Transcript George Gershwin`s Life and Music - Sikeston R-6

An American Composer
By
Paul Provencio, Townsend Elementary
and
Joy Agre, Russell Elementary
His Life and Music
Teacher’s Page
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Born: Brooklyn, New York
September 26, 1898
Died: Hollywood, California
July 11, 1937
Find Out About Gershwin
George Gershwin’s parents were Russian
Immigrants, but George and his brother,
Ira, were strictly American. George grew up
playing stickball in the the streets of New
York. His father was a businessman who
liked to start businesses and move on. This
meant the family moved often to a new
apartment and neighborhood. (When the
Gershwin brothers were grown up, they
figured out they had lived in twenty-five to
thirty different apartments!)
Gershwin, Page 2
George, and his brother Ira, were
very different people. Ira was serious
and an avid reader. George liked to
play outside, and would often get into
scrapes and fights. Ira would rather
be inside with his books. He was a
great student, and would often have
to talk to George’s teachers. Ira
promised the teachers to help and look
after George.
Gershwin, page 3
When George was twelve, something
important happened. His mother bought a
second hand upright piano so Ira could take
lessons. Ira had a couple of lessons and
really didn’t want to learn. He would have
rather played the Victrola. But he wasn’t
about to cross his headstrong mother, so he
resigned himself to his fate. No sooner was
the piano in the living room than George sat
down and began playing one of the hit songs
of the day-and quite well. Everyone was
amazed!
Gershwin, page 4
They had no idea that music even
interested George, much less that he
could play the piano as well as he did.
So Ira was off the hook and George
took lessons. In six months George
became a virtuoso on the piano.
Eventually Ira became known as “Mr.
Words,” while George was “Mr. Music,
and together they wrote successful
Broadway musicals.
Gershwin, page 5
George would go out of his way to hear
music all over Manhattan, which at that
time wasn’t as easy as turning on the
radio. His father was encouraging, but his
mother was concerned about how he would
make a living. She thought he should learn
accounting, and so George entered the
High School of Commerce in 1912.
Although George never cared for school,
he tried to follow his mother’s wishes and
stayed in school.
Gershwin, page 6
For two years he played the piano for all
the school assemblies and kept learning
more about music and piano. He continued
taking piano lessons. Finally, George
couldn’t take studying anymore, so he quit
school and got a job as a “song plugger” on
Tin Pan Alley for the salary of $15 a
week. Working as a plugger, his first song
was published in 1916. It was called
“When You Want ‘Em You Can’t Get ‘Em,
When You Get ‘Em You Don’t Want Em.”
Click here to find out about
TIN PAN ALLEY
Gershwin, page 7
Gershwin’s first hit-”Swanee”-was one of
the earliest phonograph records ever made
and sold over two million copies. At age
19, he had become rich and famous. He
lived in a 14-room apartment where he
had a piano even in the gym. He owned
every music book of the time, was a major
art collector, and drove a Mercedes Benz.
Click here to go to
GERSHWIN: RICH AND FAMOUS
Gershwin, page 8
Gershwin loved jazz and ragtime and
incorporated those sounds into even the
most serious of his music.
He wrote symphonic pieces for orchestra,
songs for Broadway musicals, Hollywood
film scores, serious works for piano, and
even opera.
All of his music has rich melodies and
rhythms that are unmistakably American.
Gershwin, page 9
In 1936, during a concert tour that ended
in Los Angeles, Gershwin began having
memory lapses and dizzy spells. No one
thought much of it especially George
because he was the picture of perfect
health. Six months later, he died of a
brain tumor at age 38.
He had two funerals at the same time. At
the start of services in Hollywood, all the
movie studios shut dwon for a moment of
silence in his honor. In New York, the
funeral music was Bach, Beethoven, and
his very own “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Can you remember?
Questions
Click here when finished
1. Composer’s full name________________________
2. Date of birth_________ Date of Death________
3. Place of birth_____________________________
4. Place of Death____________________________
5. One interesting fact about the composer’s
childhood:________________________________
6. One interesting fact about the composer’s musical
training:_________________________________
7. Name one of the composer’s works.____________
8. What kind of music did the composer write?_____
Teacher Page
The students will need journals to record
their answers and thoughts.
Activities can be done as they appear or
at the end.
Questions can be written in
journals and used as study sheets.
Have Fun!!! Make the composer human.
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was the name given to the street
where all the music publishing houses in New York
were in the early 1900’s. Since radio wasn’t yet
established as a way of “selling” a tune, or making
a song known or popular, all the publishers had
“song pluggers.” Each of the publishers kept a
staff of piano players to play all their songs so
people could come in and listen before they
bought a song. Since all the publishing houses
were close together, quite a cacophony arose
from all those pianos playing different songs. It
was said that when you walked down the street it
sounded as if someone were beating tin pans
together-Tin Pan Alley
Gershwin: Rich and Famous
George Gershwin became rich and famous at
the age of 19. He spent his money on a nice
place to live, a nice car, music books, records,
and art.
If you were to become rich and famous at 19,
what would you do with your money?
What kinds of things would you buy?
Who would you spend money on?
What would become important to you?
Come back again!!!