How Did George Gershwin's Influence On American Culture

Throughout the years, America went through an immense transition of both music and culture. The musical revolutions during the twentieth century and earlier years left an enduring mark on the musical culture of the country, combining different rhythms and melodies to create unique musical hybrids that attribute to the equanimity that would be spiritually given to every American citizen. The classical genre of music was emphasized through many composers who enforced a world full of righteousness, and their pieces that helped create the ideal that every United States citizen should be able to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. America was influenced by a particular composer whose pieces during

American songwriter and composer George Gershwin is remembered as one who excelled in creating popular music between World War I and the rock-and-roll era. Gershwin was unique, and his music brought him to the attention of the general public due to his desire to create "a musical kaleidoscope of America--of our vast melting pot, of our incomparable national pep, our blues, our metropolitan madness” (Teachout 55), which was something far more special than simply writing pop songs; he sought in all of his works to create something with greater meaning. George Gershwin’s fantasy to recreate the world through music was special because of the amount of respect he had for the country and it’s people. George and Ira Gershwin believed that America in itself was righteous; America has it’s own unique inhabitants that could do the impossible and were able to endure. Because of their beliefs on America, the Gershwin brothers began to follow an American ideal that to succeed in life, one must endure the challenges life presents and work to overcome these challenges to be the best possible person that one can be. They constantly funded this ideal throughout their music, which eventually reflected itself onto the minds of their fans. George Gershwin regarded jazz as the most powerful American folk genre because of the blood and feelings of the

The works of Aaron Copland, like the pieces by George Gershwin, were “created with the language of musical emotions” (Aaron) and also tried to speak of his ideals. Copland, a composer who believed in music that exists not only for its own sake, but which was composed for some specific purpose, also called Gebrauchsmusik, tried to give America its own language that described true freedom with his music. Copland believed in basic human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and he represented them in his compositions. His views of music through his observations consisted of using difficult stylistic and formal devices that would speak to his audience. The melodic, slow changing rhythms in his music became the typical representation of the sound of America music because it resembled the land and its people. He cherished the ideal of a “democratic and free society in which all persons would live together in harmony” (Baughman 8). His definition of harmony meant success, which would not be determined merely by the amount of money or material possessions that one had. He defined success as the extent to which inner peace and mental control would enable one to be happy under all circumstances. The classical period during this time formed