Icon in American Music

George Gershwin was not your traditional Julliard School of Music snob that grew up hearing music in the professional world his whole life and then because of his family’s money made it big time.  He came from a family of Russian immigrant Jews. 

He first displayed interest in music at the age of ten, when he heard a friend’s violin recital. George went home and on the family piano, purchased for the instruction of his older brother, began to play.  His instructors guided him to attend orchestral concerts. After attending he would go home and attempt to re-create the music he had just heard on the piano.  He studied classical composition technique and method with Rubin Goldmark, avant-garde composer theorist.

George got his start in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley earning $15 a week.  He published his first song, When you want ‘em you can’t get ‘em, When you’ve got ‘em, you don’t want ‘em at the age of 17. From there he went on to compose hit singles, one-act operas, and classic Broadway music that has become part of the American songbook.

George Gershwin has significantly contributed to the style and identity of American Jazz.  He has been considered one of the great names in American music.  The verity of this assertion is evidenced by the fact that even today youth around the country can recognize his work.  Gershwin’s signature has become part of the cultural consciousness in listeners, performers, and composers alike.

The song, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, from Broadway Musical Crazy for You, is characteristic of Gershwin’s style.  It provides a loose framework of basic chords within the harmonic structure of the song, leaving wide license for improvisation on the part of the singer and instrumentalist.  Such music paints a very soft picture that is both alluring and relaxing to the listener.  It plays on the deepest sentiments of American culture about romance, industry, and innovation.

I chose this artist because I find his music to be a great description of American identity.  He captures the feeling of both modernism and postmodernism in that his compositional style conforms to the conventions of academic and classic jazz while at the same time synthesizing the two styles to generate something entirely new, but familiar.  In my opinion Gershwin is the beginning of the uniquely American musical identity.

In trying to replicate his style and get a feel for the music I experienced two things.  The first was that the improvisatory methods that Gershwin intends in his music are very difficult to imitate.  Second was that the music felt very natural to me, almost like the rhythm was part of me, instead of something I had to learn. Further evidence of the place Gershwin holds in American cultural identiy.