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- After dropping out of school at age 15, Gershwin earned an income by making piano rolls for player pianos and by playing in New York nightclubs. His most important job in this period was his stint as a song plugger (probably the youngest in Tin Pan Alley), demonstrating sheet music for the Jerome Remick music-publishing company.
www.britannica.com/biography/George-Gershwin
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Oct 21, 2024 · In an era when sheet-music sales determined the popularity of a song, song pluggers such as Gershwin worked long hours pounding out tunes on the piano for potential customers.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Humble origins. George Gershwin was born in New York City into a Russian Jewish immigrant family. As a boy, George frequented the local Yiddish theatres, ran errands for them and appeared onstage as an extra.
- 'The boy is a genius' The acclaimed piano teacher Charles Hambitzer took Gershwin on at the age of 14 and immediately realized the level of talent he had on his hands. ‘
- Tin Pan Alley. Gershwin began his career as a song plugger in New York’s Tin Pan Alley. To earn extra, he also worked as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway singers.
- Early works for the stage. In his 20s, Gershwin started composing Broadway musical theatre works with his brother Ira writing the lyrics. They even created an experimental one-act jazz opera Blue Monday, set in Harlem – a pre-cursor to Porgy and Bess.
In 1934, in an effort to earn money to finance his planned folk opera, Gershwin hosted his own radio program titled Music by Gershwin. The show was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from February to May and again in September through the final show on December 23, 1934.
In this frequently reprinted anecdote, the young American met Stravinsky (or Ravel in some tellings) and asked for lessons. The European master replied by asking Gershwin how much money he made and, after Gershwin named an astronomical sum, quipped: “Then I should take lessons from you!”
- George Gershwin Was Not His Given Name. Indeed, the name George Gershwin is known worldwide — it’s synonymous with great American music. However, it may surprise some to know that this was not his birth name.
- He Had Humble Origins. Gershwin was the second of four children in a working-class family of Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents were Morris and Rose, and his siblings were Ira, Arthur, and the young sister, Frances.
- He Had No Formal Training. George Gershwin is known as one of the greatest composers in American history. That’s why it may come as a surprise to many that he had no formal training in music theory or composition.
- Gershwin Was A Piano Prodigy. As we mentioned above, when George Gershwin was still a child, his parents bought his brother a piano. Yet it was George who took to the instrument like a moth to a flame.
Oct 5, 2020 · Gershwin was raised in the world of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, where success was defined by the for-profit strategies of hit songs. Ambitious in his artistic dreams and in his quest for financial reward, Gershwin set out to bring the “hit song” into the concert hall.
In 1916, Gershwin composed his first published song “When You Want 'Em You Can't Get 'Em” along with his first solo piano composition “Rialto Ripples” where his song earned him a $5. He attracted Broadway composers and the composer “Sigmund Romberg” included one of Gershwin’s songs in his production “ The Passing Show of 1916”.
