January, 2004
FORD'S THEATRE
A Note to Teachers
Music
historian and professor David Schiff has written
Perhaps the best
way to understand Gershwin is to look at the many ways he has been misunderstood
by critics,
performers,
and other composers. We might categorize these misreadings as those that
view Gershwin as the noble savage, a natural but untrained talent; those
that say he was great but not really a classical composer; and those that
insist on performing him as if he were a classical composer. Wrong, all
wrong.
So how then, should
we view George Gershwin and the legacy he left? And, if all of the common
categories are wrong, who then, is right? Perhaps the answer eludes so
many of us because we live in a world too quick to label, too eager to
classify, name, and sort. By organizing people, objects and, yes, even,
art we make the world more manageable, more ordered. But Gershwin’s
appeal continues to attract because of the myriad ways in which he resisted—and
continues to resist—easy classification. From his earliest days
as a music student he challenged himself to reach beyond existing standards.
His work drew from African American roots, Stravinsky, Debussy, Tchaikovsky,
and even Jewish chant. He crossed cultural boundaries and made musical
strides. He bridged continents with his work and proved that music is,
indeed, healing, joyful, and a language that transcends borders. He brought
the genius of a marginalized people into popular consciousness and helped
the
masses find their Rhythm. He gave us Summertime in the winter, took America
to Paris, and Watched Over Us as we
got there.
But, his critical reputation has suffered among American critics trying
to find and nurture a “serious” native style. Even now, his
works usually appear on Pops programs, rather than during the regular
season, and it has long been the fashion for critics to patronize the
music. In George Gershwin Alone you will have the opportunity
to experience not only his music, but Gershwin the man. You will view
him through his own images, songs and words in the body and voice of Hershey
Felder, a man who has taken tremendous care to present Gershwin as Gershwin
himself would have wanted.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR/PERFORMER
Steinway
concert artist, composer, and actor Hershey Felder spent five years researching
George Gershwin’s life and works. He spoke with family members,
biographers and Gershwin intimates and secured the rights from the late
composer’s estate to develop a solo performance. Felder used Gershwin’s
personal correspondences, original manuscripts, and personal belongings
to construct a one-man show in which he brings George Gershwin to life.
Audiences will experience with the actor Gershwin’s childhood, parents,
and siblings, as well as his musical triumphs and defeats. Not only is
Felder’s appearance strikingly similar to Gershwin’s, but
Felder drew on old radio archives to recreate Gershwin’s voice.
He also used songs, letters, and conversations to recreate the life and
times of the great American composer.
Hershey Felder is a native of Montreal, Quebec and has appeared as an
actor on Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally in the United States and
Canada. His work as a playwright and composer has been showcased in the
United States, Canada, Israel, Great Britain, and several other European
countries. Felder is married to Canada’s former Prime Minister,
Kim Campbell.
Felder’s one-man show, George Gershwin Alone, has enjoyed
successful, extended runs on Broadway, in Los Angeles, and throughout
United States. The show tells the story of George Gershwin’s rise
from a street kid in downtown Manhattan to a “song-plugger”
on Tin Pan Alley to the great composer of Broadway musicals to the composer
of works for Carnegie Hall. When George Gershwin died suddenly at the
age of 38, his great American opera, Porgy and Bess, was a critical
and financial failure. At the end of George Gershwin Alone there
is only one man in the room who doesn’t know how famous and beloved
his work has become. That man is George Gershwin.
GEORGE GERSHWIN: A BIOGRAPHY
Tin
Pan Alley
In the 1910’s and 1920’s, one would go to 28th Street in Manhattan
between Broadway and 6th Avenue to find new music and have it played.
Fledgling pop music publishers had offices there and aspiring composers
and lyricists were hired on a permanent basis to create popular songs.
The publishers used extensive promotion campaigns to market these songs
to the general public in sheet music form with attractive covers. The
market was surveyed to determine what style of song was selling best and
then the composers were directed to compose in that style. Once written,
a song was actually tested with both performers and listeners to determine
which would be published and which would go to the trash bin. Pianists
and singers sat in cubicles while customers put sheet music in front of
them. The “song pluggers” were performers who worked in the
music shops playing the latest releases, akin to playing new CD releases
in a record store today. If you walked by on a warm summer day, all the
windows would be open and the mixture of sounds from different pianos
in the street sounded like clanging on tin pans, thus the name Tin Pan
Alley.
