Scott Joplin: How Ragtime Changed Music

[@stischer47]

When I was much younger, my grandmother would play Maple Leaf Rag on our upright. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized it was the pop music of her time growing up. It's been over 70 years but I remember sitting on the bench next to her as she happily played the music, smiling and winking at me. I miss you Awma.

[@roberthoffhines5419]

THANK YOU for hearing the Wagner in Joplin's music. (20:39) he kills me when he does that. I love the subtle sophistication of his music. There's a nostalgia. The way his cadences always gravitate towards home in such an affirming way. I think it's harmonic tempo that arches way over his cookin' rhythm...I can't put my finger on it, but it just tickles my brain.

[@thesucka397]

i feel that specifically in fig leaf rag, all the other ones give nostalgia because i used to listen to them a lot in middle school

[@rdbury507]

My favorite is "Solace". Slow ragtime in the right hand, but a Latin American habanera in the left. But the melody and harmonies are what stand out, somehow both heartbreaking and lovely.

[@themusicprofessor]

Oh yes - I agree. Wonderful piece.

[@lewisr1353]

Solace is great!

[@jwmc41]

It is a wonderful piece. and quite difficult to keep together rhythmically. Would like to hear the professor play it!

[@patavinity1262]

The first jazz musicians were born over 150 years ago. Extraordinary to think.

[@evanmisejka4062]

I am ashamed to admit that i have slept on Gladiolus rag despite calling myself a Scott Joplin fan. That version of me is in my past now and i may even start learning it. Ragtime was the first genre of music I really enjoyed listening to way back in 7th grade and it is because of Scott Joplin that I am a composer and a music major. My first major compositions were rags and were exactly as you described as "variations on Maple Leaf" Then my lense fixed on Bach and Baroque music but it all started with Scott Joplin.

[@brucemcintyre6088]

Gladiolus is a major step in Joplin’s development of the ragtime form, basically a rewrite/improved version of Maple Leaf with everything he’d learned to that point. In Maple Leaf the majority of bass clef measures are bass-chord-bass-chord, or bass-chord-chord-five, one(new bar). By 1907 he had begun the process of freeing ragtime from the monotony of this left hand style, and another few years later he had managed to virtually eliminate the pattern in Euphonic Sounds. The final published piece, Magnetic Rag, actually does go back to both the home key and the original theme, but then follows it up with a farewell coda whose notes almost sing out “well it’s been fun, but I don’t think I’ll be around much longer.”

[@halfpace1462]

Magnetic rag is a fantastic piece, my personal favorite by a mile tho euphonic sounds is great too

[@Tindallhall]

Gladiolus has always been my favourite- love that noble 3rd strain!

[@sergiofiadeiro]

Your absolutely right in your performative approach to Joplin's music. After all, "it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing" as Ellington beautifully put it. and it made Loki dance!

[@ccfliege]

Don't forget the great "Heliotrope Bouquet" Its just so unique this tune I love it

[@randibar6847]

Sweet collaboration with Louis Chauvin. Chicago.

[@DusanPavlicek78]

There was a time when I was absolutely obsessed with Scott Joplin's music and in was through his music that I realized, after about 10 years of learning classical piano, that there are also other types of music that can be played on the piano, not just the "boring" etudes 😅 The Gladiolus Rag is lovely of course, and my other favourite piece has been Solace which just like Treemonisha intends to be a more serious piece of music.

[@chrissahar2014]

For those visiting New York City, Scott Joplin's grave is found in the Astoria/East Elmhurst section of the borough of Queens in NYC (not too far from LaGuardia airport). The nearby Astoria neighborhood is fun neighborhood to check out when visiting Joplin's grave. Also the cemetery - St. Michael's does have a day of commemorating Scott Joplin's music on the day of his death or his birth.

[@SquidzYT]

Thank you for viewing Joplin's works as not crazy saloon music - a very common misconception - but rather more classical. I love how you went beyond the Entertainer and instead used one of his less famous rags, especially Gladiolus. And especially the fact that you view Gladiolus as more of a lyrical piece, with a "tragic turn" (that's beautiful). Your introduction to syncopation and how ragtime came about is on point! However, I do not prefer Joplin swung, maybe with the exception of Maple Leaf, especially Gladiolus, a very graceful and calm piece that doesn't need the use of swing. Overall, I think you have the best introduction to ragtime on KZbin! Great job!

