Portal:Music

The Music Portal

Grooved side of the Voyager Golden Record launched along the Voyager probes to space, which feature music from around the world

Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach. While scholars agree that music is defined by a small number of specific elements, there is no consensus as to what these necessary elements are. Music is often characterized as a highly versatile medium for expressing human creativity. Diverse activities are involved in the creation of music, and are often divided into categories of composition, improvisation, and performance. Music may be performed using a wide variety of musical instruments, including the human voice. It can also be composed, sequenced, or otherwise produced to be indirectly played mechanically or electronically, such as via a music box, barrel organ, or digital audio workstation software on a computer.

Music often plays a key role in social events and religious ceremony. The techniques of making music are often transmitted as part of a cultural tradition. Music is played in public and private contexts, highlighted at events such as festivals and concerts for various different types of ensembles. Music is used in the production of other media, such as in soundtracks to films, TV shows, operas, and video games.

Listening to music is a common means of entertainment. The culture surrounding music extends into areas of academic study, journalism, philosophy, psychology, and therapy. The music industry includes songwriters, performers, sound engineers, producers, tour organizers, distributors of instruments, accessories, and publishers of sheet music and recordings. Technology facilitating the recording and reproduction of music has historically included sheet music, microphones, phonographs, and tape machines, with playback of digital musics being a common use for MP3 players, CD players, and smartphones. (Full article...)

General images -

The following are images from various music-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  An example of mechanically printed sheet music (from Music industry)
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  The Beatles (1964) have been credited by music historians for heralding the album era. (from Album era)
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  A Rhodes College student listening to the 1969 Yes LP on campus, c. 1970 (from Album era)
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  A musician in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  A young man browsing through a record store in Bonn, West Germany, June 1988 (from Album era)
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  The Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, is the best known of the ancient Lyres of Ur (from History of music)
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  The monumental Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century BCE, from Hubei (from History of music)
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  Stevie Wonder, among the era's innovative artists (from Album era)
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  Pink Floyd (1973) performing The Dark Side of the Moon, a leading commercial success of the LP era (from Album era)
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  A young couple listening to music on an iPod Mini, 2006 (from Album era)
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  Circular definition of "musicality" (from Elements of music)
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  As LPs fell out of favor to CDs, hip hop producers repurposed them as sampling sources, contributing to the development of record collecting. (from Album era)
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  A studio engineer working with an audio mixer in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  Beyoncé (2016) popularized the surprise-album strategy of the 2010s. (from Album era)
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  US vinyl sales in units, 1995–2020; while album sales overall declined, those in the vinyl format rose toward the end of the 2010s. (from Album era)
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  A radio broadcasting system from 1906 (from Music industry)
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  Drawing of the tablet with the Hymn to Nikkal (c. 1400 BCE), the oldest of the Hurrian songs (from History of music)
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  J. S. Bach (from History of music)
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  An LP record on a phonograph (from Album era)
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  Two musicians of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), Shanghai Museum (from History of music)
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  Musicians working in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  Alleluia nativitas by Perotin from the Codex Guelf.1099 (from History of music)
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  Sheet music for part of the Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (from History of music)
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  Frank Sinatra (c. 1955), an early pop album artist (from Album era)
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  Notation indicating differing pitch, dynamics, articulation, and instrumentation (from Elements of music)
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  The Japanese boy band Arashi, who had the world's best-selling album (5x20 All the Best!!) in 2019 (from Album era)
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  Terracotta statue of a Parthian lute player (from History of music)
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  The Rolling Stones in 1967 (from Album era)
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  A live musical performance at Cologne Pride, 2013 (from Music industry)
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  Frances Densmore at the Smithsonian Institution in 1916 where she was recording Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology. In this picture, Mountain Chief is listening to a recording. (from Music industry)
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  c. 379 CE Bas relief of Sassanid women playing the chang in Taq-e Bostan, Iran (from History of music)
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  Guillaume Du Fay (left), with Gilles Binchois (right) in a c. 1440 Illuminated manuscript copy of Martin le Franc's Le champion des dames (from History of music)
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  Platinum records by Elvis Presley, Prince, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bruce Springsteen, at Julien's Auctions (from Album era)
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  An audience watching a concert (from Music industry)
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  Taylor Swift, a longtime adherent to album-era rollouts, surprise-released her albums instead in 2020. (from Album era)
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  A smartphone displaying playlists on Spotify, 2010. The streaming service became a dominant and redefining platform for music consumption through the decade. (from Album era)
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  The logo for Apple Inc.'s online iTunes store, which sells digital files of songs and musical pieces–along with a range of other content, such as digital files of TV shows and movies (from Music industry)
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  Clara and Robert Schumann (from History of music)
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  An HMV record shop in Wakefield, England closing its operation in 2013 (from Album era)
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  The portable Discman CD player, which was released in 1984 and precipitated the displacement of LPs (from Album era)
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  Kanye West (2007) emerged during the decade as an important hip-hop producer and album artist. (from Album era)

