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Ragtime

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30 views

Ragtime

Uploaded by

babalwafanayo14
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Music

Grade 11

Ragtime
1
RAGTIME
 Is a style of composed piano music that flourished from the 1890s to about 1915.
 It was developed primarily by African American pianists who travelled in the mid-
west and south playing in saloons and dance halls.
 Not long after it originated, ragtime became a nationally popular style that
reached millions of people—both black and white—through sheet music, player
pianos, ragtime songs, and arrangements for dance and marching
 Ragtime piano music is generally in duple meter (2/4) and is performed at a
moderate march tempo.
 The pianist's right hand plays a highly syncopated melody, while the left hand
steadily maintains the beat with an 'oom-pah" accompaniment.
 A ragtime piece usually consists of several melodies that are similar in character.
 It takes such forms as AA BB A CC DD Or introduction—AA BB CC DD EE.
Although the forms derive from European marches and dances, the rhythms of
ragtime are rooted in African American folk music.
 Early jazz musicians often used ragtime melodies as a springboard for their
improvisations.
 The syncopations, steady beat, and piano style of ragtime were an important
legacy for jazz.

SCOTT JOPLIN (1868 – 1917)

 The acknowledged "king of ragtime".


 A composer and pianist whose father had been a slave.
 Was trained in “classical” music and wrote a ballet and two operas, as well as
many piano rags.
 His most famous piano piece was Maple Leaf Rag, named after the saloon in
Sedalia, Missouri, where he worked as a pianist.
 After it was published in 1899, Maple Leaf Rag sold hundreds of thousands of
copies. This success allowed Joplin to quit his saloon job and move to St. Louis,
where he taught and composed.
 In 1909, Joplin settled in New York City, where he spent the last years of his life.
 This was a bleak period for him: his health was poor, and he was unsuccessful in
his desperate attempts to get a professional production of his opera
Treemonisha (1911).
 Finally, in 1915, he mounted the opera himself in Harlem — without scenery,
costumes, or orchestra.
 The failure of this endeavour led Joplin to a physical and mental breakdown.
 He was confined to a hospital in 1916 and died the following year.
 Only recently has Treemonisha been revived, and with great success.

2
MAPLE LEAF RAG (1899)

 Is a classic example of ragtime.


 It lasts about 3 minutes.
 It has standard ragtime form AA BB A CC DD.
 Each section is exactly 16 bars in length.
 The opening melody (A), marked tempo di marcia (march tempo), features the
right-hand syncopations so typical of the style:

 The second melody (B) begins in a higher register than A and moves steadily
downward:

 Section C modulates to a new key and has the “oom-pah” accompaniment in


the left-hand characteristic of ragtime.
 The accompaniment includes low octaves followed by higher chords:

 The final section (D) returns to the home key and ends with a decisive cadence.

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