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 174 items.
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Danelectro Electric Bass Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric bass guitar was made by Danelectro in Red Bank, New Jersey around 1958. Danelectro was founded by Nathan Daniel in 1947 and manufactured amplifiers for Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward. In 1954, the company started producing the Danelectro lines of solid-body electric guitars and amplifiers. Two years later, Danelectro introduced the six-string electric bass. This U-2 model with double pickup sold in a 1956 Danelectro catalog for $100.00
- Jazz guitarist John “Buck” Pizzarelli played this guitar up until the time he donated it to the museum in 2005.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1958
- user
- Pizzarelli, John "Bucky"
- maker
- Danelectro
- ID Number
- 2006.0004.02
- accession number
- 2006.0004
- catalog number
- 2006.0004.02
- 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, "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
Autopiano
- Description (Brief)
- Advertising piece for Old Colony Piano Company of Brockton, Mass. Die-cut from celluloid sheet stock, one side carries the image of a player piano. The bookmark advertises the Autopiano, a player piano.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1905
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0673
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0673
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Kranz-Smith Piano Co.
- Description (Brief)
- Metal match safe with hinged lid. The wrap-around plastic label shows an image of a Chickering grand piano on one side, and a Bradbury upright piano on the reverse. The match safe was an advertising piece for Kranz-Smith Piano Co. of Baltimore, Md.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1906
- advertiser
- Kranz-Smith Piano Company
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0993
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0993
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Sputnik Dance," performed by the Equadors
- Description
- Alan Turner, the lead singer in The Equadors, a Philadelphia rhythm and blues band, composed the song "Sputnik Dance," which the group recorded in early 1958. Track 2 on this side was the song "I'll Be the One." The other side had songs "A Vision" and "Stay a Little Longer." The Equadors later renamed the group The Modern Ink Spots, and sang for several years.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1958
- maker
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 2007.0048.01
- accession number
- 2007.0048
- catalog number
- 2007.0048.01
- maker number
- EPA 4286
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Child Of a Disordered Brain; Body and Soul
- Description (Brief)
- Earl Hines playing the Storytone piano. side 1: CHILD OF A DISORDERED BRAIN; side 2: BODY AND SOUL (Bluebird B-10642)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1940
- recording artist
- Hines, Earl
- maker
- Bluebird
- performer
- Earl Hines
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.1315
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.1315
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.1315
- maker number
- B-10642
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: That Wonderful Mother Of Mine; M-O-T-H-E-R
- Description (Brief)
- Eddy Arnold. side 1: THAT WONDERFUL MOTHER OF MINE; side 2: M-O-T-H-E-R (RCA Victor 21-0009). from the album, "To Mother" (RCA Victor P 239)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- recording artist
- Arnold, Eddy
- maker
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05008
- maker number
- 21-0009
- P 239
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05008
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Bring Your Roses To Her Now; I Wish I Had a Girl Like You, Mother
- Description (Brief)
- Eddy Arnold. side 1: BRING YOU ROSES TO HER NOW; side 2: I WISH I HAD A GIRL LIKE YOU, MOTHER (RCA Victor 21-0010). from the album, "To Mother" (RCA Victor P 239)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- recording artist
- Arnold, Eddy
- maker
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05009
- maker number
- 21-0010
- P 239
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05009
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center