Featured articles -

Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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  One Hot Minute is the sixth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 12, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records. The worldwide success of the band's previous album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) caused guitarist John Frusciante to become uncomfortable with their popularity, eventually quitting mid-tour in 1992. Following a series of short-term replacements, the band hired guitarist Dave Navarro in 1993; it was his only studio album with the band. Recording for the album took place at the Sound Factory in Hollywood from June 1994 to February 1995. It marked the second collaboration between the band and producer Rick Rubin.
  
  A departure from the funk of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, One Hot Minute is characterized by heavy metal riffs and psychedelic rock influences, primarily due to the influence of Navarro, formerly of Jane's Addiction. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis, who had resumed addictions to cocaine and heroin in 1994 after being sober for more than five years, approached his lyricism with a reflective outlook on drugs and their harsh effects. As such, the lyrics reflect mostly dark and melancholy themes. Bassist Flea sang lead vocals on "Pea", as well as the outro of "Deep Kick" and the chorus of the album outtake "Stretch". (Full article...)
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  The Pale Emperor is the ninth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on January 15, 2015, through lead singer Marilyn Manson's Hell, etc. label, and distributed in the United States by Loma Vista Recordings and internationally by Cooking Vinyl. The album was issued in standard and deluxe editions on CD and double LP vinyl, and as a limited edition box set. The standard version of the album contains ten tracks; the deluxe edition includes three acoustic versions as bonus tracks.
  
  Produced by Manson and newcomer Tyler Bates, who Manson met through their mutual involvement in the TV series Californication, The Pale Emperor eschews the band's usual industrial rock style in favor of a sparser, blues rock-influenced sound. The album features drummer Gil Sharone, formerly of Stolen Babies and The Dillinger Escape Plan. It was the first album since his return to the band in 2008 to not include songwriting or performance contributions from bassist Twiggy Ramirez, who was busy with his own projects. The album is dedicated to Manson's mother, who died of Alzheimer's disease during production. (Full article...)
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  "Ghost in the Machine" is a song by the American singer-songwriter SZA from her second studio album, SOS (2022), featuring the American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. The song is a ballad that falls within the indie pop and R&B genres; music critics described it as a cross between Bridgers's and SZA's respective sounds. Written in a conversational style, the lyrics express disillusionment with inauthentic relationships, the inhumane behavior of other people, and artificial intelligence. They also portray SZA asking her lover to provide an escape from a world she sees as having been consumed by vanity.
  
  The collaboration began with an online conversation between Bridgers and SZA; the two musicians rapidly completed the song a week before the album was scheduled for release. They co-wrote the song with Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Matt Cohn, and Marshall Vore. Production and engineering duties were handled by Bisel, Lang, and Cohn. (Full article...)
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  "No Panties" is a song by American rapper Trina, featuring American singer Tweet, from Trina's second studio album Diamond Princess (2002). Slip-n-Slide and Atlantic released it as the album's lead single on July 16, 2002. A hip hop song, it was written by Missy Elliott who co-produced it with Nisan Stewart. Trina raps throughout the song while Tweet, one of Elliott's protégés, performs the hook. Prior to recording the single, Trina was already close friends with Elliott and Tweet. The track was mixed in Miami, Florida. Dave Meyers directed the song's music video in Los Angeles, which portrays Trina and Tweet going on a shopping spree.
  
