1885–1945 · American Composer
Jerome Kern is the father of the modern American musical, a composer whose melodies flow with an inevitability that makes them feel as natural as breathing. His songs are deeply vocal in conception — sinuous, lyrical, and full of the kind of long melodic lines that allow a singer to inhabit the emotion completely.
Jerome Kern was born in Manhattan in 1885 and studied music in New York and Germany before beginning to place songs in Broadway productions in the early 1900s. He transformed the American musical theater with shows like Show Boat (1927), which introduced an unprecedented dramatic seriousness to the form. His collaborators included Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Dorothy Fields, and Johnny Mercer — each partnership yielding an entirely different character while retaining Kern's unmistakable melodic voice.
The ten songs in this workshop showcase the full range of what Kern could do. "The Song Is You" and "Long Ago and Far Away" are among the most beautiful ballads ever written — melodies that seem to already know where they're going, even as they surprise you. "A Fine Romance" and "I Won't Dance" show his lighter, swinging side. "Pick Yourself Up" is irresistible. Every song rewards slow, attentive listening before you try to sing it.
Kern's songs were favorites of Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae, and remain among the most-recorded in the repertoire for good reason: they are melodically perfect, harmonically rich, and infinitely kind to the voice.
Each song includes lead sheet and lyric sheet in both a men's and women's key, plus a practice backing track. In addition, there are YouTube links to a variety of artist renditions to inspire you.