Ragtime music was also distributed via piano rolls for player pianos. Like classical music, and unlike jazz, classical ragtime was and is primarily a written tradition, being distributed in sheet music rather than through recordings or by imitation of live performances. The heyday of ragtime predated the widespread availability of sound recording. Some authorities consider ragtime to be a form of classical music. Jazz largely surpassed ragtime in mainstream popularity in the early 1920s, although ragtime compositions continue to be written up to the present, and periodic revivals of popular interest in ragtime occurred in the 1950s and the 1970s. Some artists, like Jelly Roll Morton, were present and performed both ragtime and jazz styles during the period the two genres overlapped. Ragtime was one of the main influences on the early development of jazz (along with the blues). In 1899, Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag was published, which became a great hit and demonstrated more depth and sophistication than earlier ragtime. However, the emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags were published. Some early piano rags are entitled marches, and "jig" and "rag" were used interchangeably in the mid-1890s (ibid.) and ragtime was also preceded by its close relative the cakewalk. Joseph Lamb's 1916 "The Top Liner Rag", a classic rag. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African-American syncopation and European classical music, though this description is oversimplified. By the start of the 20th century it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. Ragtime originated in African American musical communities, in the late 19th century, and descended from the jigs and marches played by all-black bands common in all Northern cities with black populations (van der Merwe 1989, p.63). Original ragtime pieces usually contain several distinct themes, four being most common number.Īccording to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz the musical form was originally called "ragged time" which later became corrupted to "ragtime". Converting a non-ragtime piece of music into ragtime by changing the time values of melody notes is known as "ragging" the piece. The name swing later came to be applied to an early genre of jazz that developed from ragtime. He also used the term "swing" in describing how to play ragtime music: "Play slowly until you catch the swing. Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist known as the "King of Ragtime", called the effect "weird and intoxicating". The ultimate (and intended) effect on the listener is actually to accentuate the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat. The defining characteristic of ragtime music is a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents fall between metrical beats. Ragtime is not a "time" ( meter) in the same sense that march time is 2/4 meter and waltz time is 3/4 meter, but rather it uses an effect that can be applied to music in any meter. It is also written in 3/4 time, being called "ragtime waltz". A composition in this style is called a "rag". Being a modification of the then popular march, it was usually written in 2/4 or 4/4 time (meter), frequently with a predominant left hand pattern of bass notes on odd-numbered beats and chords on even-numbered beats accompanying a syncopated melody in the right hand. It began as dance music in popular music settings years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Ragtime was the first truly American musical genre, preceding jazz. It has had several periods of revival in popularity and is still being composed today. Ragtime is an American musical genre enjoying its peak popularity between 18. Second edition cover of "Maple Leaf Rag", perhaps the most famous rag of all
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |