Jerome Kern

The songwriting team of songwriter Eubie Blake and Lyricist Noble Sissle were the ones who found success with shuffle along. Blake was born and raised in Baltimore. Blake had a religious mother but a drunken father. Blake began by performing hymns in church to later preforming at clubs and later Blake joined Sissle as a “Hell fighter member. Later the pair began performing in Vaudeville acts where they created the act Shuffle Along. Shuffle along was a huge success both colored and the white…

performed too. Dancing too is important as long as it matches with the story. Dancing provides variety, with colorful costumes and graceful patterns or steps. Dancing can also help tell the story of the musical by the movements and gestures like Jerome Robbins dances West Side Story by Leonard…

The use of songs in film can be traced back to the late 1920s. Some of the great American songwriters have had their music showcased in film including Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen, Michel Legrand, Randy Newman, Alan Menken, Elton John, and many others. The art of writing a good song takes a special and refined talent. Songs are usually short and have to speak to us in a limited span of time. Although they may…

“No Place Like London,” Act 1, scene 1 from Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim The orchestra enters with a full and resonant timbre, sounding the melodic theme “No place like London,” twice. The second echo ends on a peculiar chord, unresolved. The first soloist’s timbre is bright, energetic and full of hope, in contrast to the second soloist’s timbre that is dark. As the second soloist enters the music changes, the key shifting from major to minor. The second soloist sings in a lower register…

A large number of white songwriters began producing pseudo-blues. Jerome Kern, a white film composer, started borrowing musical material from black songwriters such as Maceo Pinkard. When Kern wrote jazz music, he would place it in the films that he was in the progress of creating. Some of those songs included “Left All Alone Blues” which starred in Kern’s film The Night Boat and…

In 1943 Rodger’s & Hammerstein joined forces to create the most successful partnership in American musical theatre. Both men were very well established and successful Broadway writers, Hammerstein was mainly associated with writing musicals with Jerome Kern and Rodger’s was doing the same with Lorenz Hart. The two joined together and were the perfect combination; Hammerstein wrote the lyrics and sent it to Rodger’s who then set it to music. The first Rodger’s & Hammerstein musical was Oklahoma!…

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley is the name that is given to the group of musical artists and producers of New York during the 19th and 20th century. The name was, at first, given to a specific location in New York. Tin Pan Alley was located between West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Tin Pan Alley is said to have gotten its name from the collective sound of the pianos all playing different tunes at the same time. This was said to sound like tin pans being banged…

Allison Atkenson Kevin Long Musical Theatre History December 16, 2015 Issues confronted At the start of the year my classmates and I were asked to define the true purpose of theatre. Our responses ranged from “a combination of song and spectacle” to “emotions communicated through spoken word, music, and movement.” But overall, we concluded it was an art form that was meant to both teach and entertain. Musical theatre has and will likely forever remain a vehicle to discuss societal issues…

On Monday evening, September 21, 2015, I had the pleasure of watching University Jazz Combos. The performance was held at the University of Louisville School Of Music in the Bird Recital Hall. These three combos consisted of the Mark Turner Combo directed by Tyrone Wheeler, Illinois Jacquet Combo directed by Ansyn Banks, and Michael Brecker Combo also directed by Ansyn Banks. I wasn’t for sure what to expect when coming to this concert. Different from the other jazz performance I attended, this…

If popular music is a reflection of society then Irving Berlin’s music is no exception (Martindale 274). His music was the soundtrack for much of the twentieth century: it went to war with the soldiers during two World Wars; it brought hope and inspiration to the entire country during the Great Depression, and celebrated the American way of life (Martindale 274). Israel Baline was born on May 11, 1888, in Temun, Russian Siberia. When Israel was only four years old, for fear of persecution from…