By 1916 George was a “song plugger” for the Jerome Remick
Company and was exposed to thousands of songs. His work on the “Alley”
gave him a better idea of which songs had a successful quality and, two
years after he started work for Jerome Remick, George had his first song,
"When You Want ‘Em You Can’t Get ‘Em,” published.
The song was not a hit, but it did attract the attention of some major
Broadway composers.
Soon after “When You Want ‘Em You Can’t Get ‘Em,”
George wrote his first big hit. His song “Swanee” appeared
in the Broadway musical Sinbad and was delivered by Al Jolson, a vastly
popular entertainer. The song became an instant hit and immediately propelled
him into popular consciousness. This success paved the way for the success
of his first full musical score, La, La Lucille.
Rhapsody
in Blue (1924)
From 1920-1924, George Gershwin supplied producer George White with several
songs for use in the popular George White Scandals series. He
composed Blue Monday Blues, a brief jazz operetta as a part of
one of White’s Scandals. Paul Whiteman, one of the premier
bandleaders of the early 1920’s, liked the number and asked Gershwin
to write a symphonic jazz piece as part of a concert called “An
Experiment in Modern Music” at Aeolian Hall. Whiteman assembled
a group of judges made up of serious classical musicians to determine
exactly what “American Music” was. Gershwin blithely agreed,
but soon forgot about the promise. Three weeks before the composition
was to premier, George and brother Ira were riding a train to Boston for
the opening of a new show. Ira noticed an advertisement which announced
the premiere of an exciting new composition by George Gershwin. Gershwin
composed “Rhapsody in Blue” in less than three weeks and so
defined his career and elevated himself to a new level of greatness. He
would later point to the rhythm and rattle of the Boston train he was
on as the source of his rhythmic ideas.
On February 12, at the appointed time, which was toward the end of the
program, he
delivered his first large-scale, “serious” work to an audience
that included luminaries like Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jascha Heifetz, and
Efrem Zimbalist, Sr.. Whiteman’s chief arranger, Ferde Grofé
had scored Rhapsody in Blue, or what there was of it, in the
ten days prior to the concert. Gershwin, who was to play the premiere
performance, had left huge chunks of the solo piano part blank, with the
instruction that he would nod to conductor Whiteman when it came time
to bring in the orchestra. Gershwin improvised or reconstructed from memory
the solo piano passages, committing them to paper only after the premiere,
when he had a little more time. Rhapsody was a huge success and it indeed
helped define “American Music” for that day and decades to
follow. It was daring and energetic and, like America, it was a veritable
“melting pot” of the influences that shaped Gershwin’s
musical language: Scott Joplin’s tuneful piano rags, the rhythmic
jazz of Harlem’s clubs, the folk music of the Yiddish theater, and
the new post-Romantic music of Ravel, Schoenberg and Stravinsky. It was
a stunning performance, with George Gershwin himself playing the piano
solo. Rhapsody was a great hit and earned the composer over $250,000.
The sum was a fortune in that decade but, despite Rhapsody’s
success with the public, critics argued fiercely over the piece’s
artistic merits and its place in “serious” music. Debates
like these would plague Gershwin and his supporters long after his death.
The
Broadway Years (1924-1929)
In the early 1920’s, George began writing songs with an unknown
lyricist named Arthur Francis. The unknown artist was actually George’s
older brother Ira with a pseudonym: Arthur was George’s younger
brother; Francis was George’s younger sister. Ira, already writing
lyrics for other composers, was wary of using his real name and profiting
off his brother’s earlier successes. Ira did not begin using his
own name in their collaborations until 1924.
The full scale collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin began in 1924
with the musical Lady Be Good!. The musical featured songs such
as “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Oh, Lady, Be Good,”
among others. After Lady Be Good, George and Ira teamed up to
create several more musicals including Tip-Toes, Oh Kay!, Strike Up
the Band, Funny Face, Girl Crazy, & Of Thee I Sing.
While his musicals were enjoying success on Broadway, Gershwin composed
several more pieces for piano and orchestra, as well as a piano solo.
These included Concerto in F (1925), Preludes for Piano
(1926), and An American in Paris (1928). An American in Paris
is a “tone poem” intended to transport the listener to the
streets of Paris in the 1920’s and paint a realistic portrait of
the “City of Lights.” A tone poem, or symphonic poem, is a
type of music probably started by Franz Liszt around 1850. Tone poems
are one-movement pieces played by an orchestra and based on a non-musical
entity, such as a place, a person, or a picture or painting. Tone poems
are also programmatic. Programmatic music has roots in the real world
and is generally written to sound like elements of the real world. For
example, the score of An American in Paris calls for four car
horns to reflect the noisy traffic of the French capital. An American
in Paris is the second most popular work for orchestra (behind Rhapsody
in Blue) written by Gershwin.
