Original Rags Scott Joplin 1899 example essay topic

Scott Joplin - 1896: In 1896, William George Crush, an agent of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line (the Katy), noted how many spectators showed up at train wrecks. He convinced the line to stage a collision with him as the promoter. After months of hype on posters spread throughout northern Texas, the event came to pass on September 15, 1896. There were about 40,000 paid spectators who came by Katy excursion trains fora nice picnic lunch. It took hired law enforcement several hours to push the onlookers back far enough from the planned point of collision. The trains, painted red and green and towing cars filled with railroad ties, touched noses.

Then each backed up a mile or so, and the crew jumped out after setting the trains at full throttle. The 60 mph collision, of which the point of impact is shown in the accompanying photograph, was spectacular as promised. Crush did not take into account the possibility of boiler explosions, of which there were two, and three spectators were killed while many more were injured. The photographer, Joe Deane lost an eye from a flying bolt. Whether Joplin witnessed this event is not known, nor is it certain whether or not the piece was commissioned. As with the popular E.T. Paull marches of the time, it includes descriptions of activity to explain what is happening in the music, including the spectacular collision.

When you hear the wreck coming on my rendition, back away from the speakers. You have been warned. CombinationMarchScott Joplin - 1896: Joplin's second published march was nowhere near as ambitious ash is first instrumental opus, The Great Crush Collision, but it demonstrated his ability to assemble well-structured themes and is not all that far off from the ragtime he would be writing in short order. He had been traveling with his Texas Medley Quartette (actually double that since there were eight members) and secured publication in Temple, Texas during their tour. The context of the title is unclear, whether Joplin is referring to a combination of styles or ideas, or the group with which he was playing. While standard piano fare for that time, there are some noteworthy attributes.

These include unusual unrepeated minor section between the A and B strains, which sounds somewhat like a trio interlude, followed by an interesting interplay between the treble and bass clefs. The B strain is further emphasized through the effective use of highly contrasting dynamics. The trio is not unlike some trios that Joplin would later write during his first few years of rag composition, save for syncopation. The final section is so characteristically Joplin that is cries out for syncopation, something that is inserted in this performance on the repeat. Original Rags Scott Joplin (arranged by Charles N. Daniels) - 1899: Scott Joplin had already been published by 1899, including a handful of songs, marches, and a waltz. This was his first published rag, although many questions remain concerning the content.

It is obviously made up of folk melodies, but it lacks the continuity between sections found in most of his rags, starting with the Maple Leaf Rag published a few months later. Then there is the notation on the cover, 'arranged by Charles N. Daniels'. At a time when it was still somewhat difficult for black composers to get published, this might infer that Daniels, employed by publisher Max Hoffman, arranged for that firm to publish the piece. It may also that he had a hand in notating or assembling the rag as well. The A and B sections are thin, and more in a cakewalk style. The C section, in a different key but appearing before the reiteration of A, has clear indications of Joplin's hand.

The D section, bears similarity to a tune previously published by Hoffman called A Virginny Frolic, and whether Daniels or Joplin adapted this is unclear. The final section is, again, clearly Joplin, and marked the beginning of a remarkable career in ragtime composition. Maple LeafRagScott Joplin - 1899: Although not the first rag written or published, Maple Leaf Rag did become the first instrumental piece to sell over one million copies. The Charles K. Harris song After The Ball from 1888 was the first million selling piece of sheet music, but Maple Leaf did it in a shorter amount of time, reportedly in less than a decade. The rag was named by Joplin in honor of the venue in which it was allegedly first heard by publisher John Stark, the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri. Actually, it was more likely demonstrated in his office, which was down the street from the short-lived club.

When Joplin first played it for Stark, he had a little black child with him who danced to the salacious syncopation's, a move that may have helped sell it. Stark had acquired a catalog of songs from another music store, but was not printing any at that time. He was impressed enough not only to take on Joplin's piece, but to offer him an unheard of royalty agreement as well. Sales of Maple Leaf and subsequent rags earned Joplin his 'King of Ragtime " reputation, and enabled Stark to move his company to St. Louis, then later New York.

