{"id":4614,"date":"2019-10-30T22:40:44","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T03:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=4614"},"modified":"2019-12-10T18:22:15","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T00:22:15","slug":"from-gershwin-to-gomez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/10\/30\/from-gershwin-to-gomez\/","title":{"rendered":"From Gershwin to Gomez"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>\u201cEasy to listen to…\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

…were the words used to describe George Gershwin\u2019s works in a 1949 piano faculty recital, according to the Manitou Messenger[1]<\/strong><\/a>. <\/em>That evening, Prof. Joseph Running of St. Olaf College performed a piano concert consisting of all American works. He stated in his interview with The Mess <\/em>that he is \u201cdesperately anxious to be a missionary for the contemporaries.\u201d With this in mind, he programmed White Peacock <\/em>and Sonata <\/em>by Charles Griffes, Variations on a Bavarian Dance <\/em>and The Camptown Races <\/em>by Paul Nordoff, and the \u201ceasy to listen to\u201d Three Preludes for Solo Piano <\/em>by George Gershwin. (I found a recording of Gershwin, himself, playing them here<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

I took a listen to Gershwin\u2019s Three Preludes, <\/em>and what struck me is that while they may \u201ceasy to listen to\u201d because they make us listeners want to tap our toe, they are not this way because of having a simple harmony or rhythm. In 1986, Leonard Pennario, the American pianist who performed Three Preludes <\/em>on the LP recording I found in Halvorson Library\u2019s Vinyl Collection, stated that,<\/p>\n

\u201cGershwin\u2019s music is very dear to my heart and is among the most beautiful music ever created.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People today find Gershwin\u2019s Three Preludes <\/em>just as beautiful and encapsulating of the American spirit as they did over 60 years ago. Nana Kwame, a Youtube user, commented,<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] just give you that \u2018New York\u2019 spirit.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Likewise, Dimitri A. commented on Youtube,<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply beautiful. Prelude #1 and #2 always give me the goosebumps. Gershwin was a genius.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we\u2019ve learned from readings and discussions in class, not all music that had its origins in Tin Pan Alley has had such long-lasting success. Each of the three movements of Gershwin’s piece are motif- or riff-driven: the first prelude is built upon a blue-note riff, the second is a blues-y lullaby, and the third combines these blues elements and sets them to a Caribbean beat. When I was listening to the LP and reading the YouTube and Mess <\/em>reviews, I realized that Gershwin\u2019s music contains a kind of \u201cglue\u201d that has influenced the American pop music genre: riffs. This riff-based inspiration is something that can be found in most any popular song to this day. Today\u2019s #1 song on the USA pop charts is Selena Gomez\u2019s Lose You to Love Me… <\/em>a song that is based upon a riff that the piano opens with.<\/p>\n