An American Composer

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An American Composer

• By
• Paul Provencio, Townsend Elementary
• and
• Joy Agre, Russell Elementary

Teachers Page
His Life and Music
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GEORGE GERSHWINBorn Brooklyn, New
YorkSeptember 26, 1898Died Hollywood,
CaliforniaJuly 11, 1937
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Find Out About Gershwin
George Gershwins 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!)
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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 Georges
teachers. Ira promised the teachers to help and
look after George.
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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 didnt want to learn. He
would have rather played the Victrola. But he
wasnt 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!
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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.
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Gershwin, page 5
George would go out of his way to hear music all
over Manhattan, which at that time wasnt 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
mothers wishes and stayed in school.
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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 couldnt 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 Cant Get Em, When You Get Em You
Dont Want Em.
Click here to find out about TIN PAN ALLEY
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Gershwin, page 7
Gershwins 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
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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.
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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.
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Can you remember?
Click here when finished
Questions 1. Composers full name_________________
_______ 2. Date of birth_________ Date of
Death________ 3. Place of birth___________________
__________ 4. Place of Death______________________
______ 5. One interesting fact about the
composers childhood_______________________
_________ 6. One interesting fact about the
composers musical training__________________
_______________ 7. Name one of the composers
works.____________ 8. What kind of music did the
composer write?_____
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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.
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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 1900s. Since radio wasnt 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
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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?
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Come back again!!!