In fact, writer Alan Jay Lerner and director Vincente Minnelli based the
1951 movie on Gershwin’s piece. The film, starring Gene Kelly and
Leslie Caron, tells the story of Jerry Mulligan, a former GI who decides
to remain in Paris following his discharge after World War II. Jerry,
the struggling American painter is “discovered” by an influential
heiress (Nina Foch) with a romantic interest in him. Jerry in turn falls
for Lise, another young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer.
Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, a would-be concert
pianist, while romantic complications abound and Nina tries to buy Jerry’s
love, along with his paintings.
Although Gershwin had already moved to Hollywood, Of Thee I Sing
was becoming one of his most successful musicals on Broadway. The year
was 1931. The United States was embroiled in its greatest economic crisis
in history, the Great Depression. The play is a biting political satire
and its targets are varied and skillfully attacked. It mocks ineffective
politicians and their empty campaign slogans, and, most scathingly, it
points the finger at the American populace too willing to accept such
politicians and even elect them to office. Of Thee I Sing was
one of the first dramatically integrated musicals and the longest running
musical of its decade. Many critics have said that Ira’s lyrics
were the finest of his career. Moreover, George’s score brilliantly
combined a popular musical idiom with recitative and the patter song.
This musical was particularly significant to the Gershwin brothers because,
when the Pulitzer Prize committee chose Of Thee I Sing as the
greatest American play of 1931, the music was considered to be of secondary
value. The prize did not go to George at all. Rather, it was split between
Ira, and librettist/writers Kaufman and Ryskind alone.
The
Hollywood Years (1930-1937)
George and Ira composed numerous scores and songs for the film world.
Unfortunately, much of George’s success in motion pictures did not
happen until after his death, when writers and directors busied themselves
with setting stories to his existing music. George’s first work
in Hollywood, however, was for the film The King of Jazz. The
film starred Bing Crosby and featured Rhapsody in Blue. Later,
Girl Crazy was made into a film that resurrected the popularity
of such songs as “Bidin’ My Time” and “But Not
for Me.”
In Hollywood, Gershwin also had an opportunity to work again with childhood
friend and collaborator, Fred Astaire. Fred and his sister Adele had their
first Broadway success in 1924 with Gershwin’s musical Lady,
Be Good. In Hollywood, Astaire was already working with famed partner
Ginger Rogers, and the pair was featured in the Gershwin brothers’
1937 film, Shall We Dance. The movie musical is, perhaps, best
known for Astaire’s rendition of “They Can’t Take That
Away From Me” and the number “Let’s Call the Whole Thing
Off” in which Astaire and Rogers don roller skates in a competitive
and playful duet. Damsel in Distress was also released in 1937,
and in this Gershwin brothers’ motion picture Astaire falls for
an upper-class British girl, whose family wants her to have nothing to
do with him.
George also continued to write concert music while in Hollywood. Although
they received little acclaim at the time, The Second Rhapsody
and the Cuban Overture premiered respectively in 1931 and 1932.
Gershwin’s greatest disappointment, however, was his “American
Opera,” Porgy and Bess, which opened and closed to dismal
audiences in 1935.
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess tells the story of a crippled beggar who falls
in love with the most beautiful woman in town. In Catfish Row, where the
opera is set, two men, Crown and Robbins, clash during a crap game. Crown
kills Robbins and flees, leaving his girlfriend Bess prey to Sportin’
Life, a drug pusher, who tries to convince Bess to run away with him to
New York. Alone and shunned by all, Bess finds solace in the arms of Porgy,
a kind handicapped man. Bess attends a picnic on Kittiwah Island without
Porgy, and Crown, who has been hiding on the island, approaches Bess and
urges her to stay with him. A week later, Bess returns to Porgy, sick
and terrified that Crown will come after her. Porgy forgives Bess and
promises his protection. Injured after a storm at sea, Crown returns for
Bess, but Porgy kills him. The police take Porgy away to jail, leaving
Bess alone. Sportin’ Life finally convinces Bess to run away with
him to New York. Porgy is released for lack of evidence and returns home.
He calls for Bess, in vain. When neighbors report that Bess has gone to
New York with Sportin’ Life, Porgy sets off for New York to look
for her.
