Folk, Indigenous, and Global

The diversity of music making globally is staggering, representing traditions shared over thousands of years. Many factors influence regional tastes and trends, making it difficult to organize and understand one’s own culture, let alone another’s. The music of rural and urban people, for example, can be quite different, enriched by the how and why of its creation and use—personal or communal, sacred or secular, from times of war or peace, to name a few. When the spread of ideas resulting from globalization and the internet is considered, the possibilities are endless. Musical instruments reflect the same diversity. While aspiring to tell global stories of musical heritage, the National Music Museum’s collection consists primarily of musical instruments from western European orchestral and band traditions, as continued in the United States. The Museum has representative examples from Folk, Global, and Indigenous traditions, encompassing many instrument types.