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 1351 items.
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Sound Recording
- Description
- Elvis Aron Presley (1935—1977) is one of the best-known and most influential figures in popular music. Throughout his career, Elvis incorporated pop, gospel, country, and blues elements into creating his trademark style and earning his mainstream success.
- This recording is the first of Elvis's many albums that he made for RCA. The company took a major risk in releasing a full album from this new "rock & roll" artist, as teenagers were more likely to buy 45 rpm singles than a full LP. The Elvis Presley album included recording sessions Elvis did for RCA and five previously unissued songs recorded earlier with Sun Records. After the album's release in March 1956, Elvis Presley eventually went on to become the first rock & roll album to reach number one on national record sales charts, and RCA's first million-dollar-earning pop album.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1956
- recording artist
- Presley, Elvis
- manufacturer
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 2000.3053.1039
- nonaccession number
- 2000.3053
- catalog number
- 2000.3053.1039
- label number
- LPM-1254
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "When the Saints Go Marching In"
- Description (Brief)
- Born in New Orleans in 1901, jazz musician Louis Armstrong (d. 1971)was known for his distinctive trumpet-playing and vocal style. He often improvised jazz riffs using his voice rather than his instrument, “scatting” notes and melodies rather than singing actual words. Armstrong transformed traditional church songs like “When the Saints Go Marching In” into jazz melodies fit for brass bands. Nicknamed Satchmo, short for “satchel-mouth,” he helped popularize the solo performance in jazz music. His musical style influenced singers Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra
- maker
- Decca
- ID Number
- 1978.0670.208
- accession number
- 1978.0670
- maker number
- 25153
- catalog number
- 1978.0670.208
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "And the Angels Sing"
- Description (Brief)
- Benny Goodman (1909-1986,) the King of Swing, was one of the America’s most popular band leaders and the leader of one of the first racially integrated musical groups. Goodman was a clarinetist by training, and his big band performances in Chicago and New York throughout the 1930s helped make jazz a respectable musical form. He and his orchestra performed the first jazz concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1938. “And the Angels Sing,” recorded in 1939, was one of Goodman’s many hits. The musician would go on to play a variety of music, including bebop and classical.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Benny Goodman and his Orchestra
- maker
- Victor
- ID Number
- 1981.0566.119
- maker number
- 26170
- accession number
- 1981.0566
- catalog number
- 1981.0566.119
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "The Beer Barrel Polka"
- Description (Brief)
- The Andrews Sisters—Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne—began their music career performing in vaudeville shows throughout the country. “Beer Barrel Polka” was one of their biggest hits, quickly becoming a popular jukebox selection. Based on a Czechoslovakian song, “Beer Barrel Polka” helped inspire an interest in international music in the United States. The sisters continued touring as a group into the 1950s, eventually selling over 90 million records.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Andrews Sisters
- maker
- Decca
- ID Number
- 1981.0656.239
- accession number
- 1981.0656
- maker number
- 2462
- catalog number
- 1981.0656.239
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Over the Rainbow"
- Description (Brief)
- Judy Garland (1922-1969) began her musical career as a vaudeville performer, touring the country with her two sisters until the early 1930s. Having signed with MGM Studios in 1935, she was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at age sixteen. Garland’s 1939 Decca recording of “Over the Rainbow” is not the version featured in the film. The b-side track "The Jitterbug," was originally intended for the same film, but studio producers cut it before deciding on the final script. The record reached the fifth position on the Billboard charts in 1939, and along with The Wizard of Oz, cemented Garland’s status as a major celebrity.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Garland, Judy
- maker
- Decca
- ID Number
- 1986.0771.35
- accession number
- 1986.0771
- maker number
- 2672
- catalog number
- 1986.0771.35
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Body and Soul"
- Description (Brief)
- Often considered the first great jazz saxophonist, Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) is known as the Father of the Tenor Saxophone. Like Louis Armstrong, Hawkins pushed the boundaries of jazz music by improvising solos and altering songs’ basic melodies. His 1939 recording of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” became famous for its improvisation. He never played the same version twice. Though primarily a jazz and big band musician, Hawkins experimented in bebop in the 1940s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra
- maker
- Bluebird
- performer
- Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.1213
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.1213
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.1213
- maker number
- B-10523
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Moonlight Serenade"
- Description (Brief)
- “Moonlight Serenade” became bandleader Glenn Miller’s (1904-1944, MIA) signature song, despite its place on the b-side of his 1939 “Sunrise Serenade” release. In that year alone, Miller had five top-20 records on the Billboard charts, and “Sunrise Serenade” became his first record to sell more than one million copies. The swing music the Miller and his orchestra performed was infused with elements of jazz and featured a unique combination of sound from the clarinet and saxophone. The bandleader's pure, romantic swing sound appealed to dance audiences nationally and overseas.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- maker
- Bluebird
- performer
- Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.1705
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.1705
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.1705
- maker number
- B-10214
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Satellite Beep Bop," performed by Billy Mitchell and the Basie-ites
- Description
- Tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell of Detroit recorded this piece with several other members of Count Basie's legendary jazz orchestra. Side 1 of the 45 rpm recording has "Pickin' on the Wrong Chicken."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- composer
- Michael
- Korgich
- recording artist
- The Basie-ites
- Mitchell, Billy
- composer
- Young
- Bruhn
- manufacturer
- Imperial
- ID Number
- 1996.0153.18237
- catalog number
- 1996.0153.18237
- label number
- X5520
- accession number
- 1996.0153
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Sputnik Rock and Roll," performed by Rock-Krister
- Description
- The Swedish rock musician Rock-Krister initially recorded this song in 1958 and included it on this retrospective recording of 1965. On the same side of the recording is "Hallo-man Beat." Side two has "Do the Bop" (track 1) and "I Got You" (track 2).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- recording artist
- Rock - Krister
- manufacturer
- Jan
- ID Number
- 1996.0153.19337
- catalog number
- 1996.0153.19337
- label number
- 45-080
- accession number
- 1996.0153
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Hey, Maryann," performed by the Sputniks
- Description
- Musical groups in Scandinavia, Brazil, East Germany, and the United States took the name "The Sputniks." This doo-wop recording is by a short-lived American group. Side two is a recording of "My Love is Gone."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- composer
- Nathan, N.
- Vikki, J.
- recording artist
- Sputniks, The
- manufacturer
- Class
- ID Number
- 1996.0153.20014
- label number
- 217
- accession number
- 1996.0153
- catalog number
- 1996.0153.20014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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