George’s interest in the story of Porgy and Bess began
in 1926 when he read the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, a native of Charleston,
South Carolina. Gershwin immediately wrote to the author suggesting that
they collaborate on a folk opera based on the novel. Heyward was enthusiastic,
but it was 1934 before Gershwin’s composing and performing schedules
permitted him to begin actual work on the project. Finally, after years
of correspondence, George and Ira Gershwin joined DuBose Heyward in Charleston
to write the opera which had been germinating in George’s imagination
for several years.
They settled for the summer at Folly Beach, located on a barrier island
about ten miles from Charleston, where they could observe the Gullahs—an
isolated group living on adjacent James Island who became the prototypes
of the Catfish Row residents. George attended churches and partook in
“Shouting,” or a musical cacophony of prayer in which members
of a church sing or shout hymns in contrary rhythms and melodies. These
sounds and music were later showcased in Porgy and Bess. DuBose Heyward
wrote the libretto, and Ira Gershwin and Heyward wrote the lyrics. (Heyward’s
contributions included the lyrics to “Summertime” and “My
Man’s Gone Now.”) By mid-August the Gershwins left Charleston,
and George applied himself to finishing the recitatives and orchestrating
the opera. When Porgy and Bess was finally completed in July,
1935, the 700 pages of music represented George Gershwin’s most
ambitious creation and his favorite composition. According to David Ewen,
Gershwin’s first biographer, he “never quite ceased to wonder
at the miracle that he had been its composer. He never stopped loving
each and every bar, never wavered in the conviction that he had produced
a work of art.”
Porgy and Bess tried out a run in Boston, then opened in New
York on October 10, 1935. Although the word “opera” was carefully
avoided, the show only lasted for a disappointing run of 124 performances.
Ultimately, Porgy and Bess lost its entire investment. One critic,
who was also a composer, wrote in the Herald Tribune that “George
Gershwin [had] not learned the business of being a serious composer, which
one had always assumed to be the business he wanted to learn.” He
continued, “George Gershwin doesn’t even know what an opera
is.”
Years later, however, the show’s backers got their money back, and
more. Some of the songs had achieved popularity before Gershwin’s
death in 1937, but the work earned real approval and favor only after
the 1940 Theater Guild presentation of a slightly revised version. The
opera itself became immensely popular after Gershwin’s death, especially
with European audiences, who still view the work as the greatest American
opera. Porgy and Bess received its first uncut American production
in Houston in the 1970’s to great acclaim, and it was finally produced
at the Met some 50 years after the first production. Today, Porgy
and Bess survives as the most successful opera ever written by an
American composer.
George
Gershwin Today (1937-Present)
During his lifetime, George Gershwin was famous worldwide for his work,
though the respect of serious composers and music critics of his day eluded
him. Sadly, George Gershwin, like so many great artists, did not live
to see his profound impact on the music world and society at large. Gershwin
suffered from headaches all his life, but when he began to forget segments
of his own compositions, friends and family urged him to see a doctor.
He was diagnosed with a brain tumor and doctors who specialized in cancer
surgery were flown to California to perform the potentially life-saving
operation. Gershwin did not survive the operation and died in Hollywood
on July 11, 1937. He left behind over 1000 songs for the theatre and motion
pictures as part of his more than forty musical comedy scores, as well
as a host of concert selections.
Today one can find Gershwin tunes in a variety of mainstream media. Commercials
feature Gershwin’s music regularly: United Airlines featured Rhapsody
in Blue, H&R Block used “Someone to Watch Over Me,”
and Visa exploited the catchy, “I Got Rhythm.” Gershwin’s
work endures in the film world too: A student in Mr. Holland’s
Opus sings “Someone to Watch Over Me” as her mentor looks
on, and When Harry Met Sally features a Gershwin soundtrack including
“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “But Not For
Me” and “Our Love Is Here to Stay.”
Crazy for You
In 1992, the American Broadway musical brought Gershwin back as well with
the premiere of Crazy for You, an adaptation of George and Ira
Gershwin’s 1930 Broadway hit Girl Crazy. (Girl Crazy
was first made into a movie with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in 1943,
but the 1992 Broadway Tony Award-winner Crazy for You was loosely
based on the 1930 musical.) Crazy for You garnered the year’s
Tony Award for Best Musical and was directed by Mike Ockrent and choreographed
by Susan Stroman.
