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Music

Red Rocks Park, Jefferson County, Colorado.

Trending Today

The Parks Service Just Added Four New National Historic Landmarks

Masonic memorials, bison jumps and parks

Visitors enjoying the sounds of the Wanamaker Organ in the Grand Court at Macy's in Philadelphia.

The Sound and Fury of Philadelphia’s Wanamaker Organ

Get blown away listening to the largest operating pipe organ in the world

Cool Finds

You Can Pay for This Transylvanian Music Festival in Blood

Dracula would totally approve of this payment system

Cool Finds

Here’s How to Make a Record Out of a Tortilla

Yes, it’s edible

Digital artist Jeremy Sutton's finished painting captured the many elements of the event.

This Is How You Live Paint an Event

Artist Jeremy Sutton painted on his iPad while musicians performed and visitors played virtual reality games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Ronnie Wood (far left) has taken on the role in Rolling Stones originally filled by Brian Jones.

Is a Band Without Its Original Members Still the Same Band?

What gives a musical group its identity? Is it the name on the poster or the people on the stage?

Monky’s street posters have become synonymous with the syncopated, high energy beat of a music genre, called Chicha.

When the Poster Promoting the Concert Is as Exciting as the Music, You Know You’re Listening to Chicha

The sounds, graphic art and the mestizo lifestyle that goes with the music is the latest revolt of the Peruvian masses

These 15th-century female musicians are clearly in grave medical danger.

Cool Finds

Some 19th-Century Physicians Thought Music Could Infect the Brain

When it comes to music in the brain, medicine has come a long way

Revelers two-step at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

How Do You Dance to Jazz?

The attendees at this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival taught our music writer a step or two

The legendary home base of blues pioneers.

Where the Blues Was Born

At Dockery Farms, the original bluesmen created a sound that would become legendary

New Research

Researchers are Trying to Harness the Power of Music for Unconscious Patients

Plumbing the depths of the unconscious brain has thus far uncovered more mysteries than answers

With their dark suits and classic instrumentation, the Del McCoury Band has the look of a classic bluegrass band, but their melodies prove otherwise.

The Radical Conservatism of Bluegrass

At MerleFest, the banjo-pickers and guitar strummers bridge the old and new

Using dirt containing bacteria that generate electricity, kids can build their own mud batteries.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A Kit to Build Your Own Mud Battery and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Also, a campaign to build a Little Free Museum

Cool Finds

How a Piano Dropped from a Helicopter Paved the Way For Woodstock

The Piano Drop set the stage for the outdoor rock festival

A new record comes off the press machine at the GZ Media factory in Lodenice, Czech Republic in 2013

Trending Today

Vinyl Presses Struggle to Keep up with the Resurgent Demand for Records

Only a handful of pressing plants can make records in the U.S. and their machinery is finicky

History in the making: Sam Smith performs with Mary J. Blige, one of his main influences.

Why We Should Teach Music History Backwards

Rock fans do their own investigative work to understand their favorite groups’ influences. So why can’t the rest of us get with the program?

Trending Today

Why You Can’t Listen to Radio On Your Smartphone

There’s an FM radio on your phone…but you likely can’t use it

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2015

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015

From sea to shining sea, our top picks for the most amazing American small towns to see this year

Jazz singer Billie Holiday wears a large white flower in her hair for a performance in New York City.

What Makes Billie Holiday’s Music So Powerful Today

Musicians including Cassandra Wilson pay homage to the jazz legend with new albums for Lady Day’s 100th birthday

New Research

Male Mice Sing Sexy Songs to Woo Females

New research shows that mice can change their mating songs according to context

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