Tin Pan Alley

LIBRARY OF WELLES LEY COLLEGE Purchased From the Permanent Library Fund, Established by Eben Norton Horsford Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/tinpanalleychronOOgold TIN PAN ALLEY TIN PAN ALLEY A Chronicle of American Popular Music ISAAC GOLDBERG Introduction by George Gershwin With a Supplement FROM SWEET AND SWING TO ROCK 'N' ROLL by EDWARD JABLONSKI FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO., INC. NEW YORK Copyright 1961 by Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc. First published 1930 /?o/ Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 60-53364 TO GEORGE GERSHWIN (or the "Rhapsody in Blue/' the "Concerto in F," "An American in Paris/' and not least for his unaffected friendship Introduction This is a book that needed to be written, and we are all grateful to Dr. Goldberg for having written it. American popular music has become a very important part of American life; it has reached, indeed, as appears from the chapters upon Ragtime and Jazz, into the hearts of many European countries. It is one of the most colorful aspects of the American scene and, as the American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers attests, it is getting into the class of Big Business. Tin Pan Alley, in a word, is a unique phenomenon, and there is nothing in any other country of the world to compare with it. New York, being the musical and theatrical center of the nation, where most songs and stage acts are made, naturally gave rise to the Alley of the Tin Pans. With this enormous increase of interest we who engage in song writing are being asked more often than ever by laymen as well as by aspiring composers for our formula, if any: just how, where, why and when we write our music. In placing my experience on the record here, I wish not to stress my own work, but to correct a few of the many popular misconceptions about song writing. Often one hears that composing a song is an easy affair. All a number needs for success, it seems, is thirty-two bars; a good phrase of eight bars used to start the refrain is repeated twice more with a new eight-bar added which is much less important. [vii] INTRODUCTION It sounds simple, of course, but personally I can think of no more nerve-racking, no more mentally arduous task than making music. There are times when a phrase of music will cost many hours of internal sweating. Rhythms romp through one's brain, but they're not easy to capture and keep; the chief difficulty is to avoid reminiscence. Out of my entire annual output of songs, perhaps two—or at the most, three—come as a result of inspiration. We can never rely on inspiration. When we most want it, it does not come. Therefore the composer does not sit around and wait for an inspiration to walk up and introduce itself. What he substitutes for it is nothing more than talent plus his knowledge. If his endowment is great enough, the song is made to sound as if it were truly inspired. Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel. I see a piece of music in the form of a design. With a melody one can take in the whole design in one look; with a larger composition, like a concerto, it is necessary to take it piece by piece and then construct it so much longer. No matter what they say about "nothing new under the sun," it is always possible to invent something original. The song writer takes an idea and adds his own individuality to it; he uses his capacity for invention in arranging bars his own way. Composing at the piano is not a good practice. But I started that way and it has become a habit. However, it is possible to give the mind free rein and use the piano only to try what you can hear mentally. The best method is one which will not permit anything to hold you down in any way, for it is always easier to think in [ viii ] INTRODUCTION a straight line without the distraction of sounds. The mind should be allowed to run loose, unhampered by the piano, which may be used now and then only to stimulate thought and set an idea aflame. The actual composition must be done in the brain. Too much, however, should not be left to the memory. Sometimes, after the phrase seems safe in the mind, it will be lost by the next day. When I get a phrase which I am not sure I will remember the following day I set it down on paper at once. Occasionally compositions come in dreams, but rarely can they be remembered when you wake. On one occasion I did get out of bed and write a song. That number, incidentally, is one of my recent compositions, "Strike Up the Band!" Like the pugilist, the song writer must always keep in training. He must try to write something every day. I know that if I don't do any writing for several weeks I lose a great deal of time in catching my stride again. Hence I am always composing. My work is done almost exclusively at night, and my best is achieved in the fall and winter months. A beautiful spring or summer day is least conducive to making music, for I always prefer the outdoors to the work. I don't write at all in the morning, for the obvious reason that I am not awake at the time. The after- noon I devote to physical labor—orchestrations, piano copies, etc. At night, when other people are asleep or out for a good time, I can get absolute quiet for my composing. Not that perfect peace is always necessary; often I have written my tunes with people in the same room or playing cards in the next. If I find myself in the desired mood I can hold it until I finish the song. Many of us have learned to write music by studying the most successful songs published. But imitation can go only so far. The [ix] INTRODUCTION young song writer may start by imitating a successful composer he admires, but he must break away as soon as he has learned the maestro's strong points and technique. Then he must try to develop his own musical personality, to bring something of his own invention into his work. For some song writers it is not even absolutely essential that they know anything about music. Many of the popular composers with the greatest number of successes to their credit can't read a line of music. What they have is an innate sense of melody and rhythm ; all they seek is to write a simple tune that the public can easily remember. In order to write longer compositions, the study of musical technique is indispensable. Many people say that too much study kills spontaneity in music, but although study may kill a small talent, it must develop a big one. In other words, if study kills a musical endowment, that endowment deserves to be killed. I studied piano for four years, and then harmony. And I shall continue to study for a long time. Most of what I have said, naturally, is drawn from my own experience, and may be quite different from the experiences of others. Dr. Goldberg gives a glimpse into the methods pursued by various authors and composers. I agree with him that the popular song of to-day partakes of the nature of folk song. Foster's tunes, which we now venerate as folk songs, were in their own day just popular songs. I agree with him, too, in his conception of the waltz as a fundamental, undying dance. Willard Huntington Wright, in The Creative Will (that was before he became S. S. Van Dine and went in for a career of crime- fiction) pointed out the superiority of the 3/4 rhythm to all [x] INTRODUCTION other dance rhythms,—a superiority that lay in its natural balance of accents. In a 3/4 dance, the feet alternate accents in the succes- sive bars. In 2/4 or 4/4 time the same foot lands always on the same accent. Dr. Goldberg suggests that perhaps the jazz habit of shifting the normal accented beat from the first and third to the second and fourth beats of the measure may be not only an attempt to shake off routine, but also an unconscious balancing of effects. The jazz situation, by the way, has for years been all jazzed up; among other things, the treatment of ragtime and jazz in Tin Pan Alley goes far to clear up the muddled situation. There is, no doubt, increasing sophistication in Racket Row; yet I am sure that there will always be a market for sweet, senti- mental songs, as there will always be a sweet, ingenuous public. Tin Pan Alley is not only a valuable addition to our archives of Americana; it is a swell, a gorgeous story. George Gershwin. Table of Contents Introduction vii 1. Vamp Till Ready 1 2. Before the Flood 13 3. Pearls of Minstrelsy 31 4. Blackface into White 60 5. The Rise of Tin Pan Alley: Hearts and Flowers 84 6.

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