Why Is Florence Price Important?

To begin, women creators of music in the written tradition did not emerge until rather late in the period 1450-1600. Maddalena Casulana was born in 1544 at

Count Basie, was born August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey. He was a gifted pianist, bandleader, and composer. His mother was a pianist and his father was a mellophonist. His mother, not realizing that he would become an amazing pianist and bandleader, started off his journey by giving him his first piano lessons. Later on, William and his family moved to New York, where he was further influenced by James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. In New York, Waller taught Basie organ playing techniques. Further on in his life Count Basie had many top chart hits such as “One O’Clock Jump” and “Blue Skies” In the 1858 Grammy’s became the first African-American male represent of a Grammy Award. Throughout his career, he won many more. Not only was he a great composer and musician, but he was a good person who influenced many people's lives. This essay will outline the life of Count Basie and all of his

Still started to learn how to play the violin at the age of fifteen. He taught himself to play a bunch of instruments including the clarinet, saxophone, double bass, cello oboe, and the viola. Then at the age of 16 he graduated from M.W. Gibbs High School in Little

Florence Beatrice Price was a meritorious musician, who confronted many challenges in the path to becoming the first African-American woman to have her compositions performed by a well-known symphony. Florence’s began her musical writings at a young age, rapidly progressing into an award-winning, published composer. Although her contributions were eclipsed by the desire for other types of music soon after Ms. Price’s death, her music is worthy of great recognition and her accomplishments are not to be forgotten.

Florence Beatrice Smith Price was born April 9, 1887 in Little Rock, Arkansas to James and Florence Smith. Her father was a dentist and her mother had numerous careers working as a piano teacher, school teacher, and businesswoman. She had two siblings who both knew how to play the piano. Florence as well as her siblings, received music lessons from her mother who published some of her musical works. Price gave her first piano performance at the very young age of four. However, she did not write her first published composition until the age eleven; the other com positions were published while in high school. She graduated as valedictorian at the age of 14 from Capitol High School in 1903. She followed the footsteps of her mother and went on

When Still graduated from high school, he attended medical school at Wilberforce University, in Ohio. He conducted the university band, learned to play many types of instruments, and started to compose and to do orchestrations. He was awarded a scholarship to

The extraordinary artist Nina Simone, is nowadays known as one of the greatest voices of the 20th century and icon of American Music. Her real name was Eunice Kathleen Waymon, she was born on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina. She studied classical piano at the Juilliard School in New York City and was considered a precocious child prodigy because of her amazingly way playing the piano. Nina was the sixth of a family of eight brothers, descended mainly from African slaves, although among their ancestors there were also Irish and Indian blood. Nina Simone went through a lot of phases where she found herself in the in the worst moment of her life, but despite all that, she could not hide her great and admirable talent.

Occramer Marycoo who is also famously known as Newport Gardner ended up having a decently successful life after he arrived in America. According to the Enslaved Peoples Experiences 5, “One of his teachers introduced Newport to Western music and soon Newport Gardner, still an enslaved person, became a distinguished musician and composer-he even began to teach white students from Newport.”(Enslaved People’s Experiences 5-Newport Gardner). This means that a person who came to the colonies as a slave with nothing became a successful musician, who taught white kids music. While America was mostly a land for white folks, some slaves like Newport Gardner had liberty in the colonies. Another slave who also had a decent amount of liberty in the colonies was Phillis Wheatley. Phillis Wheatley’s owners decided not to have her be a servant once they recognized her intelligence and poor health. They decided to have her educated instead. In the first document of Enslaved Peoples Experiences it says “In 1767, Phillis Wheatley published her first poem. Six years later, Wheatley became the first African-American, the first enslaved person, and the third woman in the United states to publish her own poetry book. She titled it Poems on various subjects”(Enslaved People’s Experiences 1-Phillis Wheatley). A black female slave published her own book filled with her words. This is such an amazing example of how America was a land of liberty to so many people because women, slaves, and blacks are thought to not have so much freedom in the 18th century, and Phillis Wheatley was all three of these things and still managed to write her very own

The composer that I chose is Charles Ives, an American modernist and musical composer from the 20th century born on October 20, 1874 in a small town of Danbury, CT and died on May 19, 1954 in New York City, NY. Charles Ives was one of the first American composers international renown and had a unique voice in American music. Which today he’s known for his amazing original orchestral music and as an American composer and Musician.

