Tin Pan Alley

1. What is Tin Pan Alley? Where did it originate? Why was it named ‘Tin Pan Alley’? • In the first half of the 20th century, the primary way of selling music was sheet music. Tin Pan Alley was a name given to those who were in the sheet music business: writers and publishers. About a hundred years ago, Tin Pan Alley got its start in New York City. Because of the many song writers plunking out their song ideas on rows of pianos sounded like a bunch of people banging tin cans, the locals began…

british recording and publishing company) Capitol Records. They then chose to release their first number one hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1963. The popularity from there became apparent from the members themselves. They never played the traditional Tin…

squeezing diversity through the strainer of familiarity”. Tin Pan Alley, a large music publishing agency in the heart of New York City, cranked out countless “hits” to be performed by whoever bought them. It was the wide dissemination of radio, along with the invention of the microphone, which allowed the Crooner to take the scene. With the microphone, a singer could sing intimately, usually in a plain style, singing the popular hits of Tin Pan Alley in a purely American idiom. The radio…

“You get, you give”(97), from The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli, means that you share your fortune with others to spread hope and kindness, so that allies and friends are made wherever one goes; the main character, Dom Napoli, shares his money and food generously and often, meeting friends at the same time. When Dom first arrives in Manhattan, he meets a “tough guy” in a alleyway that he tries to sleep in, and sees the boy chased away by the police later that evening. The next day,…

The biggest challenge in Sinatra’s career was dealing with and accepting the changes in the music business. Around the 1950s and 1960s, Sinatra’s career began to drop as people’s interest now turned to new, upcoming music: “[Sinatra] was left with a shrinking audience and his own stubborn good taste” (Sinatra, Tina par. 22). Sinatra’s own daughter was able to see how her father’s popularity was starting to get worse because of his own “stubborn good taste”. William Ruhlmann, a well-known writer…

The traveling did not end when migrants reached California . To attain a fairly steady income, workers had to follow the harvest around the state. When potatoes were ready to be harvested, they needed to go to where the potatoes were being grown. The same concept applied to harvesting other crops such as cotton, lemons, oranges, peas, and many other crops. Migrant populations were the most dense in agricultural centers as a result of this. When they were not working or looking for work, or…

Within Susan Neimoyer’s journal article George Gershwin and Edward Kilenyi, Sr.: A Reevaluation of Gershwin's Early Musical Education, she explains the inconsistency of literature written on the subject of Gershwin’s training. After reading, I’m convinced of the influence Edward Kilenyi, Sr. had as his private music theory teacher. The misconceptions written on the topic stem from music critic Issac Goldberg’s biography (which was later found to be ripe with inaccuracies) in which he writes…

The show was a continuation of acts from dawn to dusk. A “model” bill might include approximately eight acts that had a variety of performers. It was usually set up so as to increase spectator pleasure at the start, followed by a filler and this would keep going until the final act which was usually a “chaser” act used to help run patrons out of the revolving show (D. 86-88). The variety of acts ranged from: (MC) Master of Ceremonies (invented in Vaudeville), comics, magicians, shadowgraphs,…

popularity in the 1920’s (Gioioa 30). The African American community was largely responsible for the creation of jazz music, however influences can be seen from many different ethnic groups and communities. A combination of the blues, ragtime, and Tin Pan Alley songs can be heard when listening to jazz and its improvisational style set it apart from preexisting genres. Creole of Color Brass Bands During the 1890’s and early 1900’s brass bands had become hugely popular in New Orleans and around…

George Gershwin was one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century. Born to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York on September 26, 1898 , George's legacy had started. George's brother, Ira Gershwin, was also involved in music at a young age. At one of Ira's piano lessons George began to play, with no prior lessons, and his parents discovered his love and natural talent for music they put him in lessons. His first mentor and teacher, Charles Hambitzer, early on had realized…