George Gershwin

1. George Gershwin

2. Biography • Parents • Rosa Bruskin later known as Rose • MoisheGershowitz later known as Morris • Early childhood • Born September 26, 1898 • Started playing piano in 1910 • Dropped out of High School

3. George and Mother

4. Biography • Early Musical Talent • Started playing piano at age 11 or 12 • Became a song plugger

5. Biography • Professional Life • Had first song published around 1915-1916 • Wrote piano rolls 1915-1916 • Wrote songs for Broadway plays and musicals 1919 • In 1924 started writing musical comedies with his brother, Ira. • Traveled to Europe, having his music performed in Carnegie Hall • 1937 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song

6. Compositions

7. History of Music • I Got Rhythm http://youtu.be/i-2Dg6KJAkQ goodmanmusica

8. Listening guideI Got Rhythm • 1:20 Clarinet starts with small variation • 1:27 Piano chimes in with a different variation • 1:33 Followed by the rest of the band playing the variation • They only play the upward rift of syncopation. • 1:43 Then they fall down the rift. • 1:54 starts into the original melody. • 2:28 Trumpets take over main rift. • 2:34 a long sustain note from the trumpets as the rhythm is changed once again. The piano is also doing a downward scale rift; as the band starts into an upward riff. • 2:47 the original syncopated theme comes back. While the back ground is the piano playing up and down scales that fit into the tonality of the song. • 3:23 in the middle of the melody you hear the piano jingle between a few notes and then continue with the scale riffs in the back ground as the band returns to the melody again. • 3:31 the band stops and you hear the piano start a riff up the left hand and a few minutes later start a rift down the right hand simultaneously ending in the band taking over again. • 3:38 you hear the strings take over and bridge the song into the next section. • 3:44 you hear the brass play a new variation that is slowly passed to the woodwinds at the piano still plays the syncopated rhythm in the background. This is also slowed down to half the speed it was before. • 4:28 the piano starts the original melody (theme) again at the half speed rhythm; with a beautiful swiftly ascending scale and trill followed by a descending scale. • 4:50 the low bass instruments take over the melody and then the piano and while the piano has the melody it adds in the first variation we heard again. • 5:06 the piano continues the variation as the band plays the main melody in the background; switching back and forth between the two. • 5:29 the strings take over the melody, ending in a bridge into the next section. • 5:46 the brass play the upward rift of the rhythm and hold for a beat then start the same upward rift over this time climbing the scale 6 beats longer and holding the last note. • 6:01 starts into a sweet lullaby variation by the strings. • 6:10 the clarinet comes in playing another variation of the theme. • 6:23 the piano takes over the variation that the clarinet has just played. • 6:33 the piano starts an arch of scales both up and down in a new rhythmic pattern. This is an example of the variation of the Chinese flutes that Gershwin describes in the beginning. • 6:50 the piano trills for eight seconds as the trumpets fanfare in to the background and the tuba plays a small variation. The piano and tuba then play and repeat each other for four measures. • 7:12 the piano then takes over the original theme again with a small bridge and continuing on again. • 8:10 it changes keys giving it more of an ominous feel. • 8:16 the brass changes it back to the original key and plays a new variation to finish out the song.

9. History of music They Can’t Take That Away From Me http://youtu.be/7vT8Yky3f0w tuengsak

10. Listening GuideThey Can’t Take That Away From Me • 0:00 In the back ground you have a long held note while the brass play melody that repeats twice. • 0:08 a break and the saxophone line do a bridge into the main melody of the song. This is the start of the AABA set up that the rest of the song presents. This would be an A section. • 0:10 The piano introducing the main melody, with the rest of the band filling in during the long held notes. This is a repeat of the A section. • 0:45 the start of a variation on the melody. B section. • 1:00 the return of the original melody by the brass with the strings playing filling it gaps with an arch of four notes. A section. • 1:18 the piano takes over in a small variation of the melody. • 1:24 a small brass fanfare answered by the woodwinds and strings repeated twice. • 1:34 vocalist enters with sing the main melody along with the strings as the rest of the band plays filler as before. This is the A section replaying but this time with vocals. • 1:52 repeat of Section A. • 2:10 Section B • 2:25 Section A • 2:45 slows down and comes to a slow conclusion.

11. Bibliography • Rosenberg, D. (1991). Fascinating rhythm the collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. • Jablonski, E. (1987). Gershwin. New York: Doubleday. • http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/gershwin/earlyyears.php • http://gershwin.com/about/george-gershwin • Gershwin, George (1934) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-2Dg6KJAkQ&feature=related • Gershwin, George (nd) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vT8Yky3f0w