The project came to fruition after librettist Ken Ludwig, author of
Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo signed on. He read
the book for Girl Crazy and thought it was dated. In Crazy
for You he wanted to avoid the “skits and ... stereotypes”
present in the original. Nothing was done to Ira’s original lyrics,
but Ludwig did adapt the story. He kept the basic premise of an eastern
playboy turning up in a small western town, but in Girl Crazy,
the setting was Custerville, Arizona, and the playboy was Danny Churchill.
In Girl Crazy Danny was banished from New York by his father
to a family-owned ranch, where—it was hoped—Danny would mend
his ways and become a more responsible person. Danny becomes Bobby Child
in Crazy for You, a banker who goes west to Deadrock, Nevada,
to foreclose on a rundown theatre. There, Bobby, who is stage-struck,
falls in love with Polly Baker (Molly Gray, in the original). But if he
forecloses he will lose Polly, so he convinces her to put on a show that
will pay off the debt her father owes on the theatre. Eventually everything
is happily resolved, and Polly and Bobby are united, just as Danny and
Molly were in the original story.
The legendary Ethel Merman made her Broadway debut as Molly Gray in Gershwin’s
Girl Crazy. The pit orchestra that Gershwin conducted on opening
night boasted an all-star lineup that included Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller,
Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey, and Red Nichols. Later in the
run of Girl Crazy, Gershwin enjoyed sneaking into the pit during
Wednesday matinees and taking over the piano part of “I Got Rhythm.”
Merman recalled that she always knew when Gershwin was there. “I
didn’t even have to look. Because he had a certain touch that was
his alone. When I would look, I always saw a totally fulfilled man.”
History
of Jazz
Jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements
of Ragtime, marching band music, and traditional, 32-bar blues. What differentiated
Jazz from earlier styles was the widespread use of improvisation, often
by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western
musical traditions, in which the composer wrote a piece on paper and the
musicians then tried their best to play exactly what was in the score.
In a Jazz piece, the song is often just a starting point or frame of reference
for the musicians to improvise around.
The first Jazz was played by African Americans and Creole musicians in
New Orleans. In 1894, the racist segregation laws were in effect: upper
class Creoles and poor, uneducated American blacks were, by law, allowed
only to live on the West Side of New Orleans. The Creoles were originally
from the West Indies and lived under the Spanish and French rule in Louisiana.
They became free Americans as a part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
The Creoles spoke Spanish and French and possessed formal knowledge of
Western European music. They were often featured in performances at the
Opera House and chamber ensembles. The poor, American blacks, on the other
hand, played music based on simple melodies and complex cross-rhythms
mixed with verbal slurs, vibrato, syncopated rhythms, and “blues
notes.” Their songs were mostly spiritual or passed down from their
enslaved ancestors. Many of their songs were sung to pass times of hardship
and hard labor. Their music was characterized more by memorization and
improvisation, and not by formal training. Because the two groups, Creole
and American blacks, lived in such close proximity, they shared their
music. The two cultures and musical styles fused to form the roots of
Jazz.
Most of the first Jazz men could not make a living with their music and
were forced to work menial jobs to get by. The second wave of New Orleans
Jazz musicians like Jelly Roll Morton formed small bands that took the
music of the older men and increased the complexity and dynamic of their
music. The second wave also enjoyed greater commercial success than their
predecessors. The music of the second wave became known as “Hot
Jazz” because of the breakneck speeds and amazing improvised polyphony
that these bands produced. Jazz legends like Louis Armstrong also emerged
out of the second wave.
Listen to some recordings by the second wave of New Orleans Jazz musicians,
then listen to some of George Gershwin’s songs. Can you hear how
Gershwin was influenced by the New Orleans Jazz musicians? What elements
in the Gershwin piece and New Orleans Jazz piece are similar? What elements
are different? How does Gershwin use the conventions of Jazz music while
also creating his own unique style and flair? Gershwin is often referred
to as “the man who made a lady out of jazz.” What do you think
people mean by that?
High art vs. Popular art
Critics have debated how and where to classify Gershwin’s work since
it first came into public discourse. Many have argued that he did, indeed,
write “serious” music, worthy of being played in any concert
hall and on the same program as any classical composer. Others have condemned
his work as base and commercial. The need to categorize a given artist’s
work comes from an earlier debate about the place and definitions of “high”
and “low” art. “High” art is typically defined
as art of universal transcendence, having withstood the test of time and
representing the epitome of artistic achievement. Traditionally, high
art consists of the meticulous expression in fine materials of refined
or noble sentiment. Appreciation of high art is often viewed as dependent
upon such things as intelligence, social standing, educated taste, and
a willingness to be challenged. “Low” art, on the other hand,
implies shoddy manufacturing, inferior materials of superficial kitsch,
a catering to popular taste, unreflective acceptance of realism, and a
certain “couch potato” mentality. In recent times, the term
“low art” has been replaced by “popular art” or
“mass culture.”