  The song is about only having sex with men who have money. While this sexually explicit content was the focus of critical discussion, some music journalists identified "No Panties" with female empowerment, and Tweet said its message was refusing one-night stands and only having sex in a relationship. According to Trina, the title and concept was inspired by a saying often repeated by millennials. (Full article...)
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  Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 2, 1978, by Columbia Records. The album was recorded after a series of legal disputes between Springsteen and his former manager Mike Appel, during sessions in New York City with the E Street Band from June 1977 to March 1978. Springsteen and Jon Landau served as producers, with assistance from bandmate Steven Van Zandt.
  
  For the album's lyrics and music, Springsteen took inspiration from sources as diverse as John Steinbeck novels, John Ford films, punk rock, and country music. Musically, the album strips the Wall of Sound production of its predecessor, Born to Run (1975) for a rawer hard rock sound emphasizing the band as a whole. The lyrics on Darkness focus on ill-fortuned characters who fight back against overwhelming odds. Compared to Springsteen's previous records, the characters are older and the songs are less tied to the Jersey Shore area. The cover photograph of Springsteen was taken by Frank Stefanko in his New Jersey home. (Full article...)
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  Supernature is the third studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released on 17 August 2005 by Mute Records. The album received generally favourable reviews, with most critics complimenting its blend of pop and electronic music. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 52,976 copies, and has been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Supernature has sold one million copies worldwide.
  
  The album's lead single, "Ooh La La", reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's highest-peaking single to date. The album spawned three further singles: "Number 1", "Ride a White Horse" and "Fly Me Away". In North America, where "Number 1" was promoted as the first single, the album was released on 7 March 2006 and reached number 138 on the charts. Supernature was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2007. (Full article...)
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  Kala is the second studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 8 August 2007 through XL Recordings. M.I.A. named the album after her mother and has stated that her mother's struggles in life are a major theme of the album. It was mainly written and produced by M.I.A. and Switch, and features contributions from Timbaland, Diplo, Afrikan Boy and The Wilcannia Mob.
  
  Initially planning to work with American producer Timbaland for the bulk of the album, M.I.A. was unable to gain a long-term work visa to enter the US. Therefore, she recorded Kala in numerous countries around the world, including India, Angola, Trinidad, Liberia, Jamaica and Australia. M.I.A. and Switch relied heavily on the digital audio workstation Logic Pro and recorded additional vocals and background sounds outside the studio environment. Kala incorporates prominent influences from South Asian music, featuring samples of Bollywood and Tamil cinema. The album draws on various styles, from funk carioca to African folk. The songs are about political themes related to the Third World, including illegal immigration, poverty and capitalism. (Full article...)
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  "Our Song" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the third single from her self-titled debut studio album (2006). Swift wrote "Our Song" for a high school talent show during ninth grade; the lyrics are about a young couple using the regular events in their lives to create their own song. She included the song on the track list because it was popular among her classmates. Big Machine Records released the song to US country radio on September 10, 2007. Produced by Nathan Chapman, "Our Song" is an uptempo banjo–driven country track incorporating fiddles and drums.
  
  Music critics lauded Swift's songwriting on "Our Song" for incorporating conversational lyrics and a memorable hook. It featured on Rolling Stone's 2019 list of the best country songs by female artists since 2000. Peaking atop Hot Country Songs for six weeks, the single made Swift the youngest person (17 at the time) to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number one. "Our Song" peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It peaked at number 30 on the Canadian Hot 100 and was certified platinum by Music Canada. (Full article...)
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  Hendrix on stage at Gröna Lund in June 1967

  
  James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. He is widely regarded as the greatest guitarist in the history of popular music and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
  
  Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, then Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (with its rhythm section consisting of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell): "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one on the US Billboard 200. The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number one album. The world's highest-paid rock musician, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia in September 1970. (Full article...)
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  Confusion is a 1975 album by Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti and his Africa 70 band. It was arranged, composed, and produced by Kuti, who recorded the album after choosing to emphasize his African heritage and nationalism in his music. Confusion is a commentary on the confused state of post-colonial Lagos and its lack of infrastructure and proper leadership at the time. Kuti's pidgin English lyrics depict difficult conditions in the city, including a frenetic, multilingual trading market and inextricable traffic jams in Lagos' major intersections.
  
