George Gershwin Analysis

According to Biography.com, George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 26, 1898. He was born the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. His natural ability lead him to professionally play the piano at age 15 which lead to him dropping out of school. He was known as one of the most meaningful American composers as he popular stage and screen numbers and classical compositions. Taking a look into his work throughout his lifetime will allow one to understand his fame and his style of music. He began his music career started on Tin Pin Alley, New York Times American song-publishing industry, as a song plugger. On getinmedia.com, the author states, “The song plugger is the person behind the scenes pitching a songwriter’s composition

Listening to this piece on Youtube reveals the change in his music from his first piece to this one. The piece, “Swanee,” is more choppy and rough, rather than elegant and smooth. Gershwin then wrote a twenty-three minute long opera in five days that incorporated typical musical icons, but also foreshadowed change that would occur in the musical industry. This piece, even in English, is not a piece you would catch on anything nowadays, but it is a phenomenal piece of music.There are a mixture of keys and tones which pluck at different emotions at different times, which is similar to modern

The known pianist began incorporating new and different instruments in his works and having different motives for writing. The song, “Strike Up The Band,” would be correlated to modern day cupid shuffle. The simplicity of the music itself allowed the dance to made simple so that many could enjoy this form of entertainment. It was made for dancing, while “Let ‘em Eat Cake” was more of a marching song used for politics. After this, he began creating a new style, folk opera. He create his piece called “Porgy and Bess” that withheld very popular songs during this time. The song, “I love Porgy,” is more enjoyable than “Summertime” because he added a little bit of beat, rhythm, and more of a jazz feel to the background adding texture to the piece. After doing work on Broadway, the brother duo took on Hollywood.

Upon the arrival of Hollywood, they created a musical film, “Shall We Dance,” that included several new pieces of music. In this musical, Gershwin effectively uses the major and minor keys to display the perfect emotion in the scenes. The harmony in “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” as it is played in the major key creates a emotion of agreement. It is easier to listen to compared to “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” Through this song, you can feel the emotions of leaving each other. The suspense is built through perfectly picked rhythm and