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George Gershwin

Rhapsody in Blue
Alphonce Mungunda
11.9.2015
Music 1010-406

Early Life
Gershwin was born at the
end of the 19th century, in
1898, in Brooklyn, NY. He
was the son of Russian
Jewish instruments. No one
else in his family played
music, but his parents
bought a piano so that
young Georges older
brother, Ira, could learn to
play music. However,
George took it upon himself
to learn how to play the
piano, even at a young age.

Early Life, Cont.


About the young George Gershwin,
his piano teacher said, I have a new
pupil who will make his mark if
anybody will. The boy is a genius
This teacher turned out to be more
right than he knew. George Gershwin
would one day be very well known as
a jazz performer and composer.

The Beginnings of a Career


Gershwin dropped out
of school to pursue
playing the piano full
time. This started
without much fame or
recognition. At the age
of 15 he was making
money by making
player piano rolls for a
company that
produced the
products.

The Plugger
Gershwin also worked as
something called a plugger. This
was not a glorious job. In those
days, a songs popularity was not
determined by how many records
were sold or how many digital files
were downloaded like songs are
today. Instead, one of the main
ways that people consumed music
was to buy sheet music and play
songs in their homes. A pluggers
job was to sit at the store and play
the sheet music for people when
they came in, trying to convince
them to buy it. Gershwin did this
for three years before moving on
to other, better things.

First Successes
In 1916, when he was
just 18 years old, he had
a song published for the
first time. This song was
called, When You Want
Em, You Cant Get Em
(When You Got Em, You
Dont Want Em). His
talent was being
discovered and this led
to the jobs that would
bring him to fame.

Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin wrote the piece
Rhapsody in Blue with the
intention of bringing
respectability into jazz
music, which much of the
white public of the United
States still viewed as
disparagingly as degrading,
pathological, nerve-irritating,
sex-exciting music. (
http://www.britannica.com/b
iography/George-Gershwin
). To accomplish this goal, he
combined elements of Jazz
with compositional styles of
classical music.

Rhapsody in Blue, Cont.


He had been asked to write a piece for this
performance by the bandleader Paul Whiteman,
who had set up this show, and he agreed. However,
the legend about this performance is that Gershwin
forgot that he was supposed to compose something
until he saw an advertisement for the performance
in the newspaper. Under stress, he composed
Rhapsody in Blue in a mere three weeks. Because
it was still relatively unwritten, Gershwin
improvised much of the piano solo, and had to nod
to the conductor so that the conductor could cue
the orchestra at particular times.

Rhapsody in Blue, Cont.


Despite this potentially panicinducing performance, the piece
was a hit. It combined blue
notes, syncopation, and
unorthodox instrument effects
into the formality of a symphonic
context. The song, in many
ways, is responsible for the
gentrification of jazz at the time
and provided accessibility of the
musical form to white audiences
that had otherwise been turned
off by it. There is, however, no
denying that the piece is
beautiful and was revolutionary
in the history of American music.

Rhapsody in Blue, Cont.


There have been many performances
of Rhapsody in Blue. You can Leonard
Bernstein and the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra (1976)
perform the piece here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
cH2PH0auTUU
.

Rhapsody in Blue Listening


Guide
00:00 Starting from the beginning, the exposition of the piece is established. A clarinet starts an
unusual sound which slides upward in tone, playing notes in an ascending order. This sound leads
to the main theme of Rhapsody in Blue.
00:07 The music descends along a blues scale.
00:29 the closing idea of the theme uses repeated notes to make its statement, this is not strictly
on a blues scale but does use blue notes to create a jazzy and bluesy feeling within the context of
the orchestra.
00:34 The full orchestra comes in followed by the piano which is playing a solo and again uses a
blue note.
3:02 The trumpets and trombones together combine to crescendo and raise the energy of the
piece.
3:31 The bluesyness of the introduction sort of gives way to a more latin sounding jazz sound.
4:49 This turns back into a full blues march. A banjo plays on this, harkening the sound back to
the traditional origins of New Orleans jazz. The march speeds up to sound like a train.
7:35 The Piano plays some solo work and the woodwinds solo as well.
8:41 Hints of the Latin sound come back.
10:35 A transition ushers in a new theme, changing the idea of the piece a little bit, but
bumping up the energy levels.
12:36 The piano comes back in a takes over.
13:25 A trumpet comes in a plays a solo.
15:18 The music reaches its climax and concludes quickly.

After Rhapsody in Blue


After this, he wrote many concertos and
symphonic arrangements. His work had
become more sophisticated than it was when
he was working as a mere plugger and writing
pop songs. He has been referred to as the
great American composer. However, some
music critics still find the structure of his work
to be nave, and not up to the standards of
classical compositions and symphonies.
However, the popularity of his work speaks for
itself. Many people love him still to this day.

Late in life
Toward the beginning of 1937,
George Gershwin started having
serious health problems. He got
bad headaches and started
noticing strange smells. It was
determined that he had a brain
tumor. When he was 38, he went
in for surgery to have the tumor
removed and he died on the
operating table (
http://www.biography.com/peopl
e/george-gershwin-9309643#unti
mely-death
). Although his career was cut
short, he produced a high
number of great songs and
beautiful music and will always
be revered as a great musician
and composer.

Sources
http://www.britannica.com/biograph
y/George-Gershwin
http://www.biography.com/people/ge
orge-gershwin-9309643#untimely-dea
th

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