  Confusion is a one-song Afrobeat album that begins with an entirely instrumental first half, which features free form interplay between Kuti's electric piano and drummer Tony Allen. It leads to an extended mid-tempo section with Allen's polyrhythms and tenor saxophone by Kuti, who subsequently delivers call-and-response vocal passages. In reviews since the record's release by EMI, the album was praised by music critics, who found it exemplary of Kuti's Afrobeat style and recommended it as a highlight from his extensive catalog. In both 2000 and 2010, Confusion was reissued and bundled with Kuti's 1973 Gentleman album. (Full article...)
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  Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.
  
  Rather than using a turn-based battle system like contemporaneous role-playing games, Secret of Mana features real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. The game has a unique Ring Command menu system, which pauses the action and allows the player to make decisions in the middle of battle. An innovative cooperative multiplayer system allows a second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time. Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli, and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka. (Full article...)
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  Britten in 1968, by Hans Wild

  
  Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).
  
  Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist. He showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden, he wrote chamber operas for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. (Full article...)
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  Hector Berlioz was the first to use the term "choral symphony" for a musical composition—his Roméo et Juliette.

  
  
  A choral symphony is a musical composition for orchestra, choir, and sometimes solo vocalists that, in its internal workings and overall musical architecture, adheres broadly to symphonic musical form. The term "choral symphony" in this context was coined by Hector Berlioz when he described his Roméo et Juliette as such in his five-paragraph introduction to that work. The direct antecedent for the choral symphony is Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth incorporates part of the ode An die Freude ("Ode to Joy"), a poem by Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by soloists and chorus in the last movement. It is the first example of a major composer's use of the human voice on the same level as instruments in a symphony.
  
  A few 19th-century composers, notably Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt, followed Beethoven in producing choral symphonic works. Notable works in the genre were produced in the 20th century by Gustav Mahler, Igor Stravinsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich, among others. The final years of the 20th century and the opening of the 21st century have seen several new works in this genre, among them compositions by Mikis Theodorakis, Peter Maxwell Davies, Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, William Bolcom and Robert Strassburg. (Full article...)
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  Marquee Moon is the debut studio album by American rock band Television, released on February 8, 1977, by Elektra Records. In the years leading up to the album, Television had become a prominent act in the New York music scene and generated interest from a number of record labels, eventually signing a record deal with Elektra. The group rehearsed extensively in preparation for Marquee Moon before recording it at A & R Recording in September 1976. It was produced by the band's frontman Tom Verlaine and sound engineer Andy Johns.
  
  For Marquee Moon, Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd abandoned contemporary punk rock's power chords in favor of rock and jazz-inspired interplay, melodic lines, and counter-melodies. The resulting music is largely hook-driven with complex instrumental parts (particularly on longer tracks such as "Marquee Moon"), while evoking themes of adolescence, discovery, and transcendence through imagery in urban, pastoral, and nocturnal modes, including references to the geography of Lower Manhattan. Influenced by Bohemian and French poetry, Verlaine's lyrics also feature puns and double entendres intended to give the songs an impressionistic quality in describing his perception of an experience. (Full article...)
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  "Dance in the Dark" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), The Fame Monster (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). It is about a woman who prefers to have sex in the dark as she is insecure in her body. Having met such women while working on the MAC AIDS Fund, Gaga said that the song is not about freedom, but rather the assurance that she understood their feelings. A Europop track, it contains retro and new wave music influences, and begins with a stuttering introduction. It includes a spoken interlude, where Gaga lists famous dead people.
  
