Music Class MiniMusic Class MiniMusic Class MiniMusic Class Mini----Biography AssignmentBiography AssignmentBiography AssignmentBiography Assignment Each month, a calendar will be posted on Mrs. B’s hallway bulletin board showing birthdays of famous musicians or people who have been involved with music in some way. On the first school day of each month, students will randomly choose a day from that month and be assigned a person’s birthday from that day. Each student will then have to write a mini-biography on the person they have been assigned. Here are the requirements for each paper. 1. Name, Class and Mini-biography listed at the top of the

page 2. Biographee’s name centered 3. Birth date & place 4. Explanation of how that person is involved in music 5. Listing of some major accomplishments 6. Date of death (if applicable) 7. List of information source(s) 8. one page, typed, single spaced, no larger than 14 point

font 9. DUE ON THE LAST SCHOOL DAY OF THE MONTH

This paper will be worth 50 points. Each of the above listed requirements will be worth 5 points except for #8 which is worth 10 points. If you have any questions, please talk to Mrs. B at least one week before the paper is due! I have given you a sample mini-biography on the back side of this paper. Please use it as a reference. Good luck!

<<SAMPLE MINI-BIOGRAPHY PAPER>> Stephanie N. Buchert 6-8 Grade Music Class Mini-Biography

Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on 25 April 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. Shortly after her birth, her father William and mother Temperance (Tempie) parted ways. Tempie took Ella to Yonkers, New York where they eventually moved in with Joseph Da Silva, the man whom Ella soon regarded as her stepfather. Here, Ella took on many small jobs to help support her family. Ella and her friends would often take the train into Harlem to watch the various acts at the Apollo Theatre. In 1934, Ella’s name was pulled in a weekly drawing at the Apollo and she won an opportunity to compete in Amateur Night. Ella got onstage and asked the band to play Judy, a song she knew well from a recording made by Connie Boswell. By the end of the song, the audience demanded and encore and so she then sang the flip side of the record, The Object of My Affections. Benny Carter was playing in the band that night and began introducing Ella to people who could help launch her career. She landed her first music gig with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1935. She began singing a rendition of (If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have to Swing It, which allowed her to start experimenting with scat singing. She found that she was very good at it and the audiences were thrilled to hear her sing it. It was this great talent that landed her the title of “The First Lady of Song”. In September of 1986, Ella underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery. She was also diagnosed with diabetes which caused her eyesight to begin to fail. Despite protests by her family and friends, she continued to perform. In 1991, she gave her 26th and final performance at New York’s renowned Carnegie Hall. As her diabetes worsened, she had to have both her legs amputated below the knee due to circulatory problems. She never fully recovered from the surgery and was rarely able to perform. On 15 June 1996, Ella Fitzgerald died in her home in Beverly Hills. She was laid to rest in the "Sanctuary of the Bells" section of the Sunset Mission Mausoleum at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. Ella’s talents have been heard and recognized all over the world. Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. She performed at top venues all over the world, and packed them to the hilt. Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal range. They were rich and poor, made up of all races, all religions and all nationalities. In fact, many of them had just one binding factor in common - they all loved her. Source: http://www.ellafitzgerald.com

<<SAMPLE MINI-BIOGRAPHY PAPER>>