[@TheloniousCube]

Ragtime does come out of a tradition of lower class popular dance music - if that means "crazy saloon music" to you, then so be it. Joplin's desire to be considered as above those roots does not obligate us to ignore them.

[@themusicprofessor]

Cheers.

[@SquidzYT]

@ I was referring to the misconception that ragtime was an unhinged Honky-Tonk style, like Winnie Atwell or Jo Ann Castle.

[@latibes]

Lovely performance. You gave Joplin the respect his music deserves!

[@cgpyper7536]

Thank you, Professor, for an informative, incisive, and entertaining lesson.

[@heinrichneubert128]

Scott Joplin's unique compositions were for me always part of the best traditions of "chamber music". It is always rewarding to listen carefully to his many amazing harmonic turns and ideas. His music is full of authentic sentiment. Never understood why anyone could take it for "mere entertainment", it is great art. Julius Weiss, a political fugitive from the German 1848 revolution, taught piano to the children of a family, where Scott's mother was working. Scott was sometimes around when his mother was there, that's why Weiss discovered his talent. There are piano roll recordings by Joplin.Piano rolls are famously unreliable concerning dynamics and tempo, but the rythm can be identified. There is no swing in Scott Joplin's performance, I doubt he used it. But I don't think it's a sacrilege to add swing occasionally to one of his pieces. Thank you very much for your enlightening word and heartwarming performance.

[@picksalot1]

Love Scott Joplin's music. He was the Chopin of Ragtime. My favorite performer of his piano music is Joshua Rifkin. Absolutely beautiful playing.

[@liquiditey]

Rifkin's interpretation of Magnetic rag is the pinnacle in my opinion 💯

[@davidmackie8552]

I went to a Rifkin concert 50 years,ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@theoryman1]

I was obsessed with Joplin as a kid. Gladiolus was always my favorite, and I think the D section is the best ragtime music ever written. I do prefer straight eighths, but maybe that's because of Rifkin. Your interpretation is lovely! And the fact that it even makes dogs dance shows why it was such a sensation at the time.

[@joex24b]

Yes, the dog tells the story.

[@doctoraardvark190]

I've always liked "Solace, a Mexican Serenade". Very melancholic. "Gladiolus" is right up there, though. Well-played!

[@themusicprofessor]

Solace is wonderful.

[@hueywallop2461]

Nice job bringing out the wistful side of Joplin, which can only be heard at the slower tempi you chose. I find Joplin challenging because the right hand has to play legato, whilst the left hand must be crisp. As you pointed out, Joplin's rags follow the 19th century marching band form: 4 bar introduction, A-B-A, add 1 flat for the trio.

[@oscresson]

A master class for both experienced musicians and the rest of us. Bravo!

[@daltonridenhour]

I think the harmonic bit in the third strain of Gladiolus (with the chromatic LH) is an ode to Chopin's Eb Nocturne (the progression that leads back to the main theme)

[@chrisdurhammusicchannel]

Beautiful rag!!!! And wonderful doggie dance!!!! 🐕🐕🐕🐕

[@leecornwall8381]

A true artist. Someone who develops their own style and adds to the artistic world.

[@BenTrem42]

I'm real good at what I do _(I swear degugging complex systems is _*_like doing Tarot!)_* but ... I guess I'm a dullard. The inventiveness in such as this just ... it exceeds my mental capacity. p.s. watched long doco on Da Vinci y'day. Temps me to write *_unearthly!_*

[@RadicalCaveman]

You mean Loki?

[@WestVillageCrank]

As ever, I love your work. A couple notes: the pronunciation of the opera is tree-mon-NEE-shuh. And when it was produced by the Huston Grand Opera, it was orchestrated by my composition teacher, TJ Anderson.

[@markfilippone3845]

I saw Treemonisha on Broadway five decades ago, and at the end of that particular performance an ancient Eubie Blake was presented to the audience by the a companying conductor who surprisingly introduced him! It was a wonderful, unique experience! Bravo! Indeed!

[@elizabethfrootloop7814]

I love the swing! ❤. It layers sophisticated warping of space time on top of an already sophisticated poly rhythm.

[@johnlewis2707]

I enjoy your videos. In. the 70s, I had to order the complete Joplin rags (scores) from USA, unavailable in UK.. A couple of years later, music shops were full of them., Gladiolus is also one of my faves - as you point out, a lot of remarkable harmonic sophistication in the last 2 choruses, giving the piece a wistful, melancholic (yet heroic) air. One of my favourite composers is Ives, whose music is full of ragtime rhythms, often in an hilariously distorted fashion - a bit like "Joplin on acid". Ives and Joplin were roughly contemporaries yet inhabited very different worlds. Ives was of course very familiar with vernacular music of the time (and Joplin inversely wanted to be taken as a "classical' composer), but I've never found any evidence that Ives was familiar with Joplin's rags. A video about Ives from you would be most welcome. Thanks,

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, I'd like to discuss Ives at some point.

[@nintendianajones64]

The Pineapple Rag and The Wallstreet Rag are my favorites. Incredible music.

[@timothy4664]

I love the pineapple rag too.

[@AlbertoSegovia.]

Cascades and Original Rags are sweet,

[@JiveDadson]

That's a favorite of mine, too. On the original sheet music, it was spelled "The Pine Apple Rag."

[@hnnymn]

Excellent choices!

[@McCleves]

Wall Street rag is just amazing. Such good harmony. Very sophisticated rag. I also like Search Light rag which is much lighter and fun, but still has the same Joplin aura

[@Juplers]

What a fantastic video, thank you for covering Joplin!

[@MouzafphaerrePostal]

Thank you and well done Professor. Since Loki loved it, you are above and beyond all criticism :D

[@florisdejong4661]

Found a new channel, subscribed! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Enjoyed every minute. 🎵

[@JiveDadson]

Joshua Rifkin rescued Joplin's rags. Mid-century, the typical ragtime band wore striped shirts, suspenders, and boaters and played in a ricky ticky style too fast. Kitsch.

[@scottymocap]

Marvin Hamlisch might’ve had a greater effect popularizing Joplin’s rags, steering many (me included) to Rifkin’s records. It was Hamlisch’s shortened version of Solace that exploded my brain, altering every cell in my body, changing me forever. And after I consumed Rifkin’s glorious renditions, I realized that as a composer Joplin is up there with Bach, Lennon, and McCartney.

[@notmyworld44]

LOVE IT, my friend! You and Loki, both of you touched my heart with the Gladiolus Rag. I have tears in my eyes. I am 80, born and raised here in America, and I remember when I was a small child Joplin's and Sousa's wonderful music was staple radio repertoire. Thank you again from a grateful subscriber in northwestern Arkansas USA.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@Billblom]

Years ago, I saw a bio pic on Joplin and his interaction with another rag composer... One of tyhe things that came up was improv competitions to find the best artist capable of improvising "live"--- I can see where that could influence a lot of other ragtime composers.

[@salcarusomusic]

GREAT VIDEO !!! Happy birthday Scott Joplin . LOVED your interpretational rendition at the end . Bravo

[@Blimey2342]

This is great! Thank you for the lesson and wonderful performance. You and Loki were both swinging!

[@izzyk9601]

Loki is so cute! He’s very happy to hear some Ragtime!

[@themusicprofessor]

He is cute.

[@JeremyLeach-i8y]

Nice to get all the background info and you did a wonderful job. I've only played some ragtime pieces as an amateur but have always appreciated the compositions and I think you pinpoint the emotional sides to the sound very well. Personally one of my favourites is Ragtime Nightingale that he composed with Joseph Lamb I believe.

[@colinchaves9285]

Thank you that was very informative as I do enjoy the maple leaf rag as it's one of my favourites. Every time I hear Scott Joplin it always reminds me of the silent movies with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton , perhaps it Shows different emotions is the reason why it was used so often

[@erikheddergott5514]

I am a proud Owner of Tresmonisha on „Deutsche Grammophon“. I love it.

[@floramondecar9884]

Oooohhh!!!

[@erikheddergott5514]

@@floramondecar9884 Conducted by Gunther Schuller and The Houston Grand Opry Orchestra. Deutsche Grammophon is the leading Label for „Classical Music“. And Gunther Schuller a Leading Third Streamer and Connaisseur of American Music.

[@profsjp]

Thank you: another masterclass! Your placing of artistry always to the fore, along with the sheer joy of experiencing and knowing music, is very special.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@MrStrocube]

Thanks, Doc. That was fun. Great piano playing.

[@nickarteaga175]

Your musical analysis is spot on as always. There are a few historical data points I have contention with here. It is very unlikely Joplin ever worked as a laborer on the railroad. This is often repeated but there’s no evidence of this. Little is known about Joplin's earlier life other than he toured with a vocal quartet, The Texas Medley Quartet, that he formed as a teenager with a few of his brothers. The group was quite successful and toured all over the midwest and northern states (as far as Boston). His earliest published songs (not rags) were ones he wrote for this group. Later when he moved from Texarkana to Sedalia, Missouri, he performed cornet with the River City Concert band. I also disagree with the oft repeated "Joplin was not a good pianist." This may be true but what is more likely is he was simply not a flashy one compared to his friends and contemporaries that worked in vaudeville and red light districts. As a ragtime pianist/composer Joplin was very much an anomaly, he played his music “more or less as written’ (according to his colleague, Joe Jordan) while nearly every other ragtime pianist improvised to various degrees. Another student from Joplin’s St. Louis period (1905ish) named Gus Haenschen was interviewed late in his life and said Joplin played very similar to “this young man named Joshua Rifkin.” There are recordings by Joplin’s contemporaries and students such as Arthur Marshall, Brun Campbell and Charles Thompson who have a very free improvisatory manner of playing. As for the “St. Louis swing,” this is a matter very misunderstood. Swing means something very different to us in the 21st century. The way we think of swing, i.e long-short triplets, is anachronistic to Joplin’s day. That is a product of the jazz age, the 1920s. The ragtime pianists who recorded and who were active in Joplin’s era played in a slightly more subtle uneven manner, not full long short triplets, or they didn’t “swing” at all. It was closer to how older American fiddlers played. To play a Joplin rag in a long short triplet “swung” manner, and especially as notated, would have been very foreign to Joplin and his contemporaries.

[@theoryman1]

I was going to make some similar points but you said it better.

[@PiotrBarcz]

Swing has a percentage, triplet swing is 66 percent, the ragtime era bounce was closer to 53 percent if not lower, the subdivisions are extremely subtle. Rifkin pulls this off in his recordings, especially of Maple Leaf Rag and Pineapple Rag (in the trio). Same mechanic, varying degrees of intensity.

[@nickarteaga175]

@@PiotrBarcz I think I could have explained this part better. Yes, "swing" really should be thought of as a spectrum that doesn't lend itself to European notation. Jazz era swing is closer to exact long short triplets while earlier American styles are not necessarily. How much a ragtime musician "swung" would largely depend on what region they were from. This spectrum can be heard in many recordings of pre jazz era pop music. A lot of "classical" pianists, particularly non American ones are not familiar with these recordings so they don't grasp this concept. I know YOU know this but I'm writing this for others.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@nickarteaga175 I mean even in the jazz era you heard close to stilted swing and then bebop stuff is very light almost straight but I get what you're getting at there.

[@the_eternal_paradox]

got around to watching this one today!! I think I enjoy Joplin in the same way that I enjoy Gottschalk, for their joyful rhythms you can't really find anywhere else; and their journeys and choices to fuse their comfortable, personal tradition with European influence are so strikingly similar... a video on Mr. Louis M. Gottschalk someday?? 👀

[@tommccanna7036]

I'll second that!

[@paulhasser625]

I enjoyed your comments and interpretation of Gladiolus Rag. The swing and variations in tempo are subtle and enhances the performance. I became enamored with the Maple Leaf Rag when I heard the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble’s recording in the early 1970’s. I found the sheet music in the middle of the book “They All Played Ragtime” and learned it in the summer of 1974 (imitating the ensemble slightly swing style). I went on to learn Elite Syncopations, Sunflower Slow Drag (written with Scott Hayden) and the always requested The Entertainer. They’re all a bit rusty now but I enjoy playing them now and again.

[@jsizemo]

If you’re going this direction, do a video on Eubie Blake. Unlike Joplin, he lived quite a long life, nearly a century!

[@TheRealGnolti]

Anyone who has listened to Joplin since childhood, as I and others did with Rifkin's album and others, knows that its umame-like balance of melancholy and joyousness is unrivaled. (I'm surprised you didn't mention Solace, which truly reaches the stars.) And yes, when you listen to the late Schubert of D. 946 and even some late Beethoven this same quality is there, as well as the harmonies you point out.