Note that the original cover, now extremely rare, featured a picture commissioned by a tobacco company of the famous vaudeville team of Williams and Walker with two lady dancers doing the cakewalk. Once Stark moved to St. Louis he started issuing the piece with the better known Leaf cover made explicitly for his best seller. The original Maple Leaf Club was actually a social club that met in a saloon run by the Williams brothers, who by some reports may have come from Canada, thus the name. It's run was essentially from December of 1898 to January of 1900. The building no longer stands, but the musical memories created there certainly do. Dick Zimmerman resurrected the name in 1967 when he help found the new Maple Leaf Club in the Los Angeles area, which still meets in the 21st century.

It's hard to try and reinterpret a piece that has been interpreted by pretty much every rag player that has existed, so I'm sure you will hear some familiar elements of other performances in here. I often perform this piece blindfolded just to add a measure of originality! Swipes y CakeWalk Scott Joplin and Arthur Marshall - 1900: The only published output with Joplin " same on it in 1900 was this piece co-written with a prot " eg'e of Joplin, Arthur Marshall. Although it is labeled as a cakewalk, there is more than enough syncopation in it to consider it as a rag. The A section provides contrast in the left hand, with the oom-pah pattern interrupted by repeated chords, a device later used in some Joplin trios. The Section is simple, and more cakewalk-like in nature.

The trio is very much Joplin in content, with a very well developed melody line and chord progression. The D section reverts back to the original key, and provides a great opportunity for left hand expansion. The title was contributed by publisher John Stark, who said that the boy pictured on the cover 'looked like he just swiped something.'s unflowerSlow Drag Scott Hayden and Scott Joplin - 1901: Hayden's first collaboration with Joplin was published just short of his 19th birthday. Whether Joplin's interest in him was due to the fact that he was courting Hayden's widowed sister-in-law, or because of his inherent musical abilities, the result was most certainly a providential one. In fact, Sunflower Slow Drag was nearly as popular when it appeared as the Maple Leaf Rag had continued to be. Publisher John Stark lavished praise on it, and pushed it in his catalog for many years.

Most of the piece was known to have been composed by Hayden, particularly the difficult A and D sections, while Joplin contributed the trio and a few other thematic touches. By contemporary reports, Hayden was known to be as capable a player as his contemporary James Scott, while Joplin preferred composing and teaching over performing. Joplin manages to tie in some of Hayden's patterns in his trio, which is a pleasantly subdued contrast to the rest of the piece. The last iteration of the D section is intentionally slowed here as it was traditional to do so for the finale of many cakewalks or drags of the time. Incidentally, the Slow Drag (for instructions click here) was a popular dance of the day for which many ragtime pieces were composed. The last iteration of the D section is intentionally slower here as it was traditional to do so for the finale of many cakewalks or drags of the time.

The EasyWinnersScott Joplin - 1901: The publication of this rag marked the beginning of what would become a continually strained relationship between Joplin and his biggest advocate inmost respects, publisher John Stark. Possibly due to a dispute concerning Joplin's desire to publish his extended stage dance piece, The Ragtime Dance, Joplin took his next rag to Shatt inger Music in St. Louis to help him publish The Easy Winners under his own name. This may have been a ploy by Joplin to leverage Stark by demonstrating that he could be independent if need be. Stark eventually purchased the plates and distributed the piece, but the footer still credited Joplin as the publisher. The A section follows a well known folk pattern that was used in many black-composed pieces throughout the era.

It is followed by his most intricate syncopated melodic line to date in the B section. The trio (Section) consists of a simple pattern that is carried through to the end, and the last four measures of it also end the D section, which is largely a call and response type of phrase. This piece was quite appropriately used (look at the horse racing depicted on the cover) and adapted by composer Marvin Hamlisch in the movie 1974 movie The Sting. EliteSyncopationsScott Joplin - 1902: Coming just three years after the Maple Leaf Rag, this marvelous display of pianistic prowess displays the composer's potential for innovation and development. Although the heading simply states 'Not fast. ', fast in this instance must be seen as a relative term.

It is likely that many of the brothel and barrelhouse pianists were ragging any tune they could, and playing it at breakneck speeds to show off their skill. Ith as been widely agreed that Joplin's intention was that his pieces not be played at outlandish speeds, but in a controlled manner appropriate for the content. 'Not Fast' did not necessarily mean 'Slow. ' That said, this piece both suggests and requires some motion to work properly.

The A section uses a common device of the hands chasing each other around a pattern, used here in a sophisticated manner. The B section provides intentional contrast, but allows for ion. The trio is as busy as the other sections, but single-note melody line flows better, providing a more placid feel. The D section is one of the most rip-roaring that Joplin ever wrote. It makes the case for 'Not Slow Either.

