T H I S W A S O U R M U S I C By Mike Rothschild

DraMAtuRgY PacKEt Table of Contents

SUBJECT PAGE About the Playwright 3

Cultural Context & Themes 3

Glossary of Terms 4

History of Public Radio 5

Jazz Musicians Featured 8

Music Featured 11

Bibliography 12

About the Playwright

Playwright Mike Rothschild is best known as a journalist and debunker of conspiracy theories. Many of his works in debunking conspiracy theories have been used within outlets such as Snopes, Politifact, NBC News, and the New York Times (About - Mike Rothschild). Considering his political standings in today’s world, it is not shocking that Rothschild would write a play about somebody trying to defend the integrity of public radio. Many of his articles and statements have a strong lean towards the left and support for government funded institutions such as public radio. Cultural Context & Themes

During the play's published year of 2011, Occupy Wall Street was occurring in the United States. The people were fighting back against big banks and the top 1% of wealth in America. The idea of an underdog going up against the higher-ups is the core of Alan's struggles in This Was Our Music. Glossary of Terms Pocket - A compact trumpet. Mostly used as a novelty due to its size, however it does not have a different sound from a standard trumpet

Double Bass - An upright bass, commonly used in orchestras and bands.

Down the Pike - An expression meaning "in the future"

Charlatans - A person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud History of Public Radio

Lee DeForest - Inventor of the Radio

One of the first instances of public broadcasting was in 1910, when Lee DeForest broadcasted the voice of a singer from the Metropolitan Opera House across the city of New York using radio waves (Radio Activity). There was a small lull in public broadcasting during World War I, as the American government banned amateur radio broadcasting, but by 1922 the United States started making radio licenses available to broadcasters, leading to the founding of hundreds of radio stations. Radio was used for events that allowed for access faster than the next day’s paper, such as presidential debates, courtroom hearings, and sporting events. By 1923 there were over 1 million radios being used in homes across America, and over 1,000 radio stations were in operation, including big commercial stations like NBC and CBS. Stations that were non-commercial, however, tended to not be so lucky and prosperous. Educational radio stations had a bit of a flourishing life, but with big stations starting to get money from companies to advertise their products, smaller radio stations had the tendency to go under. History of Public Radio

By the 1930’s, radio had reached its Golden Age. Families were consuming and average of three to four hours of radio content daily, and by the 1940’s, nearly a fourth of America’s cars came outfitted with radios. However, as the 1950’s rolled in, the advent of television was seen as a major threat to radio.

Many of the programs used in radio were starting to migrate over to television and gain much more popularity. Radio went against the odds and continued to thrive, however. The transistor radio allowed easier access to radio, stations started to find specific markets to cater their content towards, and the birth of rock ‘n’ roll brought music back over the airwaves.

Early Transistor Radios History of Public Radio

The next big leap for public broadcasting would be when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 into law, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (Radio Activity). This led to the creation of National Public Radio in 1969. Since then, public radio has been a haven for music, talk shows, and more to travel across the airwaves. M I L E S D A V I S 1926-1991

Arguably one of the most recognizable and important figures in the world of jazz music, Miles Davis was born in Illinois in 1926. Growing up, he was a fan of blues and gospel music. He received his first trumpet in 1935 and began taking lessons from a variety of teachers. One thing in his playing that put him at odds with his instructors was his large use of vibrato while playing the trumpet. Davis played in school bands throughout his youth, and eventually went on to study music at what is now Julliard, but he dropped out after a year and a half in order to pursue performing full-time. He would go on to collaborate with artists such as Charles Mingus and toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic. Soon after he would start making a name for himself in his solo career (Biography: Miles Davis). Throughout his career, Davis suffered many health problems and addictions. He went on to do multiple concerts on a variety of drugs to deal with his pain, which would be panned by critics and audiences. He would continue to perform in various jazz bands until the mid-70's when he took a hiatus from music. After a few surgeries and attempting to get sober, Davis returned to the jazz world in 1980. He would continue to tour and record albums until a hospitalization in 1991, where he passed away at the age of 65 due to a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure (Biography: Miles Davis).

O R N E T T E C O L E M A N 1930-2015

Ornette Coleman was born in 1930 and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. He played tenor saxophone in his high school band until he was kicked out for improvising during a John Philip Sousa march. He then went on to start a jazz group playing music with classmates. In 1949 he joined various traveling shows in Louisiana, and he switched to alto saxophone after his tenor was destroyed during an assault ( Biography). He later joined the band of R&B singer Pee Wee Crayton and moved from Louisiana to California. Throughout the 70's, Coleman took part in avant-garde jazz and made it a new element of his sound. He continued to record albums and perform live throughout the rest of the 20th century. In 2006 he released his album Sound Grammar which won the , making him the second jazz musician to win the award (Ornette Coleman Biography). Coleman would later pass away due to cardiac arrest in June of 2015 at the age of 85.

C H A R L E S M I N G U S 1922-1979

Charles Mingus was born in Arizona in 1922. Growing up he learned to play trombone and cello, eventually migrating to the bass. Having to deal with racism in ensembles in his youth led to him incorporating elements of racism and injustice in his music (Mingus Biography). He later became a bass prodigy, touring with artists like Louis Armstrong. Throughout the 60's, Mingus worked out of New York with various artists. He had a temper that gave him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz" and this ostracized him from other jazz artists. Mingus would continue to play until the 1970's when he developed ALS, which led to him losing his ability to play bass. He continued to compose and produce music until his death in 1979 at the age of 56 (Mingus Biography). To hear music by these artists as well as ones that are mentioned in the play, visit this Spotify playlist

https://open.spotify.com/user/1265675395/playlist/5 Qe0dc4OQdjTPj0SPH6Xbp? si=i_En_eDqQNCEulgygACIjg Bibliography

“About.” Mike Rothschild, 7 Mar. 2019, themikerothschild.com/about/. “Biography.” Miles Davis, www.milesdavis.com/biography/. “History.” NPR, NPR, 20 June 2013, www.npr.org/about-npr/192827079/overview- and-history. “Mingus Biography | Charles Mingus: The Official Site.” Charles Mingus The Official Site, mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus. “Ornette Coleman Biography.” Ornette Coleman, www.ornettecoleman.com/ornette- coleman-biography/. “Radio Activity: The 100th Anniversary of Public Broadcasting.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 26 Jan. 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/radio- activity-the-100th-anniversary-of-public-broadcasting-6555594/.