[@themusicprofessor]

Solace is marvellous. I'll look at it some time.

[@unclvinny]

When I think of wistful, somber Joplin I think of Solace. Very nice to hear Gladiolus, I didn’t know that one!

[@tomcarroll6744]

Thank you for the fine dissertation on a lovely piece of music. I was very fortunate to be introduced to Ragtime in my mid twenties at the El Segundo Music Hall in the early 70's. As it happened, that was a hub for the re-discovery of Ragtime. I got to hear many lectures and experience some great performances. Ian Whitcome was there sometimes, Dick Zimmerman played, Ubie Blake performed in his 90's. We also attended the Maple Leaf Club at the old Mayflower Hotel in Santa Monica. Hearing the music and listening to the lecture is bittersweet, it was a special time for me. Alas! My albums went the way of (most) all vinyl.

[@drnickyp]

Fascinating! - perhaps a follow-up film about the music of Billy Mayerl? Loved Loki’s dance…

[@themusicprofessor]

You're the 2nd person to mention Mayerl. Yes, some time I'd be delighted to. Loki enjoyed his dance.

[@rolandosarabia810]

Thank you 👍 Very illuminating and concise

[@obelusyt]

Truly inspiring lecture Professor! Thanks.

[@jeff__w]

Because, as you say, the “Gladiolus Rag”-which might now be my new favorite Scott Joplin piece-follows the “template” of the “Maple Leaf Rag,” it sounds like some alternative version of the “Maple Leaf Rag,” that someone comes up with to _evoke_ Scott Joplin but uses instead to avoid copyright issues or something. _But_ it’s actually better-with the “harmonic sophistication” at 19:20 and the “Wagnerian turn” at 20:34. It’s delightful.

[@kyleethekelt]

Thank you so much for covering Joplin. Perhaps you might consider covering 'A Breeze from Alabama' as I think his modulations were very Schubertian, along with that straight major third jump from C to Aflat major (classic Beethoven). I think I read somewhere that Joplin continually grumbled about his music being played too fast and not as ritten. Oh, and don't forget the handful of lovely waltzes. Bethena is my favourite of these.

[@joex24b]

I commented above that Joplin cautioned against playing ragtime fast.

[@floramondecar9884]

I LOVE Bethena! 🥰 My favorite version is the Labeque Sisters version from Gladrags that came out 40 years ago. It's a more poignant version, more emotive. Also I'm stuck on the Magnetic Rag.

[@natetheannihilnater1886]

Silver Swan Rag is probably my favorite piece of his. Though i really enjoy the Scott Hayden collab pieces. When i listen to Joplin's music, i feel like im hearing how popular american music was created. Some pieces have very moody chord changes (bright and happy, to darker melancholy sounds). Very adventurous and clever chord changes and melodies. I am an electric guitar player, though sometimes i try to figure out his melodies on there. I spend a lot of time finding a recording of his songs at a tempo that i like, as usually its too fast or slow for me, but still enjoy it regardless.

[@dabeamer42]

Once you started adding the swing in your performance, I was immediately put in mind of William Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost", my favorite "modern" rag. Rightly or wrongly, I have always played it on the slow side, and at that tempo, swinging it seems to be just the right thing to do. So you'll get no "How Dare You!" comments from me on your swinging Joplin. Now I'm going to have to dig up that sheet music and play it again. Thanks!

[@nickarteaga175]

Bolcom himself swung Graceful Ghost in his first recording of it but he preferred not to later on, and most serious pianists don't anymore. I think it trivializes it. Swinging Gladiolus on the other hand is not merely a matter of taste, one can do so and one might prefer it but it is historically anachronistic to do so. This type of swing would have been unknown to Joplin.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Lovely piece! Lovely playing too.

[@johannagoldenberg3300]

Thank you! And beautifully played - seems like a doodle for you while you explain right over your playing. You are always so enjoyable to watch, and I learn so much (plus Loki is adorable 😊) After some nasty accidents with my hands (broke both thumbs and both wrists, and damage to an ulnar nerve), my playing is severely curtailed. But I can still listen and learn, and be entertained in the process.

