Aaron Copland
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Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 1900. He was the youngest child of Harris and Sarah Copland. Copland's parents were both born in Lithuania and immigrated to the United States in the late 1800's and were married in 1885. Two years later Harris opened a department store on Washington Avenue in Brooklyn and the family moved into the three floors above the store.
It was not until he reached his teens that Copland began to show an interest in music. He learned how to play the piano from his older sister Laurine, and in less than one year, Copland had learned everything she could teach him. Following much pestering of his father, Copland was allowed to take formal lessons with Leopold Wolfsohn. After attending his first concert at age 15, Copland decided to become a composer, and upon graduating high school, he began to study harmony and counterpoint through a correspondence course, a very difficult way of learning music. He was then referred to Rubin Goldmark, who was one of the leading teachers of composition in Manhattan. Copland dreamed of studying music in France, and for the next several years, he saved his money and continued to practice...