Happy World Piano Day! Piano Day is held on the 88th day of the year in celebration of and reference to the 88 keys on a standard piano. This idea was created by the German pianist and composer Nils Frahm in 2015 “because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener”.
Discover the Piano and Musicians for World Piano Day!
In celebration, here at the Recorded Sound Archives we wanted to share a few videos that we’ve created over the years that showcase the piano and all of its marvelous wonders along with pianists you should know. Enjoy!
Bob Berkman Explains How the Pianola Works
Learn more from one of our featured performers Bob Berkman about how the Pianola Works.
Ben Roth-Aroni Showcasing his Player Piano
Do you think player pianos are a thing of the past? Join Ben Roth-Aroni as he shares some new and old tunes on his player piano at home during National Piano month in September!
Ben Roth-Aroni Shares Piano Rolls
In this playlist, discover different piano rolls played by Ben Roth and learn a little bit of history.
Throughout history, women have made significant contributions to the world of music. From the medieval period to the present day,female musicians have overcome social and cultural barriers to become successful composers, performers, and music educators.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, RSA staff has put together seven women musicians you should know.
Did you know that FAU Libraries has a sound archive which you can access and listen to recordings for research from the comforts of your own home?
Last year, the Recorded Sound Archives digitized 710 albums along with 7,421 songs for those to access reaching over 126 countries, and receiving 141,270 hits from all over the world.
As a New Year’s gift and a welcome to the FAU community we wanted to share a few staff favorites from 2022.
As part of Banned Books week here at FAU Libraries, we wanted to share Party Records. Learn more about these records and why they were made in the video below.
Here at the Recorded Sound Archives , we have one Party record which you can listen to on our website to get a taste of what was deemed obscene at the time.
Discover RSA staff picks, as summer comes to an end and the fall semester is in full swing this week at FAU Libraries, we thought we’d share RSA Staff Picks: Our Summer ’22 Favorites.
Happy Birthday, Louis Armstrong! Today would have been Louis Armstrong’s 121st birthday. Did you know that a Jewish immigrant family helped Armstrong buy his first horn?
The jazzman would later write that the Karnofskys treated him as though he were their own child, often giving him food and even loaning him money to buy his first instrument, a $5 cornet which he paid back. (he wouldn’t begin playing the trumpet until 1926). As a sign of his gratitude to his Jewish benefactors, Armstrong later took to wearing a Star of David pendant around his neck until the end of his life in memory of the family who had helped him.
Here are a few RSA staff favorites of Louis Armstrong to get you started:
Celebrate Armstrong’s birthday today by listening to the music behind one of the most influential figures in jazz by visiting the RSA Website: https://rsa.fau.edu/louis-armstrong
And let us know in the comments, what is your favorite Louis Armstrong song?
Please note, due to copyright some items may only be available as a 45 second snippet.
If you are a Researcher or Educator in need of full access to these recordings, click here.
FAU Students, Faculty and Staff can listen to recordings unrestricted by logging into the Research Station using their FAU NET ID.
It’s National Donut Day and on this day one song comes to mind, The Donut Song by Burl Ives. Despite it’s age, this song has a wonderful message about life:
When you walk the streets you’ll have no cares
If you walk the lines and not the squares
As you go through life make this your goal
Watch the donut, not the hole.
Meaning appreciate what you have (the donut), shed your desires, worries and wants (the hole).
Over the years, whether it was a program about the war or just reminding people to remember and honor our many brave, patriotic fallen heroes, Stars and Stripes has always been playing in the background. Here at the Recorded Sound Archives we wanted to share a Piano Roll of the famous Stars and Stripes Forever March.
Did you also know that the Stars and Stripes Forever March by John Philip Sousa was RCA Victor’s billionth record played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of Serge Koussevitzky?
You can learn more about this achievement by reading the original article post back in 1946.
Here at the Recorded Sound Archives we have digitized this recording which can now be listened to on our website just in time for Memorial Day Weekend.
We hope you have a safe Memorial Weekend and take a moment to remember and honor our many brave, patriotic fallen heroes while listening to this piece.
“Yankee Doodle” was a well-known song in the New England colonies before the battles of Lexington and Concord, but only after the skirmishes there was it appropriated by the American militia.
Tradition holds that the colonials began to sing the tune as they forced the British back to Boston on April 19, 1775.
By 1777, “Yankee Doodle” had become an unofficial American anthem. After the Revolutionary War, “Yankee Doodle” surfaced in stage plays, classical music, and opera.
You can listen to a few versions of this song here at the Recorded Sound Archives website:
Looking for music to enjoy with family and friends this Passover? Here at the Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries, we would like to highlight the voices of Ariel Silber, Avi Hadas, Yaron Bar, Ralph Levitan a few artists out of several available in the Passover Collection off the album, Passover Sing-A-Long.
This album was produced by The Children’s Village of Jerusalem which was founded in 1994 by Rabbi Weingarten. The music on these albums,created by CVOJ, feature delightful holiday sing-a-long songs for children.
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