O Say Can You See?

Music and the American experience

This post is part two of a series. Read part one.

In addition to examples of nearly every kind of American and European instrument, the museum is home to several objects which were owned by famous musicians, such as Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet. The collections of sheet music and recordings at the museum cover a wide range of history, including everything from American popular songs in the Division of Culture and the Arts, health and doctors in the Division of Medicine and Science, and to military history in the Division of Armed Forces History.

WWI-era sheet music from 1915.

The Division of Political History also has a collection of political campaign songbooks and sheet music, including a 1789 copy of the “First President’s March” for George Washington. I saw prints and photographs of various Americans playing their instruments, some of them portraits of famous musicians from the Graphic Arts and Photography Collections, as well as a unique panorama of a Montana smelter workers’ union band at a Labor Day celebration in 1880 from the Division of Political History.

A 1849 print that depicts men dancing in a barn to a fiddler’s tune.

A Montana smelter workers’ union band at a Labor Day celebration in 1880.

The Popular Culture collection within the Division of Culture and the Arts contains window cards and programs related to Broadway musicals and performances by famous musicians, as well as clothing and costumes worn by these stars and other items that they owned. Similarly, the Division of Armed Forces History contains uniforms of army musicians, and the Disability Collection even contains a band uniform from the Michigan School for the Blind. Invitations and programs for musical events at the White House or inaugural ceremonies can be found in the Division of Political History.

Even more surprising, I found that the museum’s science and technology collections include many objects relevant to music and sound. There are type, plates, and proofs related to music engraving and printing from the Printing History Collection. Mechanical and electric phonographs, radios, televisions, recording devices, and experimental records, some used by such famous inventors as Thomas Edison, Emile Berliner, and Alexander Graham Bell, can be found in the Division of Work and Industry. The Division of Medicine and Science also holds some interesting music and sound-related objects, including tuning forks, goblets that formed a glass harmonica and anatomical models from the Cornell University Department of Psychology, which were used in experimental psychology studies on how physical and physiological acoustics connect to musical aesthetics.

Similar tuning forks, resonators, and whistles can be found in the Acoustics Collection. However, these were not used for experimental psychology studies, but are rather considered philosophical instruments and were used to demonstrate specific scientific or acoustical principles.

One of the major highlights of the Acoustics Collections is the one-of-a-kind Grand Tonometer made by Rudolf Koenig, a famous nineteenth-century acoustician. Holding 660 tuning forks in a stepped rack, this instrument was originally made to be a perfect frequency standard that could be used to test the number of vibrations producing any given note. More recently, it was used in 2010 by a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, who recorded samples of each tuning fork to use as source material in the creation of new musical works.

Rudolf Koenig’s Grand Tonometer.

Music and music-related objects are everywhere in the museum, highlighting the role that music plays in nearly every aspect of American life. Whether the topic is politics and reform movements, the armed forces, homes and communities, scientific advancement, or work and industry, music is never far behind. It is a touchstone that connects various academic disciplines and provides an interesting lens through which to look at the amazing variety of objects contained at the museum.

Alexis VanZalen is an intern with the Division of Culture and the Arts at the National Museum of American History.

 

Finding music in unexpected places

An experimental telegraph, a unique device used to spread seeds, an object named the "Greffuhle,” a list of all the places where one man traveled while serving in the Civil War—what do all these objects from the museum's collections have in common?

One would never guess it but in fact each of these items are, or are made out of, violins. In 1875 Elisha Gray was granted a patent for an "Electric Telegraph for Transmitting Musical Tones." One of his telegraph models, part of the Electricity Collection of the museum’s Division of Work and Industry, used a novel approach. A violin was used as a resonator which produced the musical tones transmitted through the telegraph wire. Another item, the unique nineteenth century seeder in the Division of Work and Industry’s Agriculture Collection, actually uses a fiddle bow to spread seeds from a spinning disk.

 
(Left) Elisha Gray, inventor of the Electric Telegraph for Transmitting Musical Tones.(Right) Named for the French nobleman who once owned it, the “Greffuhle” is a rare decorated Stradivarius violin.

There is a violin in the collections used for another purpose: as a war diary. Solomon Conn, a Civil War soldier with Company B of the 87th Indiana Volunteers, recorded a list of his travels and battles on the back of his "Greffuhle” violin, turning the instrument into a unique document of his adventures and military record.

Civil War soldier Solomon Conn of Company B of the 87th Indiana Volunteers used his violin as a record of his travels and battles.

As I quickly realized during my summer internship at the museum, music is a topic which connects with a far broader range of collections than one might expect. My job was to find and catalog all the instances where music is represented in the museum’s artifacts. My sponsor? One member of a brand new and growing Smithsonian community called "Music at the Smithsonian” which is committed to serving as a hub for Smithsonian Institution musical research, exhibitions, education, outreach, and public engagement.

