Aaron Copland was born in 1900 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the youngest of five children. His parents had come to the United States from eastern Europe. They owned a store in Brooklyn. Aaron began playing the piano when he was a young child. He wrote his first song for his mother when he was 8 years old. His dreams of becoming a composer began when he was young. When he was 16, he urged his parents to let him study com posing with Rubin Goldmark. had taught the composerGeorge Gershwin.