Words and Music by Irving Berlin

Choral Arrangement by Joyce Eilers

Instrumental Arrangement by Paul Jennings

About “God Bless America”:

Irving Berlin, the composer of "God Bless America," lived from 1888 to 1989. He immigrated to New York City from Russia with his family when he was five years old. Young Irving sang songs on the street for money to help his family. Soon he was writing songs with a piano player friend. Irving wrote the lyrics, and his friend wrote the melodies. Then Berlin got a job as a "song plugger" (someone who sings songs so people will want to buy the sheet music).

Berlin first wrote "God Bless America" in 1918, during World War I. He was working on a musical called Yip, Yip Yaphank. Yaphank is the name of a town on Long Island, New York. The original words to the song seemed too serious for the show, so he put it aside for a while.

In 1938, the world was headed toward war again. Berlin revised "God Bless America." Kate Smith sang it on the radio for the first time on Armistice Day (Veteran’s Day), 1938. "God Bless America," a simple song that everyone could understand and enjoy, became an instant hit. Berlin made so much money from the song that, in 1940, he started the "God Bless America Fund" and donated all the royalties (payments to the composer) from the song to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. Irving Berlin died at age 101.

Useful Resources:

Say It With Music: A Story About Irving Berlin by Tom Streissguth, illustrated by Jennifer Hagerman (Carolrhoda Books, 1994).

About Irving Berlin:

Berlin was born Israel Baline in Eastern Russia on May 11, 1888. He was one of eight children born to Leah and Moses Baline. His father was a shochet (one who kills chickens as prescribed by Jewish religious laws) who was also the cantor in the synagogue. His family moved to New York in 1893 to escape the conditions in Russia. At the age of eight, he took to the streets of the Lower East Side of New York City to help support his mother and family after his father had died. In the early 1900’s he worked as a singing waiter in many restaurants and started writing songs. His first published hit was "Marie From Sunny Italy." His successes continued through two years.

Berlin was married for only a year to Dorothy Goetz, who died from typhoid contracted while on their honeymoon in Cuba in 1913. He married Ellin Mackay in 1926. She was the daughter of Clarence Mackay, president of Postal Telegraph Company, a leading Catholic layman who opposed the wedding. The Berlins had three daughters.

In World War I, he wrote the musical Yip, Yip, Yaphank, which was produced by the men of Camp Upton. In this musical, the big hit song was "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," which reflected Berlin's aversion to rising early. This musical raised more than $150,000 to build a service center at Camp Upton.

On Armistice Day, 1939, he introduced "God Bless America," which was sung by Kate Smith. This song threatened to replace the national anthem because of its patriotism and popularity.

Berlin was prolific: He wrote more than 900 songs, 19 musicals and the scores of 18 movies. Some of his songs that have become classics include "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Easter Parade," and "White Christmas." He is the top money maker among songwriters in America. In 1924, songwriter Jerome Kern observed, "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music."

Berlin supported Jewish charities and organizations and donated many dollars to worthwhile causes. The National Conference of Christians and Jews honored him in 1944 for "advancing the aims of the conference to eliminate religious and racial conflict." Five years later, he was honored by the New York YMHA as one of "12 outstanding Americans of the Jewish faith." On February 18, 1955, President Eisenhower presented him with a gold medal in recognition of his services in composing many patriotic songs for the country. Earlier, Berlin assigned the copyright for "God Bless America" to the God Bless America Fund, which has raised millions of dollars for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Berlin's World War I doughboy uniform and many of his original patriotic scores are on display in the Jewish War Veterans Museum in Washington, D.C.

Irving Berlin died on September 22, 1989, at the age of 101.

Following a gala 100th birthday celebration concert at Carnegie Hall, Morton Gould, president of ASCAP, said that "Irving Berlin's music will last not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just a year, but always." Not bad for a poor immigrant who had only two years of formal schooling and who never learned to read or write music!

Picture of Irving Berlin:

Kate Smith Performing “God Bless America”:

Visit http://www.coutant.org/gba.mp3 to listen to the original version of Kate Smith performing “God Bless America”.

