National Music Museum (NMM)
Description
Bucket-list destination for music-lovers from across the world. Breath-taking musical-instrument collection, from celebrity guitars to the rarest violins. The NMM's renowned collections of more than 15,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments are the most inclusive in the world, making the NMM the premier institution of its kind.
Included are many of the earliest, best preserved, and historically most important musical instruments known to survive.
Self-guided multi-media tours allow visitors not only to see and hear many of the instruments, but also to learn more about them through curatorial commentary and videos.
Tell your friends
RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.comTimeline Photos
Congratulations to Byron Pillow for completing the requirements for his Master of Music degree with a specialization in the History of Musical Instruments at the National Music Museum (Vermillion, South Dakota). His thesis topic, "The Bass Trombone in the United States and the Emergence of a Distinct, American-Style Instrument: 1755-1940." Today the NMM staff celebrated with him, but we let him know that we'll miss him as he moves on to his next organological adventure! #brassinstruments #trombone #basstrombone #NMMUSD #organology #ConnSelmer #Holton #Conn #CGConn #UniversityofSouthDakota
Timeline Photos
The vibrant sounds of Java, Indonesia, come to Vermillion, South Dakota, whenever the National Music Museum’s gamelan is played. Join us this Friday, April 28th, 12:05-12:50 p.m., when the NMM’s own "Tatag" community players perform their annual concert on the stunning Kyai Rengga Manis Everist gamelan. FREE admission to Museum after concert. #LOVermillion #WorldMusic #Siouxland #UniversityofSouthDakota
Road Trip: Finding America's Musical Roots In The Midwest - Page 2 of 3 - Everything Zoomer - Boomers with Zip
"In a lovely building on the campus of the University of South Dakota, we found the mind-blowing National Music Museum (NMM)." A great write-up by Zoomer Magazine. :) http://www.everythingzoomer.com/musical-roots-midwest/2/
Timeline Photos
Tonight at 7:00! Don’t miss the National Music Museum’s showing of “Fiddler on the Roof,” at the Coyote Twin Theater, Vermillion, South Dakota, 4/24/2017. Brief intro. by NMM Curator and klezmer-music devotee Dr. Deborah Check Reeves. #LOVermillion #Siouxland #klezmer
Andre' Larson Tribute
The National Music Museum celebrates the life, vision and work of founding director Andre' Larson.
Great Museums
The National Music Museum's memorial tribute to Founding Director Andre' Larson is tomorrow night, Thursday, April 20, 2017, at 7:00, at the Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota.
Timeline Photos
NMM Live! tonight at 7 p.m. at the National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota – Mark Petričić on the Bayan. Hear Bach, Albéniz, Trojan, Semyonov, Repnikov, and Pushkarenko performed on this dramatic variant of the chromatic button accordion.
Timeline Photos
Join us this Wednesday, April 5, at 7 p.m, when the NMM hosts a powerful talk by Inge Auerbacher: “Music as Memory: A Child of the Holocaust Remembers in Song.” Admission is free. Location: National Music Museum, corner of Clark and Yale Streets, Vermillion, South Dakota. #Holocaust #JewishHistory
Timeline Photos
Arian Sheets, the National Music Museum's Curator of Stringed Instruments, will be presenting a master class on April 9th, at the 2017 Artisan Guitar Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, sponsored in part by the NMM. Click this link for more show information: https://www.artisanguitarshow.com/ #artisanguitarshow #guitarcollector #luthier
Timeline Photos
UPDATE: The National Music Museum will hold a public memorial tribute for Dr. André P. Larson on April 20th, at 7:00 p.m. at the National Music Museum (NMM) in Vermillion, South Dakota. The National Music Museum celebrates the life of former director Dr. André P. Larson who died on Friday, March 24, 2017, at 74. André Larson not only realized the dream of his father, Arne B. Larson, of establishing a musical-instrument museum on the Great Plains, he took its collections to world-class distinction. Music was Larson’s birthright and element. Born November 10, 1942 in Littlefork Village, Minnesota, to music-educator, collector and bandleader Arne B. and wife Jeanne (Kay) Larson, André Larson grew up in Brookings, South Dakota. Steeped in music, André was a four-year member of the South Dakota All-State Band and played his clarinet two years in the All-State Orchestra. After graduating from Brookings High School in 1960, he pursued a B.F.A. in music education at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Degree in hand in 1964, he ventured into business for himself, owning and operating The Larson Music Company, a music store in Brookings, until 1968. Drawn more to scholarship, André returned to the University of South Dakota, earning a M.M. degree in Music Literature (thesis topic on double-reed instruments in his father’s collection) with a minor in Theatre. He spent the summer of 1968 at the Black Hills Playhouse. André then began doctoral studies at West Virginia University, 1968, in Morgantown. In 1974, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Musicology (his dissertation focusing on 19th-century British keyed brass instruments from his father’s collection) with a minor in European History. He then began