History of Technology of Music - everything here is designed to pique your curiosity about music, musical instruments and history. So delve, delight, explore and enjoy!

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History of Technology of Music

Please note: This website is in its early phases and will be continually updated and improved and therefore should be regarded as always "under construction".

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This file updated 19 December 2009

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In review: Daphne Duval Harrison, Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s. 1988.

1920: Birth of Valve Radios: The valve is a component used for amplifying an electrical signal, with co-invention from Thomas Edison plus a British electrical engineer, Ambrose Fleming. First used in the 1920s, the valve produced a "warm sound" which is still great appreciated by musical and technical buffs, though from the late 1940s they were replaced by transistors, which also used less electrical power.

If you value the information posted here, and the projects of these websites in general, you may like to consider making a donation to help reduce our production costs? It would be greatly appreciated. Options include: paying via PayPal which this website uses - Ed

1921: Birth year of US composer Richard Adler.

1920s: Generally, the music world sees the collapse of the vogue for huge orchestras. See George Simon, The Big Bands. 1971.

1922: C. Dayton Miller, The Science of Musical Sounds. New York, 1922.

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1923

1923: Early electronic musician Thaddeus Cahill produces another instrument, the theremin, the first widely-publicized electronic instrument. But be it noted, that US music academic Christopher Yavelow regards Vladimir Ussachevsky of Rhode Island as "the father of American electronic music". The theremin is used in music by Bernard Hermann for the sci-fi movie classic (1951) The Day The Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise.

1923: Birth of Sam Phillips, later the rock 'n' roll legend of Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

1924: Death of Victor Mahillon (1841-1924), "the father of Organology"). Mahillon's collection of instruments went to help form the collection of Instrumental Museum of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique, Brussels. It contains many examples of C16th wind instruments. "It is unquestionably the first place that anyone with a special interest in musical instruments must visit", is the opinion of one writer on musical history - Baines.

1925

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In review: Charles K. Wolfe, The Grand Ole Opry: The Early Years, 1925-1935. 1973. (US country music history)

1926

1926: World's first sound movie premieres in New York.

1927

1927: Piano development: Hungarian Emanuel Moor produces another kind of piano with two keyboards, a "duplex coupler Grand Pianoforte".

1928

More to come

1929: Publication of: E. G. Richardson, The Acoustics of Orchestral Instruments. London, 1929.

1930

More to come

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For useful lists of songs songs songs by year. etc – and very impressive – see compilations at (Error 403 - Forbidden): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_by_year

View these domain stats begun 18 December 2005