  Interscope Records intended "Dance in the Dark" to be the third single from The Fame Monster, but Gaga insisted on "Alejandro", which was released in April 2010. Some months later, Universal Music France issued "Dance in the Dark" to French radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country. Critics praised the song for its chorus and theme, although some found it a formulaic production. Retrospective reviewers ranked the song as one of Gaga's best. "Dance in the Dark" reached the top ten of charts in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, as well as the US Dance/Electronic Digital Song. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

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  Les Troyens

  Illustration credit: Antoine Barbizet; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Les Troyens (The Trojans) is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz, with a libretto written by the composer himself based on Virgil's Aeneid. The score was composed between 1856 and 1858, but Berlioz did not live long enough to see the work performed in its entirety. The first two acts were performed separately under the title La Prise de Troie. This picture shows the cover of the first-edition vocal score for La Prise de Troie, published in 1863.
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  Nelly Martyl

  Photograph credit: Jean Reutlinger; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Nelly Martyl (1884–1953) was a French opera singer. She sang in the premieres of several operas, including Leborne's La Catalane (1907), Erlanger's La Sorcière (1912), and Massenet's Amadis (1922). Martyl joined the Red Cross as a nurse during the First World War, and served at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, where she was known as la fée de Verdun (the Fairy of Verdun), and at the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917. She continued as a nurse after the war to help with the 1918 epidemic of Spanish flu. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre with the carte du combattant (signifying service under particular hazard) in 1920.
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  Nina Sublatti

  Photograph: Ailura

  Nina Sublatti (b. 1995) is a Georgian singer, songwriter, and model. Having previously won the 2013 Georgian edition of Idol, she achieved international attention when she represented her country in Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with her song "Warrior". She has since served as a judge on X Factor Georgia and Idols.
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  Johann Strauss II

  Photograph credit: Fritz Luckhardt; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Johann Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. Part of the Strauss dynasty, his father demanded that none of his sons pursue music as a career, despite their display of musical talent. It was only after his father had abandoned the family for a mistress that the younger Strauss was able to develop his skills as a composer, with the encouragement of his mother. He eventually attained greater fame than his father, and became one of the most popular waltz composers of the era, conducting extensive tours of Austria, Poland and Germany with his orchestra.
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  Franz Lehár

  Photograph: Bain News Service; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  Franz Lehár (1870–1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer mainly known for his operettas, the most successful and best known being The Merry Widow. He also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems and marches.
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  Vexi Salmi

  Photo: Teemu Rajala

  Vexi Salmi is a popular Finnish lyricist who has become popular through the successes of the platinum-selling music artists for whom he writes. During his prolific career, he has written the lyrics for over 4,000 songs, more than 2,400 of which have been recorded by prominent artists such as Irwin Goodman, Jari Sillanpää, and Katri Helena. A music writer's award, the Vexi Salmi Award, is named after him.
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  Zürich Opera House

  Photograph: Roland Fischer

  The Zürich Opera House is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since the current building was completed in 1891. It also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich.
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  Alexz Johnson

  Photo: Epitome Pictures

  Alexz Johnson (b. 1986) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress, best known for roles as Jude Harrison in the CTV series Instant Star (character shown here), Annie Thelan in the Disney Channel series So Weird, and as Erin Ulmer in the 2006 horror film Final Destination 3. Her album Voodoo was released in 2010.
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  Frédéric Chopin

  Photo credit: Louis-Auguste Bisson

  The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, often incorrectly described as a daguerreotype. It is believed to have been taken in 1849 during the degenerative stages of his tuberculosis, shortly before his death. Chopin, a Polish pianist and composer of the Romantic era, is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, admired and prolific composers for the piano. He moved to Paris at the age of twenty, adopting the French variant of his name, "Frédéric-François", by which he is now known.
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  Mary Lou Williams

  Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Mary Lou Williams (May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor and teacher to numerous other jazz musicians. The second of eleven children, she was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A young musical prodigy, she taught herself to play the piano at the age of three. This photograph of Williams at the piano was taken by William P. Gottlieb around 1946.
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  Elvis Presley meets Richard Nixon

  Photograph: Oliver F. Atkins

  American singer Elvis Presley meeting then-president Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970. During the meeting, the singer expressed his patriotism and his contempt for hippies, the growing drug culture, and the counterculture in general. Presley then asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts. Nixon gave Presley the badge and expressed a belief that Presley could send a positive message to young people and that it was therefore important he retain his credibility.
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  Mike Dirnt