Rhythmic Analysis:

The introduction contains a repeated rhythmic pattern.

Once the chorus is reached, several dotted rhythms appear.These may prove to be difficult for some fourth graders.Also, ties are present.This may be a good time to address both of these concepts in class.

Examples of activities:

For the introduction rhythmic pattern, a good exercise would be to notate the rhythm on the board without note heads.Have students come up with a chant they can say to that particular rhythmic figure.By chanting the rhythm, they can not only determine the counting, but they can also internalize the rhythms before putting them with notes and words.

For the dotted rhythms and tied figures, discuss the meaning of each concept.Then, have students created their own dotted rhythms by providing them with Velcro notes that they can add a dot to and determine the proper counting.For the ties, give the students a variety of note values and have them tie together the notes using a tie marking.Then, they can determine the length of each note pair using their math skills.

Melodic Analysis:

Many of the phrases found in the introduction have very similar melodic structures.They each follow relatively the same melodic direction and should be rather easy for students to pick up on.

Within the chorus, the students will most likely be rather familiar with the melody.Most have heard it before in previous music experiences.To help them out when they are first singing the chorus, show the direction of the melody with your hand.Students could also show this direction by pointing in the direction of the melodic line.

Harmonic Analysis:

Due to Irving Berlin’s more complex harmonic writing, it will be rather difficult to discuss the harmonies through the chords with this particular age level.It would be appropriate to discuss the key of the selection and other such known facts.Also, students could practice learning about intervals through the split part.They could determine what the intervals are between two split parts.

Form:

For the form aspect of this unit study, students could listen to a variety of recordings of this particular song, both instrumental and vocal.They could determine whether or not the particular artist uses a variation on the known version used in class or whether or not different instruments are being used.

An activity could be used that has students experiment with changing the texture and timbre of the piece by adding classroom percussion instruments.This would not only allow for expression and creativity, but would also help them understand differences in form.

Another good activity would be to do an activity with dynamic markings.Several markings are found throughout this piece.Students could review the meanings of each marking and practice using them in context and changing their locations in the piece to see how it affects the overall sound of the song.Again, this would allow for creativity while teaching them about expressive elements such as dynamics.

Historical, Biographical, and Cultural Connections:

Both historical and biographical aspects are addressed above in the biography of Irving Berlin and in the “about this piece” section.For cultural connections, it would be very beneficial to the students to learn about the United States and what the atmosphere was like during this wartime of the 1930’s.Perhaps students could relate this to a Social Studies unit and learn more about the war and how people might have felt when they heard this song.Also, relate it to 9/11 and how it has been used most recently in expressing patriotism.

Also, students could learn more about other patriotic songs of this era or try to create their own lyrics to a patriotic song that they might create on their own.

Terminology:

There are several expressive markings found in the music that would make good educational points for students.These include:

Unison – singing together on the same pitches and rhythms

Accelerando – speeding up

Subito – suddenly

Crescendo – gradually getting louder

Ritardando – gradual slowing of the tempo

Discuss these terms in class when they are encountered in the piece and have students demonstrate their understanding of them through proper performance of the song.

Creative Concert Ideas:

This song would make a very appropriate selection for a veteran’s day concert or 9/11 tribute concert.It would be wonderful for students to share what they have learned about the piece historically.They might also wish to display artwork of American flags created in art class as an added touch for the performance.

Assessments of Student Learning:

Most assessments affiliated with this piece will be through classroom and active assessment.This unit study could include some activities that will be graded, but for the most part, this unit study can be used to encourage expression and learning about history and culture.In general music, this is often the best way to gauge students learning in an authentic setting.However, it is important to include some hard information that can be used to justify grades.It might be a good idea to have some written assignments or research projects mixed within this unit of which students can have a variety of opportunities for showing their understanding of the concepts.

I would enjoy using a unit study such as this one within my 3^rd or 4^th grade general music class.I think the students would enjoy focusing on one topic in-depth and it would allow them to explore much of our nation’s history through such patriotic music.