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William Grant Hill

Introduction

The birth of William Grants Hill took place in Woodville, Mississippi on the 11th of May, 1895. The man is now known as one of the biggest legends of music. He was a composer, musician as well as an instrumentalist and became more famous than any other African American of the time. The 1900's are not known to be humble to the blacks, neither were they so prominent in the music industry. William however overcame the discrimination to become one of the most important composers of the 20th century. He did not have any siblings. His biological parents were William Grant Still, Senior and Carrie Frambo Still. William's ancestry consisted of Spanish, Scotch-Irish as well as Cherokee but he was mainly considered to be of African descent. The parents of Still were known to be teachers at the Alabama A&M College in Huntsville, Alabama (Swell & Dwight, 1984, pp. 285). At the age of four months, Still's father passed away. When he reached the age of 9 years, his mother remarried to Charles B. Shepperson, who too is known to be a music lover (Swell & Dwight, 1984, pp. 286).

Discussion

William Grant Still is known to have been playing violin since he was 14. His mother and stepfather both encouraged him by paying for his violin lessons at such an early age. He is known to be attracted towards music because of his stepfather. Later in his life, William also played instruments such as the saxophone, clarinet, oboe, cell and viola as well as double bass. William was greatly influenced by music. He started to write music when he was only 16. This is when he graduated from the M. W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock. Until her death, his mother had a great impact in decision making throughout his life. Still was considered to be very attracted towards music and he managed to set high goals for himself. He wanted to be known as an accomplished African American musician. However, his mother knew that the African Americans did not mostly succeed in the field of music. This is the reason that she encouraged him to attend the Wilberforce University, which was established in Ohio.

His majors was science which he had no interest in. After studying for four years, William could still not develop an interest in science. Thus, he joined the Wilberforce University String Quarter . Here, he started working for the school band. He mainly arranged or composed and he did it to such an extent that a concert was held based on only his works alone. Since, William himself was the leader of the band; he managed to learn to play different kinds of instruments which he taught many other as well. On the 4th of October, 1915 he married Gracy Bundy. He is reported to have known Gracy from Wilberforce. William is also reported to have tired of the school because its curriculum did not consist of music in ...