  Photograph: Sven-Sebastian Sajak

  Mike Dirnt (b. 1972) is an American musician, songwriter and composer. He is best known as the co-founder, bassist, backing and occasional lead vocalist of American punk rock band Green Day. He has played in several other bands, including The Frustrators.
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  Ludwig van Beethoven

  Photo: W. J. Mayer; Restoration: Lise Broer

  A bust of the German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), made from his death mask. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time. Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.
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  Thelonious Monk

  Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Thelonious Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer, and the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. He had a unique improvisational style and famously remarked, "The piano ain't got no wrong notes". He made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", and a wide range of other compositions. He was renowned for a distinctive dress style, which included suits, hats, and sunglasses. He had disappeared from the scene by the mid-1970s and made only a few appearances during the final decade of his life. This 1947 photograph of Monk was taken by the American photographer William P. Gottlieb in Minton's Playhouse, a jazz club in New York.
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  Oceana (singer)

  Photo: ChrisHamburg

  Oceana (born 1982) is a German singer of German/Martiniquen descent. She is shown here performing at the Radio Hamburg Top 820.

Related portals

Did you know (auto-generated)

• ... that husband and wife Edward M. and Marie Zimmerman co-wrote the suffragist anthem "Votes for Women: Suffrage Rallying Song"?
• ... that Steve Elcock's Symphony No. 6 is dedicated to "the everlasting execration of self-serving politicians, the obscenely rich and the system that allows them to remain so"?
• ... that Max Weil, founder of the Halifax Symphony Orchestra, spent his later years in real estate?
• ... that Samuel Barber said that he could not adequately play his own Piano Sonata?
• ... that a performance by Milkie Way at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards got its Twitch stream banned for three days?
• ... that the radio program Radio City Music Hall of the Air employed approximately 10,000 musicians during the first eight years of its broadcast history?

Today's Birthdays

Birthdays in Music: December 30

• Noel Paul Stookey, American folk music singer; "Paul" of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, turns 87.
• Suzy Bogguss, American country music singer, turns 68.
• Tyrese Gibson, (born Darnell Gibson) American actor, model, and R&B singer-turned-rapper, turns 46.
• Kenny Kwan, Hong Kong cantopop singer, turns 44.

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List of musical events • Anniversaries • More birthdays...

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Music

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Music genres and forms

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More genres...

Composers and musicians

Louis Armstrong
Johann Sebastian Bach
The Beatles
Ludwig van Beethoven
Johannes Brahms
Frédéric Chopin
Antonín Dvořák
George Frideric Handel
Umm Kulthum
Gustav Mahler
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Elvis Presley
Giacomo Puccini
Franz Schubert
Igor Stravinsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Giuseppe Verdi
Antonio Vivaldi
Richard Wagner

More composers and musicians...

Musical instruments

Drum
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Piano
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Violin

More musical instruments...

Featured articles

...And Justice for All (album)
George Formby Snr
Jules Massenet
George Formby
Noye's Fludde
Frédéric Chopin
Megadeth
New York Dolls (album)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Marquee Moon
Misterioso (Thelonious Monk album)
Imogen Holst
Spinning Around

More featured music articles...

Connections

Article – History – Portal – Category – WikiProject – Alerts – Deletions – Stubs – Style – To-do

WikiProjects connected with music: WikiProject Music – Songs – Albums – Alternative music - Classical music – Composers – Contemporary Christian music – Contemporary music – Electronic music – Emo music – Hip hop – Instruments – Led Zeppelin - Metal music – Jazz – Musicians – Opera – Panic at the Disco – Powderfinger (band) – Punk music – Record Labels – Record Production – Rock music – R&B and Soul Music – Terminology – The Beatles

Create a requested article: See the list of Requested articles.

Improve an article: See the Music Noticeboard for a list of tasks.

Start a music course: School of Music at Wikiversity

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

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  Commons
  Free media repository

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  Free textbooks and manuals

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  Free knowledge base

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  Free-content news

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  Collection of quotations

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  Wikisource
  Free-content library

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  Wikispecies
  Directory of species

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  Wikiversity
  Free learning tools

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  Wikivoyage
  Free travel guide

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  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

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