[@jamiepastman5594]

i love your work here, thank you for talking about the importance of Joplin. I need to say though, that when you demonstrate parts from it, sometimes you are going at nearly twice the marked tempo. It’s better slower, as Joplin intended. There’s kind of a hidden melancholy beneath the jauntiness that gets lost if too fast. I’m sure you know that, sorry. love your dog, he seems to understand everything you say - i had a dog like that too

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

I was *just* showing my daughter Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" and giving her context via Koji Kondo's musical brilliance on SMB2/Doki Doki Panic's overworld theme! 😁 In fact... I'm about to release a fun remix of that music on my channel. Joplin was the KING! ❤️🎹❤️ May his work stand as strong as Chopin's, Beethoven's, Billy Joel's, or any other master craftsman's.

[@61hink]

I love Scott Joplin and think Gladiolus is one of his most beautiful. The other ragtime composer I recall being most impressed with is Joseph Lamb. I haven't heard much of his music in years but I believe I enjoyed pieces like Nightingale Rag, American Beauty Rag, Patricia Rag and Cottontail Rag.

[@danielstowens1431]

Thanks!

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you so much!

[@jeremiahreilly9739]

What a brilliant performance! You nailed the tempo. And the slight St. Louis swing was delightful.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@nigelhaywood9753]

I felt that both you and Loki were at your finest in this one! Excellent! Such warm music, it's a real tonic, but it stands up to and actually gains from closer inspection.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

I've been playing this music since the day after the first TV Ad for the upcoming premier of The Sting, which I attended opening night. I never imagined someone would join Chopin. I'm currently completing my melodic rhythmic phrasing structure study. It's a database of my own coding design, in plain text, fed into a LLM. I'll be developing a Joplin Rag Agent, complete with customizable dashboards and analysis tools for the musician/pianist/scholar. By the way, very nice playing (Scott Carpenter is also good) until the "swing". Pure white boy. Keep playing along with the recordings. Also, you see that it's "oom pah", not "oom oom". Thank you. Joplin's bass lines are as good as anyone's. Nice job drawing out the ascending half steps. But hose alternating intervals and octaves have an underlying rhythmic context which, like a good African drummer, when properly modulated, give the poly rhythms their "speech" component. The issue here is, I believe, due to the playback limitations of piano rolls (tacks in the hammers, etc.) which flatten the poly-emphasis subtleties. And you're on to something about the "classical" and "lamenting" quality. There are, despite the virtual monopoly of one type, 2 distinct approaches to interpretation: Jelly Roll Morton (pre-rock/rap) and James Reese Europe, who spoke of "pretty" interpretations, hence the Gershwin/Ellington line. Also, a very important date, which allowed me to carry my sheet music in the Classical Piano Dept hallways without open scorn, was the publication of the "yellow" Schirmer edition, aptly enough, #2020, edited by Max Morath. Thank you, first "Classical" type not to destroy Joplin in a long time.

[@SepulvedaBoulevard]

The melancholy aspect - the pathos - has always seemed to me the signature of Joplin

[@vrixphillips]

he swung it, as far as I know. In fact, there's a note on "how to play ragtime" at the front of my Dover Edition of his Complete Rags that we would recognize was "swinging it".

[@robertklose2140]

I'd love to hear you discuss Joseph Lamb's rags, and compare them to Joplin's.

[@vallewabbel9690]

Awesome video and I very much enjoyed lokis dancing

[@ThalesF75]

I heard somewhere on YT Mapple Leaf swung and I have played it so ever since. Feels so jazzy!

[@trickysam04]

Bravo. That performance brought a tear to my eye - in a good way. One of my musical colleagues is quite an expert in this idiom - particularly the slightly later music of Jelly Roll Morton. He would certainly concur with the swinging approach, but not to the dotted semi - demi extent. More of a triplet feel. So once again you have that 3 over 4 thing which you already pointed out. A case has been made for writing jazz in 12/8 rather than 4/4... so what gets written as, say two quavers, is noted as a crotchet and quaver (with four dotted crotchets to the bar) If you write for "straight players" in this way, the result is MUCH closer to that jazz "swing" thanhaving them play just quavers, or dotted quaver-semi. You say how "pianistic" Joplin's writing is, and yes it does, for the most part, fall nicely under the fingers, but foe the dominant feature is his attempt to imitate the marching band. The left hand octaves are strongly reminiscent of tuba (or Sousaphone!) and trombone lines. The 'off-beat' chords are the back row cornets and peck horns, whilst the right reminds one of trumpets, clarinets and the high winds... He would have heard a lot of this style of band - and it is also no coincidence that traditional ragtime form is identical to march form! Great stuff.