' TheEntertainerTheEntertainer (Fun Version) Scott Joplin - 1902: I first learned this piece in 1971, right after the initial release of the Vera Brodsky Lawrence edition of The Collected Works of Scott Joplin. This was two years before George Roy Hill, who had heard this and other pieces on his son's recording of Joshua Rifkin playing Joplin Rags, engaged Marvin Hamlisch to arrange them for his upcoming motion picture, The Sting. Actually, Hamlisch, for the most part, ended up using a great many ideas originally found in The Red Back Book, which was the musicians name for the John Stark publication containing Joplin rag orchestrations. Others were culled from the fine arranging work of Gunther Schuller, who was recording and touring these pieces at that time with the New England Conservatory of Ragtime. Got all of that! Somebody else's idea; somebody else's music; somebody else's arrangements; and the Oscar goes to...

Actually, I humbly give Hamlisch his due, since it was a daunting task to marry the music to the story, which he did exceedingly well. And frankly, the movie was a success. Marv picked up yet another Oscar (on the heels of The Way We Were), and The Entertainer was inadvertently renamed THE STING for about twenty years, maybe longer! I have long since gotten over the constant irritation brought on by people asking for that Marvin Hamlisch thing from the Sting. The use of it did promote ragtime well, so my complaints are few.

Actually, this is a very simple and stately number, albeit intended as a moderately paced dance tune. It may have been played with mandolins atone time, since the dedication inside is to James Brown and his Mandolin Club. There are two versions here - one receiving my normal classic rag treatment, and the other with a bit of a wry smile here and there. I try not to overdo it with clich " es, but there are still some " Perfessor' Bill touches within.

In the 'Fun' version, listen for a tribute to another very structured and melodic composer who sonata contemporary of Joplin! The Ragtime Dance - Song The Ragtime Dance - Rag Lyrics andInstructionsScott Joplin - 1902/1906: This exuberant dance piece actually exists in two forms, and was a source of one of the first wedges in the relationship between Joplin and publisher John Stark, his greatest champion. Although Stark supported most of Joplin's efforts in furthering innovation in ragtime, the original concept of this piece as a short folk ballet evidently seemed superfluous and unsalable to the occasionally inflexible publisher. It was reportedly through the efforts of Stark's daughter that the piece was published. It opened as a song with a description of the events of a typical evening at a dance, continued on as a rag with lyrics peppered with occasional instructions, then as a stop time dance with somewhat specific dance instructions.

It is implied in the score that this stop time section could be repeated ad nauseam in order to allow all of the couples on stage to complete the dance properly. Then the piece closes with a final phrase by the singing interlocutor. Where or in what venue this number would have been performed is somewhat nebulous. What is clear was that John Stark was correct and his fears were validated when the initial publication bombed. Four years later, in order to recoup something out of the piece and keep Joplin " same in the catalog while he was being published by other companies, Stark reformatted the ballet as a rag by dropping the opening verse and trimming the end. I have included both versions here for comparison, but without the aforementioned ad nauseam repeats.

The Dance version is played slowly enough to allow the steps to be executed. The Rag version is played with performance in mind rather than dancing. SomethingDoingScott Hayden and Scott Joplin - 1903: Shortly after Joplin's first feud with publisher John Stark over a difference of opinion on the fate of Joplin's Ragtime Dance stage presentation, Joplin took this collaborative rag to rival publisher Val A. Reis. Hayden, still more his prot " eg'e than his partner, likely had little say in this matter. In contrast to these troubles, this rag certainly reflects high spirits and joy.

It is well organized thematically and very melodic throughout. Hayden's opening theme is both cheerful and stately, with some of the left hand rhythms broken up with moving octave patterns. The B section is typical of the best of classic rags at that time. While the bulk of the rag is Hayden's, the trio is likely by Joplin, who also influenced the D section with anticipatory syncopation's, or chords played just ahead of and held over the bar line.