Any artist uses their surroundings as inspiration. An African American female artist deal with being the underdog. The situations they were placed in, ended up being inspirational moments. These moments became inspirational because they were personal stories, life learned lessons, and life changing moments. This essay only mentions three strong, powerful, monumental women. However, there are many more females who have helped the African American woman artist culture. They are still hidden. It is essays like this that help spread their stories, and their art

Jackson’s article seemed to portray Price as more than just a composer, but rather as a woman who successfully and honorably acquired a special talent – music. Her knowledge about Price’s life and the events that occurred during that particular era seemed to be extremely abundant. There were several mentions of historical events such as the great Chicago fire of 1871, political references, and World War I, which enhance the ambiance. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that she over did it a bit. I realize that her objective is to “…assess the cultural world in which she [Florence] grew up, her own life and professional career in Little Rock and Chicago, and the present states of study about her”, but during the course of the article, I found myself straying away from the main idea. As if I were loosing track of the importance if the musician herself, and focusing more on the intimate details that Jackson described. I assume that her purpose for inserting such irrelevant points or topics and then elaborating on them is to capture a sense of reality and cultural sympathy. Which, in a way did exactly that, but I soon became uninterested and had to force myself to continue reading.

Ethel Smyth, composer and outspoken Suffragette, was born in 1858. Her middle-class English family opposed her ambition to study music in Germany, thinking her goal of becoming a professional musician unladylike. Her father eventually allowed her to study composition in Leipzig, but only after she waged a campaign of protest that included a hunger strike and self-imposed isolation. Her seventy-two compositions include six operas, and works for orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensembles. Later in life, she was afflicted by deafness, a malady that afflicted both Beethoven and Smetana. She died in 1944.

A major problem that these composers ran into was that it was very hard to adjust enjoyable songs to fit into a theater type atmosphere. This era was pioneered by many great composers like Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern just to name a few. It is also worth noting that not all of these composers were white. There were a large number of African Americans making a name for themselves in area musical theater the first being James P Johnson with his 1921 hit "Shuffle Along".

Mission of Mercy is a very powerful story. It represents how Florence feels about women’s rights, and how they are not given to her kind. Florence (a character) feels that women should have all the rights that men do. Florence decided that she wants to be a nurse. “How dreadful! Such a lowly profession…” Said Florence’s friend, which shows how not supportive her friends and family are. Florence is a very bold person. She does not need the support to go on with what she wants to do, even though no one else thinks she is doing the proper thing. In Mission of Mercy Florence’s characteristics are displayed in each scene.

When working with Florence, I will use a strengths approach, which will focus on Florence’s strengths. I need to have the belief that everyone has strengths. I will need to find strengths in Florence and help her discover those strengths, so she can find more effective ways of parenting and be able to regain custody of her daughter. I will have the belief that everyone has worth, no matter what they have done. I also need to believe that people have the capacity to change. I will focus on Florence’s abilities and assets, not her problems. It is important that social workers do not judge their clients, no matter what they do, or have done. It will be important that I not judge Florence for abusing her daughter. I will be an enabler, and supportive, and not tell Florence what she should do. She said that the police were very kind to her the night that Dave died, and it sounded like she appreciated their kindness. I will need to show her kindness and respect as well. That will help foster a trusting relationship between us. I will need to be her advocate as I work with other agencies, especially when working with the child welfare agency to do all I can to help her regain custody of Crystal. I will need to start where Florence is, recognizing that she is the expert of her life. I need to listen carefully during our first interview, and allow Florence to tell me as much about herself as possible, so I can get the best overall picture of her.