[@georgemaupin6787]

I also like"The Entertainer" both in Scott J's rag time &.swing the A section, for variation.😊

[@remorrey]

Oh mam! You're playing the same era that my uncle and mother had 33 1/3 records of. I'd love to wind up the old Victrola and dream of the late 19th and early 20th century. Would be a dream come true for all of Joplins works to be analyzed and played by you.

[@allanarpollock9683]

Thanks

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@margarethansen7480]

Great video, thanks for that❤And subscribed

[@izzyk867]

I came for the ragtime, but stayed for Loki’s dancing! 😂🐾

[@themusicprofessor]

Loki doesn't really know what ragtime is but he does like dancing.

[@lanebrain55]

Excellent !

[@robertrobb1290]

Brilliant heartfelt informative video. Will have to listen to more of Joplin's music. What did you think of Treemonisha? Did he go further from his compositional style? Nice performance!

[@themusicprofessor]

I've only heard parts of Treemonisha. It seems to contain some lovely music. It's very rarely played and it would be very interesting to see a good production of it.

[@PedroCristian]

Please plan a video on the hommage on ragtime done by composers like William Bolcom.

[@johnchessant3012]

21:40 "it's quite entertaining" "I am 'The Entertainer'" LOL

[@jackscheppert]

As a fan of Techno and Classical music, I enjoyed this video.

[@djonakachopper]

Wonderful!

[@theamaturepro]

My grandma loved his waltzes and I credit her for me pursuing piano. As soon as I could drive, I visited her every day after school and played for her. I learned piano playing ragtime, which oddly has made it very difficult for me to play classical music. I can sight read Joplin and struggle with Mozarts C Sonata. It's weird and totally backwards.

[@themusicprofessor]

Well it is a very different rhythmic feel.

[@guymontag1393]

A joy for my minds and my heart

[@spicken]

Wonderful, I hasn't quite prepared myself to hear Schubert, Wagner, chromatic descent and Scott Joplin all wrapped up together 😅 I'm going to listen to more, again. I didn't notice the subtlety the first time I heard his pieces over 40 years ago.

[@halfpace1462]

Magentic Rag takes the cake for me

[@larryjohnson6385]

His music is magical😍😍👍😎

[@mdhj67]

I am now a Scott Joplin fan.

[@durthed]

Love James Scott & Joseph Lamb also!

[@jamesscottvideos]

Awfully nice of you. 😉

[@peteannells4218]

Great to hear your thoughts on Scott Joplin; Macmillan's ballet 'Elite Syncopations' features music by Joplin, and others, including the achingly beautiful Bethena (a concert waltz...reading the liner notes in the DVD !) This was the first piece that Joplin wrote after his wife's death I believe. (Blame Radio 3 if that's wrong.) After the fun and games earlier in the ballet it gives the impression that things are winding down...for the evening, for ragtime ? Also: John James, The Welsh Wizard', made his name as a ragtime guitarist playing Joplin et al on the guitar in his own arrangements. 'Slow Drag', 'Silver Swan', 'Maple Leaf Rag' etc. worth a look on You Tube.

[@stephenbender7593]

Scott Joplin was a freak of nature.

[@patrickshawstewart1538]

The comparison with classical composers has got to be with Schubert. And the link is encapsulated by the word "lyrical". I'm thinking about the Impromptus - which the rags are, really. Also you mentioned Stravinsky's Ragtime which I just checked out. Exactly like Bernstein's West Side Story

[@lanebrain55]

I am trying to perform the Treemonisha overture with my orchestra. The rental costs are an issue.

[@L.Kurihara39]

Actually another thought. I realised that due to the supportive role of the left hand in ragtime I feel he would’ve been amazing at writing a waltz Rather than 2/4 he could’ve easily don’t a 3/4 triplet times syncopated waltz I wish he did that, I feel it would’ve taken the waltz form even further. He would’ve benefited from the swing rhythms of the Mazurka also. Even the Gigue would’ve fit his syncopated style in an amazing way

[@themusicprofessor]

All true. He DID write a beautiful waltz called Bethena. It's one of his best pieces.

