1. 1.Set up a new sheet of paper 2.At the top, make the title The Gershwin’s 3.Think about characteristics to this musical genre: Jazz Bell Work

2. Welcome to Jazz

3. Students will take notes on the Biography of the Gershwin’s. Students will understand his upbringing and how it impacted his music writing. Students will understand his most famous work and how it fits in among the other musicals observed to date. Students will understand how he introduced Jazz into the music world Objectives

4. George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, NY. George was the 2 nd of 4 children and began loving music after attending a friends violin recital at age 10. His parents were paying for his older brother to play piano, but later transferred the funds to George, who picked up the piano very easily George Gershwin-The Early Years

5. George was very serious about his schooling, and therefore dropped out of school when he was 16 years old and began working in the part of NYC that all musicians worked in at the time, TIN PAN ALLEY. George began his career here as a “song plugger”, which meant he wrote a lot of jingles. His first big hit was called “When you want ‘em, you can’t get ‘em; When you’ve got ‘em, you don’t want ‘em”. This was for a pesticide company. The Early Years Continued

6. In 1924, we see the Gershwin brother’s, Ira and George, working together for the first time. They wrote a Musical Comedy together called “Lady Be Good” This was a huge success on more levels than one. It proved that the Gershwin brother’s were very talented when they worked together. It also proved that a lot of the Gershwin’s songs could be taken out of their shows and recorded to make even more money. This began a career of writing musicals together that still are around today: “Oh Kay!” (1926), and “Girl Crazy” (1930)….we will come back to this one. The Gershwin Brothers Work Together

7. George Gershwin had proven to the nation that he was an accomplished jazz musician, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted to be known as the best musician of his time, so he and Ira went to work on tackling every aspect of music besides the stage With this, in 1924, Gershwin wrote his first of two symphonies, “Rhapsody in Blue”: Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEOo28lsbc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEOo28lsbc George Gershwin the “True Musician”

8. Once George proved himself on the symphonic stage, he began undertaking what he thought was his masterpiece. George and Ira began work on an opera (which was a style of music that was extremely popular at the time). It was completed in 1935 and entitled “Porgy and Bess” True Musician Continued

9. Porgy and Bess is a Folk Opera and is now regarded as the most important American opera of the 20 th century. However, at the time it was released, it was not widely accepted, mainly because the cast is all black. The story takes place in Charlestown, S.C. in a neighborhood called “Catfish Row” at the end of the Civil War. The story talks about African Americans life and transition to “Freed Living” after the Civil War. Because of the racial issues going on in the country at the time the opera was released, it was not widely accepted. Porgy and Bess

10. The Gershwin’s were just crushed that their masterpiece was not accepted (even though in 1990, it was revived and now is regarded as a brilliant work). The two moved out to Hollywood to tackle the silver screen George began writing songs for several movies until he began to feel very tired all of the time with blinding headaches He was diagnosed with exhaustion at first, until they did a “brain scan” and found a tumor in his brain. Unfortunately, since surgeries were not as advanced, the brain tumor ended up killing George in 1937 at age 38 After That…..

11. George Gershwin’s major impact was introducing the style of Jazz music to a large audience. Because of the racial issues surrounding the country at the time, it was very hard for African American jazz musicians to get their music heard, even though Jazz is an African American invention. George used himself as a billboard to advertise this intricate music style AND to direct people to the jazz musicians he respected and admired. Listen to examples: Impact

12. Other famous Gershwin works include: Rhapsody in Blue An American in Paris Lady, Be Good Oh, Kay! Girl Crazy….Too Many Girls….Crazy for You My One and Only Porgy and Bess Gershwin’s Famous Works

13. The Gershwin’s

14. Thank you so much for all of your work and I’ll see you tomorrow! Dismissal