Chapter 15-Ragtime “Hello! My Baby” a representative example of a ragtime song. lyrics: invention of the telephone Most identifying feature of ragtime music, vocal or solo piano? the rhythm syncopated melody against a steady, marchlike bass in duple meter

Roots of Ragtime Broad. Possible sources of the syncopated rhythm that is characteristic of ragtime music? dance rhythms: march or two-step cakewalk Caribbean and Latin American dance rhythms danza habanera seguidilla Creole songs from Louisiana

Ragtime as Piano Music and the Work of Scott Joplin World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 gathering of ragtime pianists Ragtime for the piano assumed what three forms? piano renditions of ragtime songs the “ragging” of unsyncopated music original compositions for the piano

Ragtime era - c.1893 to c.1920. A rise in piano and player-piano sales paralleled this period. Ragtime instruction books began to appear. Ragtime instruction studios opened. Ragtime sheet music was published. Not New York-centered “the golden age of local and regional music publishing.”

Ensembles that began to play ragtime Brass, concert, and dance bands such as that of John Philip Sousa began to perform arrangements of ragtime music.

The Musical Characteristics of Ragtime Ragtime Rhythm Syncopation “the displacing of accents from their normal position in the musical measure, so that they contradict the underlying meter”

Ragtime Form What is the form of both rag and march? a succession of musically independent “strains” of uniform length (sixteen measures) most of these “strains” or sections are repeated

Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” contrasting strains syncopation against steady, accented notes

Who was Scott Joplin? (b. 1868 in Linden, Texas; d. 1917) parents: laborers; former slaves Scott played guitar, cornet, and piano. c.1890 settled in St. Louis 1893—performed at World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago moved to Sedalia, Missouri composed, played, published stage works The Ragtime Dance (pub. 1902) A Guest of Honor (1903), lost his first opera Treemonisha (1907) 1976—won Pulitzer Prize for musical composition

Decline of Ragtime By the mid-1910s, vocal ragtime merged with mainstream popular music. Also, piano ragtime began to merge with jazz. Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) born in New Orleans pianist/bandleader key figure in the transition from ragtime era to jazz

Two Offshoots of Ragtime: Stride Piano and Novelty Piano also known as “Harlem piano” 1920s and 1930s cultivated by James Price Johnson (1894-1955) and Fats Waller (1904-43) virtuoso form, developed by pianists musical style: steady left-hand rhythmic pulse like ragtime, but expanded to wide-reaching “strides” between low bass notes and midrange offbeat chords syncopated right-hand figuration often faster than ragtime driving beat very elaborate melodic line James P. Johnson’s “If Dreams Come True” - example of stride piano. quick, steady pulse “strides” elaborate, syncopated melody

Where and when did jazz emerge? wherever there was a sizable population of African Americans in the early twentieth century What are the forms of black (or black-derived) music that came before jazz? minstrelsy ragtime blues

Brass Bands An exceptional number of black brass bands and dance orchestras were located in which American city? New Orleans What was the instrumentation of these bands? ten or twelve pieces trumpets or cornets alto and baritone horns trombones tuba clarinets drums What were some of the different functions for these bands and orchestras? concerts parades dances (smaller groups)

Parade music associated with funerals marching to the graveyard after the burial march away to the beat of the snare drum only burst into a ragtime number or a “ragged” version of a hymn or spiritual

Examples of Parade Music “Eternity” by the Eureka Brass Band in New Orleans, 1954. representative of music for marching to the graveyard slow, solemn march http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krJW2qMVv4M&feature=related “Just a Little While to Stay Here” by the Eureka Brass Band in 1954. representative of music for marching away from the graveyard upbeat, jazzy tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BBO6chcIk0