Music

Itinerant African American musicians played to so many different audiences that they had to be as versatile as a jukebox.

Before There was the Blues Man, There Was the Songster

A new release from Smithsonian Folkways celebrates the diverse sounds of turn-of-the-century itinerant musicians

New fabrication techniques and digital technologies are expanding the possibilities of the analog medium.

Forget Vinyl. Forget the Cloud. In the Future We'll Listen to Music on UV-Cured 3D-Printed Resin

Musicians, developers, and inventors prove that there's more to records than vinyl

Do Animals Have Rhythm?

If they did, who could ask for anything more?

The von Trapp family overlooking Portland, Oregon.

The Von Trapps Are Back With a New Musical Sound

The hills are alive again with a new American generation of the singing family made famous by the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical

The Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership is a 1,200-pound aluminum stage prop that once stole the show at funk singer George Clinton's concerts. Now, it's a part of the Smithsonian's permanent collections.

Watch George Clinton's P-Funk Mothership Get Reassembled For Its Museum Debut

A timelapse video shows Smithsonian curators rebuilding one of music's most iconic stage props—the Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership

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You Otter Believe These Zoo Animals Can Play the Piano, the Harmonica and the Xylophone

D.C.'s hottest summer concert is brought to us by an unlikely source: a bevy of animal musicians

As a child, Nicholas Alan Cope recalls hearing the national anthem at Orioles games in Baltimore, the song's hometown. As an adult, he rose to the challenge of photographing the icon itself.

These Artistic Interpretations of the Star-Spangled Banner Call Out the Inner Patriot

In paintings, photos, music, videos and poetry, contemporary artists intrepret the flag that bravely waved above Fort McHenry

This Radio Station Broadcasts All Over the World, But Only at Breakfast Time

Global Breakfast Radio operates in every time zone on the planet

A Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris ssp. sumatrae) at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

This Song (And This Tiger) Will Go Extinct Unless We Save It

Smithsonian magazine editor Michael Caruso is among the 400 influencers asked to protect and save the "Endangered Song"

Elvis back stage after a show at the New Frontier Hotel

Elvis’ First Big Vegas Show Was a Total Flop

Playing to the middle-aged crowd at the New Frontier Hotel, Elvis' first Vegas show didn't go over so well

Violinists Can’t Tell the Difference Between Old and New Instruments

Regardless, many report still preferring old-school violins made by Italian masters

Roseland

Why the Roseland Ballroom Had to Stop Dancing

Tonight is the last preformance at the iconic New York concert venue the Roseland Ballroom

A view of the installation of the ATLAS portion of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Art and Science Collide in the Discovery of the Higgs Boson

<i>Particle Fever</i>, a documentary about the physicists who found the "God particle," suggests doing science isn’t that different from making art

New to the collections: John Coltrane's 1965 Mark VI tenor saxophone

A Sax Supreme: John Coltrane's Legendary Instrument Joins the Collections of the American History Museum

Ravi Coltrane, son of jazz musicians John and Alice Coltrane, donates one of his father's three saxophones

John Coltrane (left) “took it further than any [other] tenor saxophone player,” says photographer Chuck Stewart.

New Photos of John Coltrane Rediscovered 50 Years After They Were Shot

During the recording of A Love Supreme in 1964, Chuck Stewart caught the jazz legend in his element

Some Totally Normal People Just Don’t Like Music That Much

While some of us find ourselves quietly crying in the middle of a Target when some dumb song comes on, others are unmoved

Jason Barnes

This Prosthetic Hand Lets a Drummer Play Again

“I’ll bet a lot of metal drummers might be jealous of what I can do now,” he said. “Speed is good. Faster is always better”

Musicians Are Better Able to Identify a World-Class Orchestra by Sight Than by Sound

Allowing musicians to both hear and see an orchestra playing actually lowers their ability to tell if it's world-class

DJ put that record on, it's everybody's favorite song.

The World’s Most Sampled Song Is "Change the Beat" by Fab 5 Freddy

From Nine Inch Nails to Justin Bieber, nearly everybody has sampled this song

Dublin at twilight.

The Inside Scoop on Jury's Irish Cabaret in Dublin, Where Blarney Met Vaudeville

Rediscover a classic Smithsonian Folkways recording of an Irish variety show that first tickled tourists in 1963

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