Some people believe that Gershwin is impossible to classify because he
successfully blurred the differences between high and popular art. He
certainly had a foot in two camps: pop music and concert music. He innovated
in both, writing songs and Broadway musicals which defined the 1920’s
and ‘30’s, and forging paths which would be fully exploited
later in the Rodgers and Hammerstein “book” musicals of the
1940’s. For the concert hall, he invented a distinctive and immediately
identifiable idiom in Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto
in F (1925). Almost every one of his concert works has entered the
repertory, and, just as important, the American psyche. Unfortunately,
many artists, like Gershwin or even Shakespeare, who are considered “popular”
in their own eras are not recognized as “high artists” until
long after they have passed.
Contemporary
art, influenced strongly by the different branches of postmodern thought,
has posed even more of a problem for those who would make the distinction
between high and low art. For example, the song “O Superman”
by performance artist Laurie Anderson (American) reached the top ten of
pop charts in the U.S. and England, video and camera artist William Wegman
(American) has appeared on television’s The Tonight Show
to promote a book of photographs, and both have done segments on Saturday
Night Live. In spite of this, one must wonder if the distinction
still exists, albeit in a slightly different form. Our preconceptions
prevent us from believing that the same people who follow televised wrestling
matches and afternoon soap operas would also enthusiastically attend a
play by Shakespeare. And would the millions who read supermarket tabloids
or romance novels ever choose to read advanced art criticism? Do you agree
or disagree with the distinctions between high and low art? How does the
change in terminology from “low art” to “popular art”
or “mass culture” reflect the changing times? How would you
define high and low art? Do you believe that individuals who indulge in
mass culture can also have an appreciation for “high art”?
How did George Gershwin bridge the gap between high and popular art? Why
didn’t he receive the same respect in his own life that his work
has demanded after his death? What about his work do you perceive as “high
art?” What is the “popular” aspect?
For Discussion:
1. Review the section on Tin Pan Alley. The number of
copies of sheet music a musical number sold determined the number’s
popularity. All of a sudden it seemed that music was becoming an industry
more than an art. Once a song was published, “song pluggers”
were hired and performers were persuaded to play the new songs in their
acts to give the music exposure to the public. Although “Tin Pan
Alley” originally referred to a specific location in New York City,
in time it became the generic term for all publishers of popular American
sheet music regardless of their geographic location. What are some of
the ways in which art and music have continued to become more commercial
and industrial? Who are the modern-day “song-pluggers”? Discuss
the ways in which music and art are used to market products. How does
this commercialization of art effect how we, the public, perceive the
art? Do we perceive such music as art at all?
2. Review the section on Rhapsody in Blue, then
listen to a copy of the piece if it’s available. The clarinet glissando
that opens the work is one of the most famous moments in American music
history. However, it was not invented by Gershwin, who had written a seventeen
note scale figure in his score. The smear was contributed by Whiteman’s
clarinetist, Ross Gorman, as a joke on Gershwin during a particularly
long and grueling rehearsal session. Gershwin liked the effect so much
he decided to keep it, and now all published scores call for it, much
to the dismay of clarinetists the world over. This joke turned legend
is what some would refer to as a “happy accident,” or a chance
occurrence that leads to a positive outcome. What have been some “happy
accidents” in your life?
3. Study the time period in which Gershwin wrote. His
most productive decades included the “Roaring Twenties” and
the Great Depression era. Listen to some of Gershwin’s music and
decide whether you believe his music was a reflection of his generation
and era, or a response to it. How did George and Ira Gershwin’s
music and lyrics fit their time? How do you suppose George’s music
would have evolved during World War II? What would the brothers be writing
about if they were alive today?
4. Porgy and Bess is considered the greatest
American opera. In fact, Europeans recognized the value in this distinctively
American classic long before audiences here were able to. Listen to some
clips and think about what makes this opera so distinctly “American.”
What are some of the factors that influence your decision? Find some other
examples of American opera. Do they share the distinguishing factors you
found in Porgy and Bess? What makes each opera distinct?
Activities:
1. Review
the section on An American in Paris and tone poems. Choose an
everday occurrence, person, place, object or piece of art and make a tone
poem based on your choice. Try to use everyday sounds to create music.
