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. |
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Selected Objects |
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Acoustical Dropping Sticks
This is a set of eight "dropping sticks" used to teach acoustics. It was made in Paris by the famous scientific instrument maker Rudolph Koenig, sometime between 1858 and 1902. ...
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Dizzy Gillespie's B–flat Trumpet
This custom–made “Silver Flair” trumpet belonged to renowned trumpeter, bandleader, and composer John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, a founder of the modern jazz style known as bebop. Renowned for his musical ...
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Double Manual Harpsichord
This instrument was made by Benoist Stehlin of Paris in the mid-1700s, the golden era of French harpsichord manufacture. Austrian-born, Stehlin lived in relative obscurity, devoting his life to the ...
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"Dragon" Electric Guitar by Paul Reed Smith
The electric guitar was shunned as something of a novelty when Adolph Rickenbacker introduced his patented "Frying Pan" in 1931. But electrical amplification of a guitar gained acceptance among blues, ...
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Electric Guitar
Custom-made by the Minneapolis, Minn., firm of Knut-Koupee Enterprises, this “Yellow-cloud” electric guitar was designed and used by Prince. The musician's distinctive personal symbol adorns both the top and the ...
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Five-String Fretless Banjo
Although some know of the banjo's use by African Americans, the popular consciousness of the banjo has been dominated by images of white Southern musicians and urban folk singers. But ...
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Grand Piano
This beautiful piano, veneered in the best English tradition, has a range of five and one-half octaves, a rather advanced compass for its time. It is triple-strung throughout, and has ...
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Servais Cello
Antonio Stradivari is credited with the final development and refinement of the violin family, creating instruments that are viewed today as the standard of perfection. Although little is known of ...
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Sound Recording
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 ...
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Square Piano
An ingenious craftsman but an unlucky businessman, Alpheus Babcock invented the one-piece iron frame, one of America's chief contributions to piano development. The iron frame allowed for larger, more stable ...
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Transposing Upright Piano
This upright transposing piano was made in 1940 by Weser Brothers, New York, for Irving Berlin (1888–1989). Like many Tin Pan Alley pianists, Berlin was self-taught, preferring to play on ...
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Tommy Jarrell's Violin
This violin was made by an unknown craftsman in Mittenwald, Germany. Mittenwald violins in this ornamented style have been popular with American country and folk musicians like Appalachian fiddler Tommy ...
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