George Gershwin is one of the major influences on 20th century American music. His compositions can be found throughout the entertainment world, from Broadway to film. Although he had a short career, George Gershwin's music continues to bring inspiration and joy nearly sixty years later. On September 26, 1898, George Gershwin was born into the Gershowitz family as Jacob Gershowitz. The Gershowitzes were an immigrant family living in Brooklyn, New York at the time. His parents, Morris and Rose, were Russian immigrants who owned a restaurant. George was the second of four children with older brother Ira, younger sister Francis and younger brother Arthur. In time, George accepted being called Gershwin instead of Gershowitz and eventually changed his name to that. As a boy, Gershwin learned all of his early musical education from his friend Maxie Rosenzweig. When Gershwin was twelve, his parents purchased a piano for his brother Ira, but, soon, Gershwin became the primary user of the family piano. After learning the basics of piano from a local instructor, Gershwin began lessons with Charles Hambitzer for regular piano and Edward Kilenyi for music theory. All of his teachers noted his extraordinary ability to play the piano with astonishing skill and to sight-read with apparent ease. Three years later, Gershwin decided he wanted to become a musician and dropped out of high school, against his mother's opinion. it was better for him. His first job was at Tin Pan Alley, a small market of musicians selling their work in New York City. Making fifteen dollars an hour, George was a music plugger, someone who tried to sell sheet music by playing them, for the Jerome Remick Company. Gershwin s......middle of paper......presences in pop, classical and jazz. He was an important factor in the development of the first distinctly American music, jazz, helping to transform the struggling poor's movement into the mainstream music market. Gershwin did this by making jazz serious enough to be accepted, as demonstrated with the performance of Rhapsody in Blue, a jazz piece performed by a major orchestra at a black-tie event. These achievements alone merit Gershwin's status as one of the greatest composers in American history and arguably the title of "father of the first true American music." Bibliography "George Gershwin" www.classical.nethttp://www.classical.net/ music/comp.lst/gershwin.htmlhttp://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/gershwin/earlyyears.html "George Gershwin" www.gershwinfan.comhttp://www.gershwinfan.com/biogeorge .html#1"George Gershwin" www.gershwin.com