Remember that tone poems are not based on “pure music,” or
musical notes, per se. Be creative in your choice of sounds and the ways
in which you employ them. Try, like Gershwin did with Paris, to accurately
reflect the mood and rhythm of your choice. Play your poem for the class.
2. Using the same requirements in tone poems, create
a visual “tone poem” that reflects a place, object, person
or picture that particularly interests you. Your project may take the
form of a collage, a painting, photograph, or 3-D scene created out of
models and objects. A good way to approach the 3-D scene is by using a
shoebox as the starting point for your diorama.
3. Review the section on Crazy for You. In the
1992 adaptation of Girl Crazy, librettist Ken Ludwig and director
Mike Ockrent added thirteen extra Gershwin songs to the seven numbers
retained from the original. Seven additional numbers came from Gershwin’s
other Broadway shows, five more wereborrowed from two Hollywood films
for which the Gershwins provided music and lyrics. The final addition,
“Naughty Baby” was written neither for the stage nor film.
The creative team used this hodgepodge of Gershwin music to write an updated
story that became the musical Crazy for You. Choose five or more
of your favorite songs and build a play or story based on the lyrics and
music in your songs. Or, choose a movie or play that already exists and
use your five songs as a soundtrack. What factors effect your choice of
songs? How do you have to adapt your play to make the songs and story
fit?
4. In his lifetime George Gershwin endured scathing remarks
from his critics and enjoyed tremendous praise from his supporters. This
debate over the quality, value and musical virtue of his works continues
to this day. While many of his critics’ remarks were hurtful at
the time, it can often broaden one’s perspective to explore both
sides of an argument. View a film or play and write two contrasting reviews
of the piece. In one review, document all of the negative aspects on which
a critic might focus. In the next review find the elements of the film
or play that were successful. Are these types of reviews effective? Which
of your reviews makes a stronger argument? Did you find ways to constructively
criticize the film or play? Do you feel a single review might have been
more complete if you had covered both positive and negative aspects of
a production? Why or why not? What else helps make a review useful and
effective?
5. Hershey Felder chose to write and perform his solo
performance piece on George Gershwin for a number of reasons. Some of
the simplest reasons were because Felder both resembles and admires George
Gershwin. Is there a person, famous or from your own life, you resemble
(physically or in other ways) and/or admire? If you could choose one person
on whom to write your one-person show, whom would it be and why?
Now write a short monologue from your new show and perform it for your
class.
6. Pretend you are a critic for your local paper. Briefly
recount the plot of George Gershwin Alone. Discuss the parts
of the production—including the writing, casting, acting, music,
costumes, and directing—that you particularly liked or did not like,
and explain why. How much did you “believe” that Hershey Felder
was George Gershwin? Would you recommend this production to others? Why
or why not?
7. In 1925, following the enormous success of Rhapsody
in Blue, Vanity Fair magazine asked famous people to write
their own epitaphs. George Gershwin wrote:
Here lies the body of George Gershwin. American Composer.
Composer?
American?
What do you think Gershwin meant by his epitaph? How do his words help
to show the Vanity Fair readers his sense of humor? Try to write
some witty epitaphs for other famous people. See if you can capture their
voice, personal accomplishments and professional triumphs (or failures!)
in just a few words. Share your epitaphs with the class.
8. Since
Gershwin’s death, many biographers have attempted to capture his
life and essence. Some, like Hershey Felder, have been rather original
in their attempts and methods. Share your own autobiography with your
class. Be sure to portray yourself exactly as you want others to perceive
you. How original can you be in the methods you choose to illustrate your
life? Do you use primarily written words to share your life with others?
Or do you use paintings? Music? Dance? Remember that the method you employ
to “write” your autobiography is as reflective of your personality
as the content itself.
9. In 1935, George was the host of a radio show called “Music by
Gershwin.” Radio was still very new, and Georgeneeded a way to make
money while composing Porgy and Bess. Before Ira died, he and
a Gershwin biographer found old acetate discs that contained recordings
of the radio shows. In one of the shows, George describes his working
relationship with his brother:
I would now like to tell you about my older brother Ira, with whom
I write my songs. The question that I am always asked is: What comes first?
