number 717227 and has a compass of AAA-c5, repetition action, layers of felt hammers, single-, double-, and triple-strings, 3 pedals: una corda, sustention, and dampers, one-piece cast-iron frame, cross-strung, and an ebonized wood case.
- date made
- 1892
- user
- Paderewski, Ignacy Jan
- maker
- Steinway & Sons
- ID Number
- MI*74.07
- serial number
- 71227
- accession number
- 310 654
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hyde Violin
- Description (Brief)
- This violin was made by Andrew Hyde in Northhampton, Massachusetts in 1893. Born in 1842, Andrew Hyde trained as a mechanic and later became interested in the violin. In 1886 he moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and established himself as a professional maker. Hyde produced more than 1,200 violins, violas and cellos and developed a style of imitating wear and age in his varnish and finishing details. He died in 1923 at the age of 81. This violin is made of a two-piece table of spruce, maple back in two pieces cut on 45o with irregular broad descending figure, ribs of similar maple cut on the slab, moderately figured maple neck, pegbox and scroll, and orange-red varnish.
- Description
- This violin has an original printed label:
- MADE FOR THE WORLDS FAIR COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION
- -BY-
- ANDREW HYDE
- NORTHAMPTON, MASS.
- NO. 609 A.D. 1893
- Born in 1842, Andrew Hyde was trained as a mechanic and later became interested in the violin. In 1886 he moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and established himself as a professional maker. Hyde produced more than 1,200 violins, violas and cellos and developed a style of imitating wear and age in his varnish and finishing details. He died in 1923 at the age of 81.
- This instrument, a Stradivari model, is extensively marked and shaded in imitation of wear and age.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1893
- maker
- Hyde, Andrew
- ID Number
- 1979.0647.02
- accession number
- 1979.0647
- catalog number
- 1979.0647.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“I Love You in the Same Old Way” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “I Love You in The Same Old Way.” The song was written by Walter H. Ford and composed by John W. Brattor, and published by Witmark and Sons in 1896. The cover features the portraits of Maxwell and Simpson who originally sang and illustrated the song in their Vaudeville routine. In performances of illustrated songs, pre-photographed scenes that conveyed the content of the song would be projected on the stage behind the performers as a visual aid for the audience.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1896
- lyricist
- Ford, Walter H.
- composer
- Bratton, John W.
- publisher
- M. Witmark & Sons
- ID Number
- 1979.1154.04
- accession number
- 1979.1154
- catalog number
- 1979.1154.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“All Coons Look a Like to Me” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song, "All Coons Look Alike to Me: A Darkey Misunderstanding” was composed by Ernest Hogan. Hogan is billed as “the composer of the famous Pas-Ma-La” on the cover. The music was published by M. Witmark and Sons in New York, New York in 1896. Coon songs were popular from around 1890-1910 and often presented insulting and stereotypical racist depictions of African-Americans. In this song, “all coons look alike” to the female singer of this song because she only had eyes for one man. The composer, Ernest Hogan was black and later regretted writing the song.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1896
- composer; lyricist
- Hogan, Ernest
- publisher
- M. Witmark & Sons
- ID Number
- 1979.1154.12
- accession number
- 1979.1154
- catalog number
- 1979.1154.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
"Bully" Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song “May Irwin’s ‘Bully’ Song” was written and composed by Charles E. Trevathan, and published by White-Smith Music Publishers of New York, New York in 1896. “Bully Song” is advertised as being “sung with Great Success in the ‘Widow Jones’” by May Irwin. The cover features an illustrated African-American man in a top hat holding onto the top of the inset photograph of May Irwin and glaring at her. Irwin autographed the sheet music and wrote, “This is the only correct publication of the “Bully Song.” Irwin later became famous for being a part of the first cinematic kiss ever.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1896
- composer; lyricist
- Trevathan, Charles E.
- performer
- Irwin, May
- publisher
- White-Smith Music Publishers
- ID Number
- 1979.1154.15
- accession number
- 1979.1154
- catalog number
- 1979.1154.15
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center