William Grant Still

William Grant Still was born May 11, 1895 in Woodville, manuscript to Carrie Lena Still and William Grant Still. Stills father died when he was only a few months old, so the family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother remarried a few years later to Charles B. Shepperson. Both his mother and stepfather were raise in melody and encouraged their children as rise. Still began his tuneful education taking violin lessons and listening to opera recordings bought by his stepfather. The musical influence of his childhood greatly affected his musical path to success during the mid-1900s.

Still attended Wilberforce University in 1911 as a pre-medical student. Students usually participated in musical activities for cultural and entertainment pry (Gibson). It was highly unusual for them to pursue music as a life history, especially as African-Americans. Due to racism, African Americans were given express performance opportunities. Stills mother did not want him to pursue a musical career. Still became more involved in music at Wilberforce, he decided to pursue a career in music. As an adult, he taught himself to play the clarinet, saxophone, string bass, viola, cello, and hautbois (Gibson).



Although, he did not learn to play all of these well enough to be able to perform on them he knew of their capabilities; this knowledge would be very useful as he began to write instrumental music (Gibson).

In 1918, Still joined the coupled States Navy and served in World War I (Boyd). later his discharge from the Navy, he worked for W. C. Handy and composed his first rophy arrangements, St. Louis Blues and Beale Street Blues (Boyd). St. Louis Blues was written to be played by a military band.

In 1931, his most general work was published, Afro-American Symphony. Through this work Still express the significance and meaning of...

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