George Gershwin Research Paper

George Gershwin was an American composer and song writer of the early 19th hundreds. He was born on sept 26 1898 in Brooklyn New York to parents of Russian descent and would eventually become a composer of jazz, opera, and popular songs for the stage and screen. Gershwin began playing piano professionally in several New York night clubs after he dropped out of school at the age of 15. He began his career as a “song plugger”. A “song plugger” was a vocalist or a piano player who was employed in the early 20th century to promote and help sell new sheet music. This is how “hits” were advertised before quality recording were available.
His first published song was recorded in 1916; it was titled, “when you want ‘em, you can’t get ‘em; when you have ‘em, you don’t want ‘em”. To earn extra cash he also worked as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway singers. Later in his life he began studying with Charles Hambitzer a famous piano teacher. His career only lasted 23 years but in that time Gershwin would continuously seek to expand his education and knowledge. He studied under many different teachers, including
The song “Swanee” wrote in 1918, was highly successful and earned him the title of a “Tin Pan Alley composer”. Unlike most of his later pieces written for television and stage which were characterized by strong orchestral backdrops with swooning brass, swanee was lively and upbeat. It has a ragtime feel punctuated by a bouncing bass line and lively melody. It is a fast pace piano piece. While listening to the piece you will hear repetitive octaves, as well as an ascending and descending melody line. The piece musically has both verse and chorus. This piece of work by Gershwin won over Americas hearts in 1920 and became number one on the charts for 9 out of the 18 weeks it was charted. This was the biggest selling song of his