Editing Hoagy Carmichael (section)

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Dunn Street North 214, Hoagy Carmichael House, North Indiana Avenue HD.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Carmichael's family house on North Indiana Avenue in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]], ([[Monroe County, Indiana|Monroe County]]), [[Indiana]] (pictured in 2011).]]

Hoagland Howard ("Hoagy") Carmichael was born in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]] ([[Monroe County, Indiana|Monroe County]]), in central [[Indiana]], on November 22, 1899. He was the first child and only son of Howard Clyde and Lida Mary (Robison) Carmichael. His parents named him after a [[circus]] troupe called the "Hoaglands" that had stayed at the Carmichael house during his mother's pregnancy.<ref name="Sudhalter7">{{Harvnb|Sudhalter|2002|p=7}}</ref>{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=47}} Howard worked as a [[Horse-drawn vehicle|horse-drawn]] taxi driver and later as an [[electrician]], while Lida, a versatile [[piano|pianist]], played musical accompaniment at local [[Nickelodeon (movie theater)|nickelodeons]] and [[Silent film|silent movie]] theaters and private parties to earn extra income.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|pp=47–48}} Hoagy had two younger sisters, Georgia and Joanne.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=5}}

Because of Howard's unstable job history, the family moved frequently. Hoagy lived most of his early years in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]], the [[county seat]] of surrounding [[Monroe County, Indiana]]. Bloomington was also a [[college town]] (for the main campus of [[Indiana University]]) and the nearby 
[[state capital]] town of [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]].{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|pp=47–48}} In 1910, the Carmichaels moved far northwest to [[Missoula, Montana]], when young Hoagland was about 11 years old.<ref>1910 United States Federal Census</ref>

Carmichael's mother taught him to sing and play the [[piano]] at an early age. With the exception of some [[piano lessons]] in nearby Indianapolis with [[Reginald DuValle]] (1893-1953), a bandleader, pianist and [[accordion]]-player, known later  as "the elder statesman of Indiana [[jazz]]" and billed as "the Rhythm King", Carmichael had no other academic or professional musical training.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=48}}

The family moved back east to Indianapolis when Carmichael was age 17 in 1916, but Carmichael only followed and returned to Bloomington three years later in 1919 when he was age 20 to complete [[high school]].{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=5}} For musical inspiration, Carmichael would listen to prominent [[ragtime]] music pianists [[Hank Wells]] and [[Hube Hanna]]. At 18, Carmichael helped supplement his family's meager income by doing manual jobs in building construction, or at a [[bicycle chain]] factory, and in a meat [[slaughterhouse]]. This bleak time was partially relieved by [[piano duet]]s with his mother and by his long friendship with local musician-bandleader DuValle, who taught him piano-[[jazz improvisation]].<ref name="Sudhalter25">{{Harvnb|Sudhalter|2002|p=25}}</ref> Carmichael earned $5 playing at a college [[fraternity]] dance at nearby Indiana University in 1918, marking the beginning of his professional musical career.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=31}}

The death of Carmichael's three-year-old younger sister in 1918 (possibly from the world-wide infamous [[Spanish flu pandemic]] of 1918-1923) affected him deeply. He later wrote "My sister Joanne—the victim of poverty. We couldn't afford a good doctor or good attention, and that's when I vowed I would never be broke again in my lifetime."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=28}}

Carmichael attended the nearby campus of the [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University at Bloomington]], where he earned a [[bachelor of arts]] academic degree in 1925 and a subsequent [[law degree]] in 1926. He was a member of [[Kappa Sigma]] fraternity, and played the piano around Indiana and [[Ohio]] with his recently organized band, "Carmichael's Collegians".{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=48}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=49}}

Around 1922, Carmichael first met [[Bix Beiderbecke|Leon ("Bix") Beiderbecke]] (1903-1931), a [[cornetist]] and sometime pianist from [[Iowa]]. The two became friends and played music together. Around 1923, during a visit to [[Chicago]], Beiderbecke introduced Carmichael to fellow musician [[trumpet]]er [[Louis Armstrong]] (1901-1971), with whom Carmichael would later collaborate, while Armstrong was playing with Chicago-based [[King Oliver]] (1881-1938)'s Creole Jazz Band.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=48}}{{sfn|Kennedy|1994a|p=7}}{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=6}} Armstrong would continue to influence Carmichael's compositions; Carmichael reflected in a letter to his wife in the early [[1930s]] that he was going to see Armstrong to learn about the "purty notes."<ref>{{cite book |last=Brothers |first=Thomas |title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York, NY |year=2014 |pages=268 |isbn=978-0-393-06582-4}}</ref> Under Beiderbecke's influence, Carmichael began playing the cornet but found his lips unsuited to the [[Mouthpiece (brass)|mouthpiece]] and soon stopped.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=79}} He was also inspired by Beiderbecke's [[Impressionistic music|impressionistic]] and [[classical music]] ideas and influences from the master composers of previous centuries.

Carmichael's first recorded song, initially titled "Free Wheeling," was written for Beiderbecke, whose band, [[The Wolverines (jazz band)|The Wolverines]], recorded it as "[[Riverboat Shuffle]]" in 1924 for [[Gennett Records]] in [[Richmond, Indiana]]. The song became a jazz staple. ([[Mitchell Parish]]'s lyrics were added in 1939.){{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=19}} Carmichael's other early musical compositions included "[[Washboard Blues]]" and "Boneyard Shuffle," which [[Curtis Hitch]] and his band, "Hitch's Happy Harmonists", recorded at the [[Gennett Records]] studio in Richmond.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994a|p=7}} The band's instrumental rendition of "Washboard Blues," recorded on May 19, 1925, was the earliest recording in which Carmichael performed his own songs, including an improvised piano solo.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=22}}{{sfn|Kennedy|1994b|p=125}}

After graduating from IU's law school in 1926, Carmichael moved to Florida, where he worked as a [[legal clerk]] in a [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] legal firm, but he returned to Indiana in 1927 after failing the Florida [[bar exam]].{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=99–100}} He joined an Indianapolis law firm (Bingham, Mendenhall and Bingham) and passed the Indiana bar, but devoted most of his energies to music.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=104}}{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=7}} Carmichael had discovered his method of songwriting, which he described later: "You don't write melodies, you find them…If you find the beginning of a good song, and if your fingers do not stray, the melody should come out of hiding in a short time."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=84}}