1. Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin By: Mike McCann

2. George Gershwin Bio Born in 1898 as Jacob Gershvitz to Russian Immigrant Parents Not a real musical intuition until age 12 Dropped out of High School (1914) to join a Tin Pan Alley publishing firm Left job in 1917 to work as a rehearsal pianist Really saw first success with Swanee Died young in 1938 as a result of a brain tumor

3. Gershwin’s Musical Accomplishments Swanee (1919) Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra (1925) An American in Paris (1928) Porgy and Bess (1935)

4. Rhapsody in Blue Came to be rather randomly Paul Whiteman and Aeolian Hall Ferde Grofe and Ross Gorman Last second finish

5. Musical Elements Instrumentation Depending on the performance: Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone(s), Violin, French Horn, Trumpet, Tuba, and others Main instruments are clarinet and piano Harmonic Shifts and Changes in rhythm

6. Musical Elements (cont.) Forceful playing Improvisation Joy of Playing

7. Listening Almost irregular sections A-establishes the theme of the piece Bridge from intro to theme…short and cheerful B-theme from introduction with clarinets backing C-Jazz theme, dynamic shifts…gives piece a lot of excitement B-piano enters on a much lower note

8. Listening (cont.) A-piano provides the “bluesy” theme C-piano shifts to provide jazz theme from earlier D-warm version of the theme Piano then plays repeated notes, as they get faster with each note D-main orchestra rejoins piano following solo

9. Listening (cont.) A-piano plays part A in what almost seems like an angry tone B-played again with repeated notes A-conclusion that incorporates whole orchestra with piano to theme exciting ending

10. Pop Culture New York City Brian Wilson Woody Allen Fantasia Olympics

11. Critics Leonard Bernstein: “not a composition at all, but a string of terrific tunes, stuck together with a thin paste of flour and water” Arthur Schwartz: “more intuition than tuition” Originality American?