It provides a nice contrast in both feel and dynamics. The final section is more complex than the rest, but provides for a definitive finale to this sparkling work. Maple Leaf Rag SongLyricsScott Joplin (M) and Sydney Brown (L) - 1899: By 1903 the Maple Leaf Rag was quickly becoming a standard among both professional and amateur pianists, and sales were increasing outside of John Stark's realm in St. Louis as well. Even though the composer was currently in one of his feuds with Stark and not submitting new pieces to him, the publisher owned the rights to the rag and felt it was appropriate for him to also put it out as a song. The lyrics that Sydney Brown applied to it were somewhat racist intone, and in spite of Joplin's reference to razor blades in the opening verse of his 1902 Ragtime Dance, it is unlikely that he would have been appreciative of the tone of this contrived song. They apply only to the A section of the piece, and tell the story of a mildly arrogant Negro who was rescued from a pending fight at a ragtime ball by the ladies who surrounded him.

The arrogance is evident in the tag line, 'Oh go 'way man I can hypnotized is nation, I can shake de earth's foundation wid de Maple Leaf Rag. ' The very nature of the syllabic complexity of the lyrics force a somewhat subdued performance speed. The Band D sections (the trio was excised) are used merely for a dance, and don't translate with the same vibrancy in the new key of Eb, a fourth lower than the original Ab. Joplin was unlikely to have arranged this version. It was perhaps due to a number of these factors that the song was buried in mediocrity with any number of race-related songs of the time, even though the rag continued to create strong revenue for Stark. WeepingWillowScott Joplin - 1903: Weeping Willow was composed in the midst of a transitional period in Joplin's life.

He had recently married Belle Hayden, the sister of one of his collaborators, Scott Hayden, and based on his growing reputation, he felt that he was more able to flex his musical muscles and expand the scope of his writing. Joplin's recent tussle with Stark over the publication of The Ragtime Dance created a level of acrimony between composer and publisher, and when Stark moved to Saint Louis, Joplin opted to remain behind in Sedalia for some time. Thus, Weeping Willow became the second of many pieces published by a firm other than Stark's since Maple Leaf Rag. The opening of this rag is very stately and highly melodic. The B section makes good use of alternating patterns creating interesting melodic shifts. The chord progression of the C section was popular in black folk songs, and used prominently in the later hit, Tain't Nobody's BiznessIf I Do.

The D section emphasizes yet another fine melody, and accentuates the variety found between sections. This is one of the few pieces that Joplin cut as a piano roll in a 1916 session. The Favorite Scott Joplin - 1904 (1899): The Favorite was actually composed in 1899 and sold to publisher A.W. Perry that same year (before John Stark's acquisition of the Maple Leaf Rag). Why it came out 5 years later is a bit of a mystery. However, it can be speculated that Perry might have been reticent to chance release of a rag too quickly, lest ragtime turn out to be a fad. Therefore, it was possibly tucked away until Joplin's fame was growing (he had left Sedalia by this time) and someone remembered or rediscovered this acquisition.

It is clearly developed beyond the cakewalk writing that was still dominant in even 1900. The A section includes an unusual repeated triplet figure, making it a standout. In the B section, the figure in measures 5 through 8 indicate future possibilities realized in pieces like The Ragtime Dance (composed shortly thereafter), and even Euphonic Sounds. In the trio the melody is very sparse, so a bit of added flow has been added to enhance the left hand. It closes with what is clearly a march movement, tagged with the last four measures of the trio.

The wedding of the cover to the title may not be entirely logical, since The Favorite could just as easily refer to horse racing as in The Easy Winners, published in 1901. The Cascades Scott Joplin - 1904: Although ragtime for the most part was not overtly encouraged on the main grounds of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and most participating ragtime pianists were employed in venues on the amusement oriented Pike, some exceptions were made. Joplin " cascades is the most notable of these exceptions. This was one of the first times since World Expositions began that venues dedicated to liberal arts were specifically constructed. This included the enormous Festival Hall, seen in most surviving pictures of the fair. It seated 3,500 people, and the stage could accommodate well over 100 performers at one time.

Out of the back of the Festival Hall is where the actual Cascades originated, a beautifully constructed water tier that was colorfully lit at night. Several noted musicians were given ample opportunity to perform during the year long event, including John Philip Sousa and his band. The Cascades was available for sale at that time, and was performed by many bands and musicians. The A section has a lovely flowing melody that is interrupted by arpeggios, and follows the structure of the A section of his Maple Leaf Rag. The B and C sections contain patterns that could be compared to a cascade or cataract of sorts. Itis the C section that is one of the most challenging in all of ragtime, with its grand moving octave bass patterns, alternating with similar patterns in the right hand.

It is followed up by a relatively sedate ending that makes a nice bookend to this masterpiece composition. TheChrysanthemumScott Joplin - 1904: This lovely composition app.