In August of 1958, the song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" by Italian musician and actor Domenico Modugno was the number one song on the U.S. Billboard Chart. Exactly ten years later, that honor went to the song "People Got to Be Free" by The Rascals. Exactly 50 years after that, in August 2008, Rihanna's "Disturbia" took the top Billboard slot. Visual journalist Matt Daniels of The Pudding, in...

Roderic C. Knight came to Oberlin College as a researcher and professor in the field of organology, or the scientific study of musical instruments. He had begun collecting a range of instruments when he was in high school, and he was rather proud of his diverse collection. In 2008, Knight donated his personal collection of instruments to Oberlin. This digital collection allows users to learn about...

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II might be well known for such numbers as "People Will Say We're In Love" and "Happy Talk", but they were also rather astute businessmen. They started the Rogers & Hammerstein Organization in 1944, and today the organization represents works by those two tunesmiths, and others of their ilk such as Jerome Kern, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Sheldon Harnick. On the...

During the last several years, the Library of Congress's I Hear America Singing collection has expanded its online presence, and this latest addition will be of special interest to aficionados of contemporary classical music. This particular online collection is drawn from the Roger Reynolds Collection at the Library of Congress, and offers a multimedia perspective on this influential American...

Trained as a musician and an engineer at the University of Michigan, composer Roger Reynolds has been one of the major voices in contemporary music during the past half-century. In 1998, the Library of Congress established the Roger Reynolds Collection, and this site offers a tour through his works and life. Visitors to the site can look over a list of his works, which include theatrical...

As a way to cope during the difficult period after the attacks on the Word Trade Center on September 11, 2001, many people began to revisit their memories of the buildings themselves. With a keen eye towards preserving some of these materials, National Public Radio brought together artists, historians, and other interested parties in order to collect and preserve various audio traces of these...

From the Virtual Museum of Canada comes the Soundtrack of Our Lives, a unique online exhibition that explores how people and communities interact with sound and music throughout their lives. This exhibition was produced by the Mediat-Muse, a network of museums in Quebec and Bienvenue Multimedia, a web design company. Visitors have the option of exploring this project in three ways. In the Life...

For many films, video games, and television shows, the musical score is an integral part of the audience experience that can significantly influence how viewers perceive a scene or character. Readers who are curious to learn more about this should check out The Soundtrack Show, a delightful podcast from How Stuff Works and iHeartRadio. This weekly podcast includes examinations of iconic musical...

Based at the University of Illinois Library and University Archives, the Sousa Archives and Center For American Music brings together a host of ephemeral records and artifacts that "document America's local and national music history and its diverse cultures." The heart of the collection is, not surprisingly, a massive archive of John Philip Sousa's personal papers and documents. In the "Research...

Cincinnati businessman, composer, and artist Martin G. Dumler donated this rare Spanish manuscript to the University of Cincinnati, and it is now available online here. The work is from the 16th century, and it is a choirbook with Gregorian chants handwritten on vellum pages, complete with illuminated text capitals. While the work has seven missing pages, the remaining 242 pages are intact. The...