Leroy Anderson

The Typewriter

Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)

Leroy was born on June 29^th, 1908 to Swedish immigrant parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  As a child, he studied piano and later went on to take trombone lessons. 

While Leroy was a boy, the United States was rapidly changing from a country of farmers to a country of factory workers.  Cities such as Leroy’s hometown grew quickly as a result of widespread immigration, and jobs in urban industrial work were often taken by immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. Much of this industry was in the manufacture of iron, steel, crude oil, and textiles.  Often, working-class and immigrant families needed several family members to work in factories to survive, including women and children.

Remember, before this time, it was very uncommon – almost unheard of! – for a woman to work outside the home during the day.  But as more and more women joined the workforce, they were placed in jobs that included factory work, clothing manufacturing, teaching, nursing, domestic service, work in department stores, or clerical work in offices.  Leroy’s mother did not work outside the home, although she did volunteer as an organist at their local church.

	Typewriter Keyboard

Today, we use computers to write letters, keep records and take notes.  But as Leroy grew older, the typewriter became the essential tool for these tasks.  By the time the 1950s arrived, nearly every office had a typewriter, and the clack-clack-clack of keys hitting paper was a very familiar sound.  By that time, Leroy was in his forties and had enjoyed great success as a composer of fun, whimsical songs such as The Syncopated Clock and Sleigh Ride.  He had also spent five years in the United States Army as an interpreter and translator in Iceland during World War II.  Much of his time as a translator was spent working on one of those modern inventions: the typewriter.

	Typewriter

The percussive sound of several typewriters being used in a busy office must have sounded like music to Leroy, because he wrote one of his most famous pieces for a typewriter to be “played” alongside a symphony orchestra. Listen now to the sound of The Typewriter as composed by Leroy Anderson.

Click here to listen to “The Typewriter” by Leroy Anderson now.

Questions for Discussion

1)      Does this music sound relaxed or busy?  Calm or frantic?

2)      Aside from the typewriter, which instruments to you hear that make this piece sound frantic?
Possible Answers: Strings (violins, violas, cellos, basses) brass (trumpets, trombones)

3)      How is a computer different from a typewriter?  What would the piece sound like if it was performed on a computer instead of a typewriter?

4)      Click on the icons below to see two images of women in their workplace.  Which image fits the mood of the music from The Typewriter best?  Why?

       
Photo of Women at Work, Chicago, IL, 1907
Haymakers at Rest, Camille Pissarro, 1891

Research Project Idea

Students research the modern computer keyboard and its relationship to the first typewriters.  (For instance, why doesn’t the modern keyboard list letters alphabetically?)

Scott was born in June of 1867 to two former slaves in Sedalia, Missouri.  As a child, he had access to a piano in the home of a white family for whom his mother worked.  Unlike Aaron Copland and Leroy Anderson (see above), Scott taught himself to play music without a teacher.  He became quite accomplished and soon caught the attention of a German pianist named Julia Weiss who lived nearby.  Julia's piano lessons gave Scott the classical training and confidence he needed to become a professional musician and composer for the rest of his life, although he never really learned how to read or write music very well.

Scott's musical career started when he was just a teenager, and would eventually take him all over the United States, which was quite rare for a white or black person at the time.  He played piano, of course, but he also sang and played cornet, which is a lot like a trumpet.  Everywhere he went, people noticed Scott's amazing musicianship and the songs he composed.

Although he had many musical interests including classical music and opera, Scott's main style of music was "ragtime," a light-hearted, jaunty and somewhat silly sort of tune that Scott made famous with pieces like The Entertainer. Scott wrote The Entertainer in 1902 when he was only 26 years old, and it went on to inspire much of the jazz and blues music that followed.  (And of course jazz and blues lead to rock and roll music, which we listen to on our iPods even today!) 

	Civil War Soliders

Scott's ragtime compositions brought him income the rest of his life.  It is important to remember how unusual this was at the time.  The American Civil War had only ended in 1865 - two years before Scott's birth! - and during that war, it was illegal for a black person even to learn to read or write. So it was highly unusual for Scott to compose music, travel, and make money off of his compositions at the time - compositions that are just as popular today as they were in 1902.

Click here to listen to “The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin now.

Questions for Discussion

1)      Does this music sound sorrowful or cheerful?  Carefree or serious?

2)      How many musical instruments play in The Entertainer?  Which ones?
         Answer: Just piano!

3)      What do you imagine when you hear this piece?  (example: "I imagine puppies playing and rolling on the ground!")

4)      Click on the icons below to see two images of people dancing.  Which image fits the mood of the music from The Entertainer best?  Why?

       
Photo of People dancing the Jitterbug, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939
Harlem Nocturne, Gary Kelley

Research Project Idea

Students research the music that led to ragtime and its own influence on modern music.