Music

Members of the Little Rock Nine study together after being blocked from Little Rock Central High in 1957.

Little Rock Nine and Paul McCartney React to Beyoncé's 'Blackbird' Cover

McCartney was inspired to write the song after hearing about the battle to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957

The solar eclipse’s path of totality stretches across North America in a roughly 115-mile-long band, from Mexico to Canada.

Listen Live to the Total Solar Eclipse, Transformed Into a Real-Time Musical Composition

A composer based at San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum will use data coming from the eclipsed sun to create an out-of-this-world “sonification” on April 8

Researchers found that lyrics in each of five popular music genres were becoming more repetitive and charged with negative emotions.

Song Lyrics Have Become Angrier, Simpler and More Repetitive, Scientists Find

An analysis of more than 12,000 rap, pop, country, rock and R&B songs from the past 50 years shows more emotional and straightforward lyrics

The original publication of "Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo," a song from La, La, Lucille

A Lost Gershwin Musical Has Been Found Nearly 100 Years After It Was Last Performed

A researcher found a box containing 800 pages from the composer's first musical, "La, La, Lucille"

“Happy Birthday” may be the Hill sisters' main claim to fame, but Patty (left) and Mildred's (right) impact on American history extends far beyond the beloved song.

The Forgotten Sisters Behind 'Happy Birthday to You'

Mildred and Patty Hill wrote the popular song's melody, but their contributions to American culture have long been overlooked

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Before Beyonce and Taylor Swift Ran the World, There Was Joan Baez

Today’s artists—especially women—are sometimes criticized for speaking out, but for Baez, art and activism were indivisible

Musician Don Henley leaving the Manhattan court on February 28, 2024

Don Henley of the Eagles Testifies That 'Very Personal' Handwritten Lyrics Were Stolen

The musician learned about the alleged theft when the drafts started appearing at auctions in 2012

Two unidentified Gullah Geechee women photographed by Lorenzo Dow Turner in the early 1930s

How the Memory of a Song Reunited Two Women Separated by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

In 1990, scholars found a Sierra Leonean woman who remembered a nearly identical version of a tune passed down by a Georgia woman’s enslaved ancestors

Weliton Menário Costa dances in "Kangaroo Time," his winning music video about kangaroo behavior research.

Watch This Year's 'Dance Your PhD' Contest Winner, a Musical Celebration of Kangaroo Behavior

“Kangaroo Time” took home the competition’s overall prize, while interpretive dances on early life adversity, circadian rhythms and streambank erosion were also honored

Keith Richards and his partner Anita Pallenberg at the 1971 Monaco grand prix

See Stunning Photos of the Rolling Stones Found in a London Loft

The previously unseen images of the band are going on display in a new exhibition, "Elegantly Wasted"

The Mississippi John Hurt Museum stood on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta.

Fire Destroys Museum Honoring Legendary Blues Musician Mississippi John Hurt

The three-room shack in the town of Avalon, Mississippi, was once the singer and guitarist's home

Members of the National Negro Opera Company pose backstage during a 1941 performance of Aida.

The Founder of This Trailblazing Opera Company Put Black Singers at Center Stage

Mary Cardwell Dawson created unprecedented opportunities for aspiring Black musicians

Paul McCartney plays the Höfner bass during a 1964 performance.

Paul McCartney Reunited With Bass Guitar That Disappeared 50 Years Ago—With a Little Help From His Fans

The iconic instrument heard in many of the Beatles' hits was stolen from the back of a van in 1972

Taylor Swift performs in New Jersey during her Eras tour on May 27, 2023.

At the Swiftposium, Scholars Gather to Analyze a Superstar's Astonishing Influence

The University of Melbourne welcomed academics from all over the world for its Taylor Swift conference

Volunteers from the John Cage Organ Foundation conducting an earlier chord change in October 2013

This Organ Is Playing a 639-Year-Long Song. It Just Changed Chords for the First Time in Two Years

The instrument has been playing composer John Cage's "ASLSP" since 2001—and it's scheduled to conclude in 2640

Elton John performing during his farewell tour at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Elton John Just Became an EGOT Winner

With his victory at last night's Emmy Awards, the celebrated musician is the 19th person in history to take home an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony

The new street sign in Paris' 13th arrondissement

You Can Now Walk Down 'Rue David Bowie' in Paris

The city's 13th arrondissement honored the British musical legend on what would have been his 77th birthday

Each of the four Beatles painted a corner of Images of a Woman (1966).

Stuck in a Tokyo Hotel, the Beatles Divided a Canvas Into Quarters and Started Painting

"Images of a Woman," signed by all four members of the band, could fetch as much as $600,000 at auction

Coltrane rehearses backstage before a show in London in November 1961. 

How John Coltrane's 'My Favorite Things' Changed American Music

Looking back at the moment when one of our greatest jazzmen raised the stakes for everyone who came after

Works entering the public domain this year include Steamboat Willie, J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner and Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Mickey Mouse and Many Other Beloved Creations, Including Peter Pan and 'Mack the Knife,' Are Now in the Public Domain

Almost a century after the cartoon mouse made his first appearance, he finally belongs to everyone—sort of

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