How to Appreciate Ragtime
Ragtime gained popularity in the 1890s as it moved out of its beginnings in brothels and saloons and into American and European dance and concert halls. Today, "The Entertainer" is the most well-known ragtime, but there's an entire world of music to discover in this American form of music. Read on to learn more.
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Instructions
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Research the origins of ragtime music. It has its roots in African-American marches and jigs played in the North, and in the cakewalk played in the South. Ragtime was mainly a Midwestern and Southern phenomena, with Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana yielding many innovative ragtime composers.
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Understand how ragtime is played. Classic ragtime is performed solo on a piano, with the left hand providing a steady beat and the right hand playing a syncopated melody, creating a "rag" rhythm. Many see this approach as borrowing from African rhythm and European melody to create a truly American fusion. Small bands and full orchestras may also play ragtime.
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Listen to Scott Joplin, a composer and musician known as the King of Ragtime, who helped the style become popular. When he was young, he learned classical music from his piano teacher. He brought this understanding to his ragtime compositions, creating what some say is a truly American vision of classical music.
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Experience other classic ragtime composers, and classic rags. Scott Hayden, James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Tom Turpin and Artie Matthews all wrote rags. Additionally, any song with the word "rag" in the title borrows heavily from ragtime if it isn't ragtime itself.
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Learn ragtime dances and dance to the music. The video series "How to Dance Through Time" gives historically accurate, step-by-step instructions for ragtime dances in "Volume II: Dances of the Ragtime Era: 1910-1920." With a focus on the Animal Dances of the era-the Fox Trot, the Squirrel, the Turkey Trot, the Grizzly-you can learn a range of ways to express the music.
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Purchase ragtime sheet music if you play piano, or even if you read music. Because its heyday occurred before phonograph records were produced, ragtime was shared through sheet music. You can buy vintage ragtime sheet music online at stores like Autumn's Vintage Paper Ephemera & Advertising, or you can buy new sheet music at most music stores.
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Attend the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, or one of many other festivals offered throughout the United States. Though ragtime music no longer enjoys the popularity it had at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, you can still find musicians who perform it live. Attending a festival is the best way to experience live ragtime.
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