PHOTO CREDIT:
https://music-musicians.knoji.com/aaron-coplands-appalachian-spring-the-ballet-for-martha-graham-1944/

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Copland

Photo Credit:
http://aaronc0pland.tumblr.com/image/24161132805

Aaron Copland was considered to be the father of American music, who created music with a real American sound.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1900, in a family of Lithuanian immigrants.

When Aaron Copland was young he did not like his neighborhood very much, so he begun to write songs to entertain himself.

When Aaron Copland was a teenager, he grew more serious about music, his older sister gave Aaron piano lessons, but had to quit after six months because he knew everything she knew how to teach.

When Aaron Copland was 15, he attended his first concert, and that experience changed his life.  He decided to become a composer after that concert.

When he was 20, Aaron Copland went to France to study more about music, and returned to New York three years later to start writing his own music, and had it performed in concert halls.

For the next 50 years, Copland wrote many pieces, including symphonies that were played by large orchestras, ballet, background music for movies including Of Mice and Men and Our Town.

Copland also chose parts of speeches and letters by Abraham Lincoln, and set it to his music. The musical piece is named Lincoln Portrait.

Besides composing, Copland also taught music and wrote a few books including one called What To Listen for in Music.

He wanted his music to reach out to more people, including those who never liked serious music.

Copland got many awards for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for his ballet music called Appalachian Spring, and an Academy Award for his music for the movie The Heiress.

Copland finally stopped writing music when he was 70 years old, and felt that he had ran out of fresh new ideas. But he did not stop creating music. He traveled around the world conducting his music for orchestras.

Copland passed away when he was 90 years old. He will always be remembered as the first composer to create music with a true American sound.