Audio Series: Classical Music in America
Follow the course of classical music in America from colonial times to the present in a series of NPR podcasts.
History, Music, America, Composers, Orchestra

Audio: Marian Anderson: Of Thee We Sing
The road to racial equality was a long one and the battle for equality had many heroes; some of them made history just by opening their mouths to sing.
America, Controversial, History, Music Legends, Opera

Audio: Voyager: Art/Space
There's music floating in Outer Space--two disks filled with songs that are floating out beyond the planets that are most distant to Earth. The disks are strapped to the sides of the Voyager probes which were launched to explore the outer edges of our galaxy and whatever lies beyond them.
Music, Space, Science, History, America

Audio: Write Your Own Musical
Heather Nathans, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland, is joined by Joe Stein and Sheldon Harnick (writers of Fiddler on the Roof) and Stephen Schwartz (who wrote Pippin, Godspell, and Wicked) to talk about how a musical gets written.
America, Art Venues, Backstage, Composers, Music, Music Legends, Musicals, Playwrights & Plays, Theater, Young Artists

Audio: Unpacking our National Anthem
Examine the history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the countless ways it has been adapted by musicians
Military, Music, America, History

Audio: Ceremonial Brass
Musicians have always played an important part in the military. This series explores not only the history of military music, but also the diverse ceremonial and entertainment roles of musicians in the military.
Jobs in the Arts, Military, Music, America, Musical Instruments, History

Audio: Cultural Diplomacy
Even while the United States was entering the Cold War with the Soviet Union in 1961, the Kennedy administration strengthened their commitment to cultural diplomacy. This audio story highlights some of the important ways President Kennedy used the arts to help improve the image of the United States around the world.
Presidents, Music, Military, History, America, Europe

Audio: Gospel Quartet: Blind Boys of Alabama
Composer Thomas A. Dorsey and other pioneers of gospel music helped open the church doors to music considered sinful by conservative churchgoers. The tradition of gospel quartets continues to lift the spirits of both its listeners and participants in concert halls and churches alike.
Music, America

Audio: Texas Blues: Marcia Ball
Texas blues originated in the early 1900s alongside the sweat and tears of Blacks working on oilfields, lumber camps, and ranches. After a day of back-breaking labor, workers could unwind in nearby bars or on their own porches and listen to blues musicians who spoke to their own experiences.
Music, America

Audio: Zydeco: Geno Delafose
Zydeco is often linked with Cajun music, but it has a harder, faster sound and employs more electric instruments. In dance halls today, elements of soul, disco, rap, and reggae can be heard among the rhythms of the frottoir.
Music, America

Audio: Texas Troubadour: Nanci Griffith
Backed by a tradition of independent spirit and grounded in multicultural roots, Texas singer-songwriters continue to imbue classic musical genres with new experiences and sounds.
Music, America

Audio: Brass Music: Tremé Brass Band
Follow behind a parade in New Orleans and you'll still be a part of the show. Whether a parade was organized for a celebration or funeral, honorees and others in the main procession would be followed by a "second line" of participants hoping to get closer to the rhythms of the brass bands.
Music, America

Audio: Border Music: Grupo Fantasma
Along the Texas-Mexican border in the 19th century, Mexicans, Native Americans, and Anglo-Americans living in the region intermingled with European immigrants looking for new opportunities. The clash and fusion of multiple languages and traditions resulted in a distinct "Tejano" culture.
Music, America, Latin America, Geography

Audio: Cajun Music: Michael Doucet
Louisiana-based Cajun music has roots in unaccompanied, narrative ballads brought by European settlers. Cajun songs, traditionally sung in French, fused narrative balladry, Irish and Anglo-American reels and jigs, and Black and Native American folk traditions.
Music, America

Audio: Delta Blues: James "Super Chikan" Johnson
The Delta blues style continues to be characterized by raw vocalizing and rhythmic intensity. In addition, Delta blues musicians often employ slide techniques, meaning they move a glass or metal tube called a slide along a guitar's strings to change the notes.
Music, America, Blues

Audio: Black Choral Music: Boys Choir of Tallahassee
In the late 19th century, Harry Burleigh-a protege of Antonin Dvorak-took the musical style to new heights with choral arrangements informed by his classical training. Modern choral music takes on many different forms, and is often accompanied by the piano, percussion, and bass.
Music, America, Young Artists

Everyday Arts Challenge: Patriotic Puzzler
Time to update an old classic. For fun, write a new Pledge of Allegiance. Recite your version out loud for a friend or family member. How would yours sound at the beginning of each school day?
America, Poetry

Arts Quotes: Joan Mondale
"The arts are the signature of a nation."
Art Venues, Education, America

Arts Quotes: Og Mandino
"Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new."
America, Literature, Education

Arts Quotes: Thomas Merton
"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."
America, Literature

Arts Quotes: Georgia O'Keeffe
"To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Carl Perkins
"If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song."
America, Music, Music Legends, Rock & Roll

Arts Quotes: Norman Vincent Peale
"Imagination is the true magic carpet."
America, Education, Literature

Arts Quotes: Robert Motherwell
"In the brush doing what it's doing, it will stumble on what one couldn't do by oneself."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Robert Motherwell
"Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Louise Nevelson
"Art is everywhere, except it has to pass through a creative mind."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Robert Hughes
"The camera, if it’s lucky, may tell a different truth to drawing - but not a truer one."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Winslow Homer
"Talent! What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way."
America, Visual Arts, Nature

Arts Quotes: Edward Hopper
"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Elbert Hubbard
"Art is not a thing; it is a way."
America, Literature

Arts Quotes: Edward Hopper
"Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Susanne K. Langer
"Art is the objectification of feeling, and the subjectification of nature."
America, Literature, Science

Arts Quotes: Jacob Lawrence
"When the subject is strong, simplicity is the only way to treat it."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Roy Lichtenstein
"Color is crucial in painting, but it is very hard to talk about."
America, Popular Culture, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Roy Lichtenstein
"Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms."
America, Popular Culture, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: John F. Kennedy
"We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth."
America, Controversial, History, Presidents

Arts Quotes: B.B. King
"We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so."
America, Blues, Music, Music Legends

Arts Quotes: Lily Tomlin
"The road to success is always under construction."
America, Comedy, Movies & Movie Stars, Television

Arts Quotes: Henry David Thoreau
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."
America, Literature, Poetry, Nature

Arts Quotes: Anne Tucker
"All art requires courage."
America, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: John Updike
"What art offers is space -- a certain breathing room for the spirit."
America, Literature, Poetry

Arts Quotes: Mark Twain
"You can't depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus."
America, Comedy, Literature

Arts Quotes: Beverly Sills
"Art is the signature of civilizations."
America, Music, Music Legends, Opera

Arts Quotes: Twyla Tharp
"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home."
America, Choreographers, Dance, Dance Legends

Arts Quotes: Susan Sontag
"Interpretation is the revenge of the intellectual upon art."
America, Literature

Arts Quotes: Frank Lloyd Wright
"Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art."
America, Architecture, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Frank Zappa
"Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something."
America, Controversial, Music, Music Legends, Rock & Roll, Popular Culture

Arts Quotes: Frank Lloyd Wright
"You can't make an architect. But you can open the doors and windows toward the light as you see it."
America, Architecture, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: Andy Warhol
"My instinct about painting says, 'if you don't think about it, it's right.'"
America, Controversial, Innovators & Pioneers, Popular Culture, Visual Arts

Arts Quotes: James McNeill Whistler
"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."
America, Visual Arts