Ragtime Music

Father of Ragtime Music

• Scott Joplin is widely known as the “King of Ragtime”

  • “Maple Leaf Rag”

  • “The Entertainer”

  • big piano ragtime contributor

• his publisher was John Stark

• Ben Harney was another “inventor” of ragtime

  • many musicians helped develop ragtime, Joplin is not sole inventor

Characteristics of Rag

• syncopated melody accompanied by regular lefthand bass chord on piano

• classic piano rags have 16 bar measures

  • ABCD; to establish contrasting sections

  • Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer

• Classic ragtime: composer wrote out notes and pianist generally followed

• jazz: musicians often improvised

  • ragging a tune meant to spontaneously improvise during a performance; randomly syncopating notes, etc.

James Reese Europe

• black bandleader, composer, and organizer

  • bridged ragtime era dance music and early jazz

• his Clef Club Orchestra presented Black composters and very large ensembles- including banjos and mandolins

  • made appearnace in Carnegie Hall in 1912- heavily challenged racial barriers.

• worked w/ dancers Vernon and Irene Castle

• fatally stabbed by drummer Herbert Wright in 1919

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