William+Grant+Still

William grant still JR. was born may 11, 1895 in Woodville Mississippi. Shortly after he was born his family moved to little rock Arkansas. While he was a child he took violin and piano lessons and was exposed to a wide variety of music such as hymns and operas. Later on he went to Wilberforce College and majored in science but soon dropped out to conduct the local school band. Later he went to Oberlin and the New York conservatory to study to become a composer later after serving in world war one he married Grace Bundy and went to work for W.C. handy’s Music Company, William still participated avidly in the music world and produced jazz music. Also he worked for the bla ck swan phonograph company; in addition he studied for the avant-garde producer Edgar Varese. Still began to compose some more serious works in the music world includingDarker America and his most famous work yet, the Afro-American symphony ( also entitled symphony #1) which was performed in concert by Howard Hanson and the Rochester philharmonic. This was easily one of the most recognized piece of music in Harlem; and by writing this piece and other pieces of poems and music was how William was inducted into the Harlem age. William was known for creatin g poems and pieces of music suchas Memphis man and song of a new race also by creating the Afro-American symphony he attracted many fans and also by incorporating a jazz style that people frowned upon into a a great art. In the 1930's William worked on T.V. shows such as gunsmoke and movies such as Pennies from heaven. Also still worked on operas such as troubled island; this marked the first time that a leading opera company had hired an african-american composer. In 1976 still was given an Honarary Doctrate from the university of Arkansas; shortly after still was invited into the ASCAP. Saluting stills 75th birthday the Oberlin orchestra presented him with a four piece montage of his orchestra works and an opera written by his wife. still died on December 3rd, 1978 in L.A. The william grant still foundation was built shortly after his death and there was another memorial in his name later. All in All he lived a good life. [|william's and they lynched him on a tree]

Hailed as the dean of African American composers, William Grant Still is known throughout the history books fo r the series of first he achevied for the African American race. He was the first black composer to have a symphony performed by an American orchestra, the first black composer to have an opera performed by a major company, and the first African American to conduct a major American Symphony Orchestra. His compositions and arrangments spanned a wide range of genres, from writing background music for the TV show //Gunsmoke// to composing ballets and operas, proving his flexibilty and talent as a composer. Throughout his distinguished career, he composed in many different styles, frequently utilizing black themes.

William Grant Still Jr. was born in Woodville, Mississippi on May 11th, 1895. He was the son of Math professer and town bandmaster William Grant Still Sr. and English Teacher and pianist Carrie Lena Fambro Still. Still’s father died early in his childhood, and his mother moved them to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she married again. Her second husband continued to expose Still Jr. to a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from operas to classical vocal concerts. In high school he played the violin and at age 16, after being urged on by his mother, enrolled at Wilberforce University in Ohio as a pre-med student. It was at Wilberforce where Still’s musical talents really blossomed. After first enrolling, he soon found himself conducting, composing, and arranging for the school’s band. He also organized a concert all of his own compositions, and he formed a string quartet with him as the cellist. But it wasn’t until after Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor came to Ohio on a US tour that Still really seriously thought about being a composer. But unfortunately, Still’s career at Wilberforce came to an abrupt end when he was accused of an improper relationship with another female student, Grace Bundy. The two married in 1915 and had four kids, but sadly the relationship didn’t last and they separated 1931 and officially divorced in 1939. After his short stint at Wilberforce, Still spent a year serving in the Navy in 1918, and then he furter pursued his musical studies at Oerlin College and at the New England Conservatory of Music. He then proceeded to travel to New York city to work in W.C. Handy’s music publishing company, and play in the original orchestra of the all black musical hit //Shuffle Along.// After that, he took another job as the director for the Black Swan music label, and in addition to all of this, He took lessons from 1923 to 1925 with the highly experimental French composer Edgard Varese, whose teachings proved to be important because Still’s works were heavily influenced by his studies with the French composer. The 1920’s were an important period in Still’s musical career, because it was the first time he began to compose serious concert works. Among them were //Darker America// (1924) and //From The Land Of Dreams// (1925), which were both influenced by the Harlem Renaissance ideas, which was going on at the same time. He also wrote his most famous and important work, //The Afro-American Symphony//, which was the first ever symphony written by an African American to be performed by a major symphony orchestra. The Symphony continued to receive hundreds of performances in the US and abroad, and it marked an important turning point in Still’s career, turning him from a small, not so well known composer, into a big market musical star. The 1930’s were a sort of cool down period from the success he had achieved in the 20’s for Still. He worked as a free-lance arranger and staff-composer for network radio, and he wrote music for Artie Shaw and Paul Whiteman and orchestrated a couple of musical comedies. He also worte his first opera, //Blue Steel//, which was a based on the story of a black worker. Another “first” in Still’s career came in 1949 when the New York City opera company performed his second Opera, //Troubled Island//. This marked the first time that a major opera company performed an opera written entirely by a black composer. Also during this period, Still composed background music for film and TV, including scores for the film //Pennies From Heaven// and the TV show //Gunsmoke//. He also wrote Ballets, Chamber music, many solo songs, and spirituals and chorals. His later works included //And They Lynched Him From a Tree// and //In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died For Democracy//, whose themes were heavily rooted in the social aspects of the day, including rascism and the end of WWII. But sadly, it was time for the curtain to draw on the show of William Grant Still’s life. His music fell out of style in the 50’s and 60’s, and he wrote mostly instructional music for childeren in his later year. It was a great step down for one of America’s most influential composers. Still died of a stroke on December 3rd, 1978. It was truly a loss of one of the greatest composers in American history.

__Sources Cited __ 1. “William Grant Still”. //The African American Biography.// 1994. Print. 2. “William Grant Still”. //Encyclopedia of World Biography.// Detroit: Gale. 1998. //Gale Biography in Context.// Web. 15 February 2011. 3. “William Grant Still”. //Contemporary Black Biography.// Vol. 37. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Gale Biography in Context//. Web. 16 February 2011 4. Picture 1: "William Grant Still." //Biography in Context//. Detroit: Gale, 2010. //Gale Biography In Context//. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. By: SRR 2

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">[|Clip Of Still's Afro-American Symphony]