4 Great Children’s books on American Classical Composers Scott Joplin, Gershwin and Duke Ellington!
Classical music in America is an exciting kaleidoscope of Western harmonies infused with jazz, blues, spirituals, ragtime, folk and showbiz.
For a long time, classical composers in America didn’t know how to create distinctly American sounding classical music. They instead simply copied what their European ancestors had done, not realizing that their American musical ingredients possessed the power to reshape classical music into something utterly new and unique that the world would love…
But in the 1920s, this all began to shift with New York based composer Aaron Copland.
"There is a French-sounding music, a German sound, why not American? We had done it in ragtime and jazz, but not in the kind of concert music I was interested in." - Copland
With American entrepreneurial spirit, Copland pioneered a classical concert music style that was distinctly American: Rooted in western European harmonies but facing firmly towards the western American frontier with a sonic world of open intervals, wide and expansive harmonies and an emphasis on simplicity of form and material that resembled the landscape of his homeland.
After his trailblazing efforts, classical music was reborn. Composers from Copland onward incorporated the rich ingredients of jazz, spirituals, blues, folk, ragtime, and showbiz , giving the world an utterly new sound of concert classical music.
There is a wealth of great American classical music + composers to celebrate, and each year I love putting together a playlist and a number of resources to help bring this rich musical heritage to life in our homes!
This year in addition to creating a playlist and a free listening calendar for the month of July, I reviewed some of my favorite books, aimed at instilling a love of American classical music in young people.
Here are 4 Children’s Books on key American composers that would be a great addition to your home library!
This book tells the story of the “King of Ragtime” - Scott Joplin, a boy from the Texas/Arkansas border who helped develop a new style of music called Ragtime during the early 1900s, writing 44 rags including the popular “Entertainer” and “The Maple Leaf Rag”.
One of the criteria by which I judge great children’s books is quality prose and illustrations, and Stephen Costanza’s newest book on Scott Joplin checks those boxes with flying colors. The illustrations are beautiful & imaginative and the prose reads like music!
Look at the opening page illustration and prose below:
…vivid colors show the rural landscape of his childhood in the style of a patchwork quilt, and the first sentence brings his heritage vividly into focus through a lovely lilting rhythm that flows like music…
This is my favorite book find of the season, and I’d highly recommend picking up a copy for your family to enjoy!
2. Duke Ellington by Endrea David and Brian Pinkney
Duke Ellington was a master orchestrator of jazz music for orchestras during the 20s, and composed over one thousand compositions. He had a tremendous influence on the fusion of classical & jazz and created exciting arrangements of jazz and classical standards (did you know he composed a brilliant take on Tchaikovksy’s Nutcracker? When Christmas season rolls around, I highly recommend you listen to Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite and doing a compare and contrast with the original!).
What I love most about this book is how wonderfully the illustrations match the energy, color and electric thrill of jazz music. They’re reverent to the human form while surrounding the characters with bold and colorful swirls and shapes…
The next two books are on George Gershwin’s revolutionary Rhapsody in Blue - the piece that brought jazz into the concert hall for the first time and wowed the world with a glorious fusion of classical + jazz. The two books I recommend are both delightful but very different stylistically.
3. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by Anna Harwell Celenza, illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel
This book emphasizes the real story of how Gershwin wrote his most famous work and how he received the inspiration for the work. It goes into a lot of detail and tells the story in a more literal way than the following book, providing really interesting and historically accurate information. I personally think the illustrations could be more creative/beautiful, but they are fun for children and show colorful scenes of New York City life, his rides on the train, and the day of the premier in a vivid way that brings to life the environment of his creation.
4. The Music in George’s Head, by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Stacy Innerst
This is quite an imaginative, artistic telling of the story. While the book above is more literal, this one emphasizes the creativity and artistry that goes into composition through the style of the book in every way: the illustrations, prose and even the script itself (it mixes handwritten styles with typewritten styles - love how this encapsulates the organic raw process of composing!).
Also, another brilliant touch of the book is that the entirety of the palette is BLUE. Blue scripts, blue illustrations, very imaginatively done in a way that gives dimension and complexity just using blues. Tip of the hat to the illustrator of this book for using the color blue to tell the story of Rhapsody in BLUE….!
Highly recommend journeying through these fun, delightful books to learn more about American classical music!
Here are links for the 4 Books listed in this blogpost:
1.King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin
2. Duke Ellington by Endrea David and Brian Pinkney
3. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by Anna Harwell Celenza, illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel
4. The Music in George’s Head, by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Stacy Innerst
To accompany these reads, I’ve put together a playlist of Great American Classical Music on Apple Music + Spotify,
Click below to receive all free resources, and start giving your family the gift of classical music!
Disclaimer: this article contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase through the link I provided, I will also get a little bonus.