Musical Instruments - July 31
Sounds of Learning
Friday, July 31, 2026
Today is National Avocado Day, National Mutt Day, Cotton Candy Day, Talk in an Elevator Day, and Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION HISTORY ON THIS DATE
1777 – Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, be accepted.
Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Poems of the Day
National Park Month Resource of the Day
Ice Cream Month Resource of the Day
Today's Theme: Musical Instruments
ON THIS DATE
- 1777 - 19-year-old Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette is made a major-general in the American Continental Army.
- 1790 - The first U.S. patent is issued to Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
- 1970 - Yo, Ho, Ho, and No Bottle of Rum - The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the British Royal Navy.
- 1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
- 1991 - The U.S. and Soviet Union sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
- 2006 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.
- 2012 - Swimmer Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.
- 1945 - 68th Massachusetts Governor William Weld
- 1956 - 71st Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
- 1965 - Author J. K. Rowling
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning - A Musical Instrument
- Marilyn Brown - The Song is You
NATIONAL PARK MONTH RESOURCE OF THE DAY
Great Smoky Mountains- GO
ICE CREAM MONTH RESOURCE OF THE DAY
Man with the Yellow Hat's Spiced Banana Ice Cream Recipe - DO
- Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street- Instruments (5:21) - VIEW
- Grades PreK-3 - NHPBS Kids - Music Games - DO
- Grades PreK-2 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Pinkalicious and Peterriffic - Hybrid Musical Instrument Artist (1:45) - VIEW
- Grades K-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Music Art Toolkit - Introduction to Instruments of the World (19:14) - VIEW and DO
- Grades 6-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Music Art Toolkit - Immigrant Instrument: The Mandolin (6:59) - VIEW and DO
- Grades 6-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Sound Field- It's Time to Rethink the Banjo (14:47) - VIEW, READ, DO
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