The words or the music? Well, there is no rule, really, but I usually
compose the tune, and then play it for Ira. He’ll hum it all over
the place until he gets and idea for a lyric. Then, we’ll work out
the thing together. Whereas the music comes to me quite suddenly, Ira
is the thinker. He can spend many days laying about the house, talking
and singing to himself, but never writing a word. Then, he makes a few
notes on a piece of paper. He writes and crosses out over and over for
days on end, and just when another day threatens to end wordless, the
idea finally comes to him in the form of a lyric!
Ira and
George liked to tell the story of creating “dummy lyrics”
for different songs. In the early stages of writing the hit “I Got
Rhythm,” George had come up with a bit of a melody, but they weren’t
certain how to rhyme the verses. Here is the polished version of “I
Got Rhythm:”
I GOT RHYTHM
I GOT MUSIC
I GOT MY MAN
WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?
But what the Brothers Gershwin actually started out with just to find
the rhyming scheme was:
ROLY POLY
EATING SOLELY
RAVIOLI
BETTER WATCH YOUR DIET OR BUST!
LUNCH OR DINNER
YOU’RE A SINNER
PLEASE GET THINNER
LOSING ALL THAT FAT IS A MUST!
As you can see, the true lyrics progressed a long way from the dummy lyrics,
and the subject matter and rhyming pattern changed a great deal. But,
the brothers had a great deal of fun coming up with their initial rhyme
scheme, and that same playful spirit (with added sophistication) is reflected
in the melody and lyrics of the song itself.
Now choose your own famous song with a rhyming chorus, and write your
own set of dummy lyrics on any subject you choose!
10.
The following exercise was borrowed from a study guide by the Metro Theater
Circus. It is written in the form of instructions to the teacher or group
leader.
“I Got Rhythm” was one of Gershwin’s most famous and
popular tunes. The following exercise will help you find the rhythm in
your everyday life.
a.) Tell students to find materials in their classwork to play with rhythmically.
Math problems, spelling words, geography place names, a list of Presidents—the
possibilities are endless. See how many different rhythmic treatments
students can give to a single item. Structure the rhythmic play within
a simple 4-beat measure. Here are examples of several ways the spelling
word CARROT might be used:
b.) Have
small groups of students learn a different rhythm for the same word. Select
a student who is especially secure with the rhythm to serve as conductor
for his/her group. Serving as the conductor for the entire “orchestra,”
you begin the steady four-beat meter. One by one, on your cue, the individual
rhythm groups enter with their patterns. Make sure that each group has
an opportunity to feel the way their pattern fits into the 4/4 meter before
you introduce the more complicated material.
When the individual groups are quite secure with their own patterns, begin
building them together. Keep your 4/4 beat strong and clear. It may help
to beat it with a ruler, or point to the numbers on the board.
The result will be an intricate symphony of sound and rhythm. You can
find countless variations, using different qualities of sound (finger-tapping,
tongue-clicking, thigh-slapping, breath sounds).
You can use this same methodology for creating the tone poem suggested
above. Using your same 4/4 time, have each group make a different sound
such as city noises with cars honking and dogs barking; country noises;
specific school references and more.
RECOMMENDED
READING
*Much of the information contained in this study guide was derived from
the following sources.
Gershwin, A Biography
Edward Jablonski
The Gershwin Years
Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart
Lyrics on Several Occasions
Ira Gershwin, Gent.
The Gershwins
Robert Kimball & Alfred Simon
Designed by B. Feitler
George Gershwin
Edited and Designed by Merle Armitage
Gershwin Biography
Isaac Goldberg
Gershwin, His Life and Music
Charles Schwartz
The Memory of All That
Joan Peyser
George Gershwin
Rodney Greenberg
The Music of Gershwin
E. Gilbert
George Gershwin, His Life and Music
Earl Wood
Gershwin in His Time
Edited by Gregory Surriano
The Memories of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Porgy
Dubose Heyward
SUGGESTED RECORDINGS
1924 & 1927 A Rhapsody in Blue
Roxbury Recordings
Gershwin in His Time
Rare Recordings (including radio programs) 1931-1934
SUGGESTED
VIEWING
An American in Paris
Porgy and Bess (Glyndebourne)
A Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Shall We Dance
A Damsel in Distress
SUGGESTED
WEB SITES
www.gershwin.com
www.GershwinFan.com
www.GeorgeGershwinAlone.com
www.imdb.com
www.reel.com
www.redhotjazz.com
www.qlrs.com
www.pbs.org
www.parlorsongs.com
www.nycopera.com
www.musicandyou.com
www.musicalheaven.com
www.incompetech.com
www.harlem.org
www.filmsite.org
www.ffaire.com
www.classical.net
www.tonys.org