As an initial step of learning about some of the Smithsonian’s musical resources which could inspire such research or programming, I spent my internship discovering music-related objects from all areas of the museum’s collections. I found myself on a journey of discovering how these objects create a deep and nuanced picture of the role of music in American life and of music’s intersection with numerous topics and academic disciplines.

Editor’s note: This is part one of a series. Check out part two for more exciting music discoveries.

Alexis VanZalen is an intern with the Division of Culture and the Arts at the National Museum of American History. 

A gathering of Peace Corps volunteers, past and present

Current and former Peace Corps volunteers gathered in Washington, D.C.during the weekend of September 24-25, 2011, to commemorate the agency’s 50th anniversary. Earlier in the week, the Peace Corps formally donated a collection of historical documents and memorabilia to the museum, a sampling of which were displayed at the museum during a special objects out of storage event.

Returned volunteers share their memories and experiences

Many volunteers had fascinating stories as to how the program had shaped the course of their lives, and expressed excitement that the museum is collecting this history. Reflecting on the legacy of the program, Arnee Blaver spoke of returning thirty years later to the school in Thailand where she taught from 1973 to 1975. She described her visit as an “awesome experience,” and seeing many of her former pupils teaching at the school left her with a sense of pride. Another former Peace Corps teacher, who volunteered in Tanganyika, recognized a training guide on the table as one which she had used at the time which she has preserved as a memento.

The Peace Corps gathered this collection by reaching out to its membership for objects representing the experiences of volunteers stationed around the world. Donated items included a training manual from Tanganyika (Tanzania), a congratulatory letter from President John F. Kennedy, buttons and general memorabilia from the first cohort of volunteers. Smithsonian curators and Peace Corps volunteers were on hand during the objects out of storage event to explain the significance of the items and to answer questions. The items were displayed informally on two tables with no cases, creating a more intimate experience. The artifacts went on display for one afternoon only, and within minutes of setting up, a long line had formed.

Left: Former Peace Corps volunteers line up to examine the new collection. Right: A Peace Corps pin in the museum’s collections.

The display was not just about showing the physical artifacts, but also about collecting the personal experiences and memories of former volunteers on a bulletin board. One volunteer from the 1976 to 1978 cohort reflected on how the opportunity to teach at a community development centre in Liberia “allowed [her] to see the U.S. from another pair of eyes, both positive and negative.” Another volunteer from 1988 to 1990 reflected that the experience of helping as a small business advisor left him with a “lifelong commitment to doing what you can to help people.”

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, we want to know: what role do you think the Peace Corps should play today? Tell us on our TalkBack website.

Stephanie Powell is an intern with the Division of Armed Forces History and Jane Ashford-Thom is an intern with the Office of Special Events at the National Museum of American History.

 

 

Miles Davis, Rudy Van Gelder, and a living room recording studio (Part 2 of 2)

Editor's Note: Today's post is the second in a series about legendary sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder and his impact on jazz. See part 1.

The Beginnings of a Master
Van Gelder caught the recording bug at an early age. At seven he was already in the experimenting with sound using his first piece of equipment, a $2.98 “Home Recorder,” to capture his friends’ voices, family’s poetry, and neighbors’ music. In 1931 that equipment was cutting edge. The home recording device used a tone arm and needle to press grooves into a blank plastic record. The sounds recorded on these blank disks could be played back and listened to using the same turntable on which they were recorded. However, Van Gelder quickly grew tired of the deficiencies of the recording equipment available, and ordered parts from radio equipment manufacturers to make his own recording gear.

Rudy Van Gelder and Alfred Lion, founder of Blue Note Records jazz label

Van Gelder enrolled in the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1938. When he graduated in 1942 Van Gelder opened his own practice, and proceeded to forge a career path that did not previously exist: “record engineer”. (Did he use his optometry practice to fund his real passion of sound recording? I am sure that the equipment was expensive)

He built a recording studio in his parents’ living room that would come to be known as the legendary “Hackensack Studio”. The studio was complete with central air conditioning, a separate control room, microphones galore, and inimitable “nooks and crannies” in which to record to achieve special sound effects. Van Gelder ran his optometry practice while recording at a feverish pace with artists such as Zoot Sims, Bill Triglia, Sonny Igoe, Phil Urso, Lennie Tristano, and Howie Mann. The studio became popular among New York area musicians due to Van Gelder’s skill, and recording rates. But the true allure of the studio was its atmosphere.

Rudy Van Gelder recording

Recording in a living room was miles away from recording in one of the few major studios at the time. Pianist Bill Taylor said in an interview with Current Musicology that Rudy “was the first engineer that I worked with who was that sensitive, and really just took time and cared about mike placement and all that sort of stuff.” Van Gelder’s technical innovations are inextricably linked to his love for jazz. Musicians appreciated this duality, and so did record producers.

