Series: Step Right Up!
It's time to head over to the musical carnival
Education, Music, Musical Instruments

Cuesheet: Víkingur Ólafsson: Performance & Demonstration
Get to know this young pianist and his unique musical style as he performs some of his favorite classical masterpieces by composers such as Beethoven and Debussy, in addition to some traditional Icelandic folk songs
Europe, Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra

Cuesheet: NSO Family Concert: The Cricket in Times Square
In this world premiere retelling of George Seldon’s classic children’s book, The Cricket in Times Square, the story comes to life on stage with actors, music, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Join Chester and his new friends in this exciting, “symphonic play.”
Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments, Animals

Cuesheet: NSO Family Concert: Tchaikovsky Discovers America
Music! Dance! Chocolate! Take a magical train ride with famous Russian composer and conductor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the man behind The Nutcracker and other classical music hits.
Composers, Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments

Cuesheet: NSO Kinderkonzert: Viva Violins
Ever wonder how people become good at playing musical instruments? Find out with the help of four violinists from the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), who will show you the ABCs of music and playing the violin. It’s so much fun, you’ll want to cheer “Viva (long live) Violins”!
Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments

Cuesheet: NSO Open Rehearsal: Alisa Weilerstein
Get a behind-the-scenes look at a National Symphony Orchestra rehearsal featuring American cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto. The NSO also performs Symphony No. 5 by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, considered one of the 20th century’s greatest symphony composers.
Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments

Cuesheet: NSO Kinderkonzert: Break It Down!
Just like a building made of blocks, music is made with different parts. Explore how music and even musical instruments break down and come together to make amazing music.
Composers, Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments

Cuesheet: Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts
Jazz artist Matt Wilson performs with his band Arts & Crafts. In a high-energy performance/demonstration, the band explores the process of improvisation, and shows students how much fun jazz music can be.
Composers, Music, Musical Instruments, Comedy

Cuesheet: NSO Kinderkonzert: Musical Opposites
Music is full of different types of opposites. Join musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra to explore how these opposites make music to our ears.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra

Article: Strike Up the Band: Creating Homemade Instruments
Make musical instruments by using recycled materials from your house
Family, Music, Musical Instruments, Young Artists

Article: Performing Under Pressure
Help your child master the excitement and stress of music competitions
Young Artists, Music, Orchestra, Musical Instruments

Lesson: Haunting Music
Learn about orchestral “program music” inspired by the spooky and bizarre.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Folklore

Lesson: String Instruments and Pitch
In this lesson, students explore how pitch is altered based on the width and length of the string.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Science

Lesson: Percussion Instruments and Pitch
This lesson introduces students to the instruments of the percussion family.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Science

Lesson: Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
This lesson introduces students to the instruments of the woodwind family.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Science

Lesson: Brass Instruments and Pitch
This lesson introduces students to the instruments of the brass family.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Science

Arts Days: August 31, 1945: A Violin Virtuoso
Violin superstar Itzhak Perlman’s musical genius has brought new appreciation of both the delicacy and power of the instrument to legions of listeners.

After studying violin at New York’s Julliard School, young Perlman made his Carnegie Hall debut at the tender age of 18. He often performs solo, other times in small ensembles—such as the group playing at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009.

Either way, it is this virtuoso’s sheer love of music—be it classical, baroque, romantic, or modern—coupled with his flawless technique that caused a critic from The New Yorker to write that Perlman’s playing was “everything one wants a violin sound to be.”
Musical Instruments, Music, Music Legends

Arts Days: August 14, 1945: A Wild and Crazy Guy
Perhaps “zany” is the perfect word to describe this funny Renaissance man who juggles like a pro, dances with happy feet, and plays a mean banjo like no ordinary country star. Steve Martin’s goofy comedy stunts—from wearing a fake arrow through his head to twisting together balloon animals during his show—have endeared him to countless fans.

Even with a white-hot standup career propelled to new heights by his work on “Saturday Night Live,” Martin tried acting, with lead roles in hilarious films like The Jerk, Roxanne, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, among others. In recent years, he’s branched out: writing short stories and plays and appearing regularly with the bluegrass band, Steep Canyon Rangers.
Comedy, America, Musical Instruments, Movies & Movie Stars

Arts Days: February 03, 1984: Rocket Man
Who knew astronaut Ron McNair, one of the first African Americans ever to be accepted into NASA’s Space Shuttle program, excelled at a wide variety of things, including science and sports?

McNair was an expert on laser physics, an accomplishment that helped him land a place on the Space Shuttle Challenger’s 1984 mission. You remember, this was the craft that hurtled into space to deploy satellites and handle other research and communications tasks.

On this day, McNair—an accomplished jazz saxophonist—played his instrument in space to the delight of NASA colleagues listening at Mission Control. Sadly, McNair and six others would perish in the next, ill-fated Challenger deployment, which took place on January 28, 1986.
Music, Space, Musical Instruments, Innovators & Pioneers

Arts Days: June 14, 1881: A Do-It-Yourself Piano
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, John McTammany, Jr. secured a patent for his “mechanical musical instrument,” a piano that was capable of reading the musical notes on thick rolls of paper and playing songs all by itself. Typically, the “autopiano,” as it was also known, had to have a way for air to move through it and for small pegs called hammers to strike the keys at the appropriate times.

While McTammany believed he had invented the “player” part of the piano, he didn’t take credit for the whole thing. In fact, many people over the 19th and 20th centuries had contributed bits of knowledge toward the progression in the instrument.
Inventions, Musical Instruments, Music

Arts Days: May 17, 1846: The Sax Man
Belgian-born Adolphe Sax not only played musical instruments, he invented new ones, too. When he was 15, he made and musically mastered his own flutes and clarinets, even entering them in contests. Only a few years later, a kind of bugle he created laid the groundwork for a new family of instruments called the saxhorns.

The saxophone that bears his name proved to be the pinnacle of his ingenuity. Designed for use in orchestras and concert bands, Sax envisioned it as a woodwind instrument similar to the clarinet and played with a mouthpiece composed of a single reed (a thin strip of material that vibrates inside an instrument to create its distinctive sound). Inventing this new instrument gave Sax greater credibility among musicians and teachers of music.
Inventions, Musical Instruments, Music

Arts Days: April 24, 1934: The First Organ Transplant
When an American inventor named Laurens Hammond demonstrated an organ without pipes on this day, musicians like George Gershwin were skeptical (though Gershwin bought one anyway). No one could quite believe that a pipeless electric organ could produce the majestic sounds of the pipe organ that had dominated church services and musical events for centuries. However, once Hammond’s organ was played, the skeptics grew silent.

Using a complex series of magnets, coils, and gears deep inside the console of the instrument, Hammond had created a new instrument capable of all the melodic richness of the pipe organ but in a much smaller size. The price couldn’t be beat, either—$1,250 compared to $4,000 and up for traditional organs, which used air pumped into the pipes by the organist to create their sound.
Musical Instruments, Music, Math, Inventions

Video Series: Ralph Stanley: The Roots of Country Music
Learn about the beginnings of country music and its early innovators through the stories and music of three of country music's most respected musicians: mountain music legend Dr. Ralph Stanley, Jim Lauderdale and James Shelton.
America, Musical Instruments, Music, Music Legends

Video Series: Haiti: Music & Culture
This video series brings you a glimpse of the music of Haiti
Geography, Musical Instruments, Music, World Cultures

Interactive: Perfect Pitch
Batter up! This multimedia exploration introduces students to the most enduring all-stars of the orchestra: the instruments.
Musical Instruments, Music, Orchestra, Sports