Melissa's Musical Experience: Made Mostly in the USA

George Gershwin

My boys at UPS's Jacobsen Jr. Children's Concert

On Saturday March 15, 2015 my children and I went to University of Puget Sound to listen to the children’s concert, Made Mostly in the USA. It was a concert comprised of works from George Gershwin, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Leroy Anderson and John Philip Sousa. We were fortunate enough to sit center stage in the front row, which my children always love doing. The music director for the show was the head of the piano department at UPS, Duane Hulbert. He informed the audience that this was the 10^th year the music department had put on a special children’s concert which the UPS students were excited to do because they knew their audience would allow them to have a bit of fun which is exactly what happened. The pieces they performed were well known and great pieces to help make children more aware of great works by American composers of the nineteenth & twentieth Centuries.

The first piece was The Banjo by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the really neat thing they did with this song was they brought an old time banjo player on the stage in the characteristic white shirt, black pants and red and white striped hat, arm bands and vest and had him play a real banjo so we all could hear the distinct sound it made while even playing some of The Banjo. Dr. Hulbert explained to the audience that Gottschalk had been inspired by the unique twanging sound of the banjo and created the song to mimic a banjo. He then began to play the piece and wow was he good, our jaws dropped! I think that was the first time my kids had ever seen a piano played like that in person.

The next piece was probably my favorite, only because it was different than any other I had heard an orchestra perform, it was Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter. I really enjoyed every song the orchestra performed, however, this was so fun to watch the two people working the typewriter and bell and the reactions they had with each other and the audience was priceless. The kids are still asking for me to play this number on YouTube, ten days after the concert. We found a Spanish orchestra that we really like to watch. Here’s the link to The Typewriter

The rest of the concert consisted of: Bugler’s Holiday by Leroy Anderson, Selections from Porgy and Bess and An American in Paris by Gershwin and The Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa. Of course my youngest son got excited about the Bugler song because he plays the trumpet. After the show the trumpet players were the first people he went to see and he wasn’t shy about grabbing a trumpet and giving it a hearty blow.

While in first grade last year my oldest son, learned in his music class about Gershwin and Sousa for the better part of the year and after seeing the program wasn’t shy about sharing everything he knew about these composers. To my amazement he knew quite a lot which was fun and when Dr. Hulbert would introduce their pieces my son would get really excited and be nodding emphatically about the information being provided because (apparently) he was correct with all of his information, that’s what my son told me to say in the blog. I was surprised to read about Gershwin and that he had no interest in music until age ten, but then became enthralled with playing the piano and composed many pieces with his brother Ira. At 20 he had his first big hit with Swanee, which was followed by five original film scores, 17 Broadway and London musicals, two Operas, and countless piano and orchestra pieces. On July 11, 1937, at the age of 38 he passed away suddenly from a brain tumor after an unsuccessful surgery attempt to remove the tumor. His impact on American music however will never be forgotten.

The musicians were animated and were giggling and smiling, which only added to the performance, their behavior was engaging for the kids and really added to an already wonderful presentation. At the end of the show they of course did a “petting zoo” for all the children, which my children were not shy about asking questions and getting their hands on every instrument they were allowed to touch. This was a great end to my musical experience, I am so glad I was able to take my children to so many local venues that catered shows for a younger audience!