traveling and voraciously studying fine musical-instrument collections at museums like the Smithsonian, the Met, and Yale University. In 1972, funded in part by the South Dakota Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, André took over management of his father’s instrument collection and in July 1973 was named the first Director of The Shrine to Music Museum (now known as the National Music Museum), in Vermillion, housed in the grand former Carnegie Library building on the campus of University of South Dakota. A partnership of the University of South Dakota and a private Board of Trustees, the NMM is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation. Working closely with University officials like Fine Arts Dean Wayne S. Knutson, and the Museum’s trustees, including its first President, Barnes Abell, André began conceptualizing, articulating and implementing the long-term vision for the Museum. He focused on the development of its collections — “the ultimate measure of a museum’s greatness.” André placed his father Arne's more than 3,000 instruments at the National Music Museum's core and then built boldly on those holdings for the rest of his career. The NMM’s treasures now include many of the earliest, best-preserved, and historically most important instruments known to survive. Among André’s favorites — acquired under his leadership and donor-inspiration — are the famed "King" cello (mid-1500’s) by Andrea Amati; the "Harrison" Stradivari violin; Johnny Cash's "Bon Aqua" guitar; and the D'Angelico/D'Aquisto/Gudelsky guitar-workshop collection. André was also a Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota and established the Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments there, offering the nation’s only graduate degree in the history of musical instruments. While providing the resources of the NMM to manage the Membership Office of the American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS) for 18 years (1976-1994), he edited the society’s newsletter (1976-1994) and was elected President of the AMIS for three consecutive terms, 1981-87. André Larson will be remembered for his bold vision and fierce determination to drive and support the arts, especially in his state of South Dakota. Indeed, upon on André’s 2011 retirement from the National Music Museum, Governor Dennis Daugaard named May 13, 2011 “Dr. André P. Larson Day” in South Dakota, citing André’s 38 years of service to the state. The governor’s proclamation stressed the magnitude of André’s achievement: he “has dedicated himself and his life to music, history, and the collection and study of rare musical instruments. With connoisseurship and indefatigable perseverance, he oversaw the development of the collections of the National Music Museum […]. Vermillion mayor John E. (Jack) Powell similarly declared the day “André P. Larson Day” in the city with the official statement that “the National Music Museum is a great cultural treasure which has immeasurably enriched the lives of the citizens of Vermillion, as well as the people of South Dakota, the nation, and the world beyond.” Larson had by that time already also been inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame (in 2006) for his contributions to the Arts in South Dakota. He had also won the highest honor in his field, the Curt Sachs Award of the American Musical Instrument Society, back in 1990, “in recognition of his achievements as educator, scholar, collector, and exhibitor […]” and “in appreciation of his connoisseurship, skill, and perseverance in creating a major international resource in South Dakota for the study, exhibition, and conservation of historical musical instruments.” At the time of André Larson’s passing, he was living in Arvada, Colorado. He is survived by his brother Arnor Larson; two sons, Nathan and Nikolas; four grandsons and one granddaughter; one great-granddaughter; among many other loved ones. André was preceded in death by his parents Arne and Jeanne (Kay), his sister Annette (Tieszen), and his brother Aaron. Private funeral arrangements for the family are pending at this time. At the request of the Larson family, memorial donations may be directed to the National Music Museum, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark St. Vermillion, SD 57069. Gifts can be made online as well, at http://nmmusd.org/Support-Us-Donate.
Timeline Photos
American friends of the National Music Museum: Please join us in contacting U.S. senators and representatives and urging them to oppose any federal defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). These great American institutions have contributed to the survival and thriving of the National Music Museum and organizations like ours (whether through grants to state arts councils, direct grants to museum operations, or through promotional support). Defunding those institutions would be a devastating blow to our American culture overall. To find phone numbers, email addresses and postal addresses for your Congress people, click on these links: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and http://www.house.gov/representatives/ Thank you! *Please share this!*
Timeline Photos
The film "The Music of Strangers" is "an affirmative answer to Leonard Bernstein's question of whether music can truly serve as a 'universal language.'" -- Critic Leah Pickett, Chicago Reader Join us Monday! #WorldMusic #LOVermillion #Cello #Documentary
Quiz