The Blue Note Connection
In 1952 Van Gelder was introduced to Blue Note Records producer Alfred Lion. Lion was interested in Van Gelder’s signature sound produced in the Hackensack studio. Just one year later Van Gelder engineered his first album for Blue Note records, and began a fruitful relationship with Lion. While Van Gelder possessed the technical skills to record a band, Lion possessed the foresight to identify a desirable sound of the record, and draw that sound from Rudy. Together the two formed what is colloquially referred to as the “Blue Note Sound," a sound unique to Blue Note Records. However, Van Gelder did not exclude other labels and worked engineering for Prestige, CTI, Savoy and Vox Records.

Englewood Cliffs and Beyond
In the midst of his successful recording career in the late 1950’s, Van Gelder built his masterpiece: his own private studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. This studio is home to legendary jazz albums such as John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”, McCoy Tyner’s “Speak No Evil” and Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”. While Van Gelder is currently not recording as actively as he was in the 1960’s, he still has a profound effect on jazz.

In 2009 Van Gelder received an A.B Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. The Smithsonian’s Jazz Oral History Program will be interviewing him in the coming months to take an extraordinarily in-depth account of Rudy’s career, legacy, and future.

Van Gelder is currently re-mastering analog Blue Note recordings to restore them to their original state. This line of re-released recordings is known as the RVG series. Van Gelder is working to restore the original recordings’ mood, track listings, and warmth. He recently engineered trumpet prodigy Christian Scott’s record “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow," recorded at the Englewood Cliff studio.

The candor of Scott’s trumpet is as true as Davis’s in the mid-1950s. One has to wonder if we would hear Scott the same way had it not been for that modified U47 microphone, an optometrist, and a living room in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Kyle Kelly-Yahner is a senior at the University of Vermont and Jazz Oral History Program Intern with the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Miles Davis, Rudy Van Gelder, and a living room recording studio (Part 1 of 2)

The lush tones of Miles Davis are unmistakable to millions. It is common knowledge among jazz fans that Davis was heavily influenced by giants such as Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins. Yet, had it not been for a modified U47 microphone, and a family’s living room in Hackensack, New Jersey, we might not hear Davis as we do today.

In April of 1954, Davis recorded his legendary album “Walkin’” at a studio built in a living room in Hackensack. Davis previously recorded there just 2 years earlier, and was familiar with the engineer—Rudy Van Gelder. While working and researching with the Jazz Oral History Program at the museum, which aims to give comprehensive documentation of the experiences of senior jazz musicians, performers, relatives, and business associates, I found the story of Davis and Van Gelder’s collaboration particularly compelling. Part of my research included reading an interview with Van Gelder on the National Endowment for the Arts website, where he was interviewed as part of his lifetime award of being named “Jazz Master” in 2009. I was quickly taken with Van Gelder and his remarkable story, and wanted to know more.

Van Gelder is a pioneer in record engineering, sought after by many musicians for his ability to provide artists with an ideal means of communicating their music, and allowing musicians to be heard “the way they want to be heard”. Davis was no exception.

Rudy Van Gelder with recording equipment

Van Gelder was one of the first Americans, let alone engineers, to acquire the German Neumann U-47 condenser microphone when it became available in 1949. Van Gelder sought to bring a more intimate sound to small jazz groups. This required placing a microphone closer to the instrument in order to capture the subtleties that traditional recording techniques missed. When Van Gelder initially used the U-47 microphone, he found the sound was easily distorted and unusable. However, a friend of Van Gelder’s, Rein Narma, was able to reconfigure the circuitry of the U-47, making it ideal for close range recording. The result was a detailed, warm sound that many would imitate but few would master. The difference in sound is quite clear when comparing albums Davis recorded with and without Van Gelder.

"Half Nelson" from Davis’ “Miles Davis All Stars” was recorded in 1947 at Harry Smith Studios in New York City. Davis’ talent is undeniable, his vocabulary is progressive, his temperament is wholly his own but—he sounds far away. Davis’ voice exists in the mid range of the mix, and is overshadowed by the shimmer of Max Roach’s ride cymbal and the high end of John Lewis’ piano overtones.

The sound heard on "Solar" from Davis’ album “Walkin’,” recorded in 1955 with Van Gelder, is markedly different: his voice is at the front of the mix, his subtle inflections are captured perfectly. The once intangible details of his playing style are captured, thanks in no small part to a modified U-47 and of course, Van Gelder’s mastery. Yet, to characterize Van Gelder’s recording session with Davis as miraculous or even extraordinary would be misleading. Van Gelder’s work with Davis was simply a logical next step in a blossoming career Van Gelder started at age seven.

Editor’s Note: This is part one in a series. Stay tuned for part two coming soon when we tell you more about Van Gelder and his sound engineering.

Kyle Kelly-Yahner is a senior at the University of Vermont and Jazz Oral History Program Intern with the National Museum of American History.