Top of page
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is the last in a series of posts by our 2010 class of Junior Fellows. It was written by Carrie Smith, a recent graduate of New York University. For four years while a student at New York University, I went to class in a building on Washington Place, just to the east …
Posted in: Conservation, Guest bloggers, Jewish American History, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The Mid-Atlantic United States has been hit with a series of furious rainstorms this summer, and this gray day in Washington is no exception. We hope that instead of walking between raindrops and dodging cupcake-sized hail, you, gentle reader, choose to stay inside, cuddle up by the Steinway and sing a few songs – just …
Posted in: Composers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Summer means baseball, and baseball has a long history of superstition, but before you decide to stop bathing after your next no-hitter, remember that the performing arts is far from immune to the allure of old wives’ tales. The most notable superstition in the repertoire may be that of theater professionals who refer to one …
Posted in: Composers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This comes over the transom from Today in History. Legend has it that on this day in 1904, Charles E. Menches filled a pastry cone with two scoops of ice-cream and thus is responsible for the conical icon we celebrate today. The history of ideas, however sweet, is more complicated than that, as the cast of characters …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Forty-one years ago today, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. The Apollo 11 broadcast from the moon on July 20, 1969, which transmitted Neil Armstrong’s immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was named to the National Recording Registry in 2004. Remember one giant …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Are you a night person? Do garlic cloves make you break out, or worse? Does Team Edward mean anything to you? If your answer to any or all of these questions is yes, you may enjoy “Vampire Polka,” by a composer known only as “Four-Eyes.” Whatever societal anxieties may be behind the twenty-first century thirst …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Last week In the Muse brought you “The Battle of the Sewing Machines,” a 19th century piano piece that fondly mimics the chug of an old sewing machine. The piece features cover art that depicts sundry anthropomorphic sewing machines on the attack, revealing perhaps a bit of 19th century tension at the fate of man …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Just over the transom via the American Folklife Center’s Facebook page, today is the birthday of Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine. Celebrate Howe’s gift, not only to the garment industry, but to mankind, with “The Battle of the Sewing Machines,” F. Hyde’s rhythmic impersonation of that old-fashioned sewing machine sound ca. 1874. The …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute” is commonly attributed to famed showman Phineas Taylor Barnum. The quote’s provenance is disputed, its sentiment cynical, but as adaptable headline fodder it is unsurpassed. If the reader so desires, the remainer of this paragraph may be read out loud in the booming voice of a carnival …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Sheet Music, Special Collections