RAGTIME AND SCOTT JOPLIN

A new form of music just doesn’t happen overnight. The seeds of its development are sown and nurtured in the musical forms that came before. When ragtime music became a national craze in the 1890’s, elements of blues, jigs, spirituals and European classical music could be heard in its melodies and harmonies. Twenty years later ragtime’s popularity peaked and with America’s entry into World War 1, it gave way to jazz. However, rural America continued to embrace ragtime melodies and songs up until the present day.

Ragtime was created by traveling black piano players, many of whom played in the front parlors of houses of prostitution throughout the Midwest. This venue provided not only a living, but in the case of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and others, a chance to compose serious music based on existing forms.

Scott Joplin (1868—1917), the most important figure of ragtime and its forgotten genius until the movie The Sting in 1971, was born in Texarkana, Texas. He was considered a remarkable prodigy by his German music teacher who taught him the classics at a very young age. After his mother died, Scott argued with his father over learning a trade and he left home at fourteen. He traveled widely throughout the Midwest, meeting hundreds of musicians and soaking up an incredible variety of popular, folk and classical music. For the first time, black and white musicians were meeting as equals.

Ragtime, or ragged time, actually refers to accenting a weak beat and syncopating it against a steady bass pattern. This gives the music a jumpy, restless feel that makes people want to dance. Although its 4/4 musical tempo is similar to a European march tempo, the music is predominantly Afro-American with melodic and rhythmic roots in Negro folk song and dance. After 1910 a modified version of ragtime was taken up by Tin Pan Alley composers such as Irving Berlin and it developed into a national craze both in popular song and dance. Jefferson and Roberts wrote "I’m Certainly Living a Ragtime Life" in 1900. This has been recorded by Ian Whitcomb and gives not only a musical flavor of the times, but also an historical one as well. Here are the words:

Verse: I’ve got more trouble than I can stand,
Ever since ragtime has struck the land.
Never saw the like in all of my days,
Everyone has got the ragtime craze.

Stood it just as long as I could,

At last I got it and Igot it good.

First I didn’t want any in mine,

But now I’m right in line.

Chorus:

I’ve got a ragtime dog and a ragtime cat,

A ragtime piano in my ragtime flat.

Wear ragtime clothes from hat to shoes.

I read a paper called the Ragtime News.

Got ragtime habits and I talk that way,

I sleep in ragtime and I rag all day

Got ragtime troubles with my ragtime wife,

I’m certainly living a ragtime life.

Scott Joplin was a very serious composer who felt that he was creating a new musical art form. Most of his pieces like "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag" were divided into four distinct sections of 16 bars each and they sold very well in sheet music form throughout America in the early 1900’s. Many middle class homes had pianos in the parlor—they were the TV’s of their day and sheet music was an important source of music. These pieces were often heard at vaudeville performances which had replaced minstrel shows. The "Maple Leaf Rag" sold over one million copies and became a classic. While many composers, eager to jump on the band wagon, were merely "ragging" or syncopating the classics, Scott Joplin continued to compose lovely new pieces such as the "Ragtime Dance," the "Cascades" and the "Sycamore." Eventually ragtime piano pieces and songs filtered into the country and rural piano and guitar players picked them up by ear.

Early guitar players figured out how to produce a piano bass pattern with the thumb while at the same time, the fingers picked out a melody on the upper strings. At first this new ragtime guitar sound didn’t have the complexity of a piano, but eventually artists like Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Lemon Jefferson emerged who learned much of their technique by listening to and imitating ragtime piano players. Many of the early blind guitar players had no visible means of support and they had to rely solely on their music to stay alive. Ragtime piano and guitar playing are very popular today and probably will be part of our native American folk tradition for years to come. Over the years, guitar players such as Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn have deepened and expanded the ragtime guitar repertoire.

Tom Faigin has taught guitar banjo and mandolin to private students since 1960 while teaching guitar classes at UCLA, CSULA, CSUN and many other colleges, schools and organizations. Tom has perform on radio, TV, given concerts and lectured on folk music at California State University at Los Angeles. Currently, Tom is teaching English and ESL at James Monroe High School and actively uses folksongs and guitar music to motivate his students.