[@Juplers]

He did, he wrote various syncopated and non syncopated waltz's. Bethena and Pleasant Moment are syncopated. Binks' Waltz is a good example of a non syncopated waltz from him.

[@L.Kurihara39]

@@themusicprofessor wow 😆 I’ve not listened to much so I didn’t know, I’ll have to listen to it. Perfect

[@L.Kurihara39]

@@Juplers I’ll have listen as soon as possible !

[@NicHailey-x7f]

Great video. I was brought up on Rifkin, but the swing makes real sense. The coda section here is I think the most beautiful in all Joplin

[@dylan-kerry]

The swing is not how ragtime would have been played at all. Rifkin once stated he started out playing Joplin in such a manner before realising how it should be played straight. Swing was an idea that came later on with jazz and stride and such styles and wouldn’t have been applied to ragtime much at all and certainly not to Joplins rags. They should be played straight if one wants to play them as intended.

[@TheloniousCube]

@@dylan-kerry 1930s "swing" is now only one use of the term. Jazz players also talk about the "swing" of earlier eras/styles. Some measure of swing is entirely appropriate for ragtime - it originates in an tradition of dance music (and dance is swing).

[@dylan-kerry]

@@TheloniousCube I never said it had anything to do with Swing bands specifically. You hear it in every sort of jazz and from stride too. In ragtime though, it was hardly used asides a few passages in rags such as American Beauty and Joplin should never be swung

[@TheloniousCube]

@@dylan-kerry How do you purport to know what the performance practices were in the environment where ragtime developed. Joplin may have had his opinions on his own music, but we needn't take those opinions as gospel.

[@themusicprofessor]

@TheloniousCube absolutely right!

[@larryjohnson6385]

Weeping willow rag❤️❤️❤️

[@hnnymn]

Well done, well played! Isn't it curious that the best renderings of Joplin's compositions are by classical players!? You could hardly have chosen a better piece to examine than the Gladiolus. I'd rank it perhaps the third best of Joplin's rags, surpassed only by the Magnetic (#2) and Scott Joplin's New Rag (the best of them all in my estimation). I wholeheartedly agree with “wistful” to describe the mood of most of Joplin's music. His nature was not given to eternal sunshine. I applaud your performance of the Gladioulus and the Maple Leaf. First, and most important, you take the music seriously. From that, the moderate tempo and fidelity to the score naturally emanate. Very Rifkinesque - which I mean in the most complimentary way. We who love Joplin owe so much to Rifkin, who drew aside the curtain of oblivion and showed us all how lovely this music was, if only it was performed with skill and sensitivity.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you so much!

[@kjmav10135]

In 1971, when I was eleven years old, I found the sheet music for the The Maple Leaf Rag tucked away in my grandparent’s piano bench. It was very large format, and as I recall, an original 1899 copy. I put it up on the upright and started picking it out. By 1975, I pretty much had it down! I’m not sure what happened to that copy in the ensuing years, but listening to you right now, I am brought back to the upright in my grandparent’s Chicago bungalow-playing it OVER and OVER again. I’m 64 now, and I can still pull off the first page or two from memory. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful innocent days. ❤

[@LukePellen]

Superb!... Thanks for the vid. I'm a pianist and a Joplin fan, but only just learnt he shares my birthday 101 years apart.

[@stonex3077]

i think the double appogiatura sections in the gladiolus rag are more reminiscent of something more like a beethoven piano sonata rather than a sousa march, although i do hear the elements of a sousa march in other sections of this piece.

[@themusicprofessor]

I think there's an influence from both.

[@jasonenos9138]

Some of my fun observations on Joplin's rags. I classify strains by the first heard chord and the harmonic intent (tonic). As such, I call the first strain of Maple Leaf a "tonic" rag/strain, the second and third strains as "dominant" strains, and the fourth a "subdominant". The subdominant is the least common strain in Joplin's work and usually appears in his Maple Leaf clones (like Sugar Cane). He'll also occasionally use dominant strains as his opening first strains, like Palm Leaf Rag. Also, for more harmonic sophistication, check out his Magnetic Rag. The opening notes are so chromatic, it's hard to determine the total center. Then he spends the rest of the rag in a weird arch formation, where the middle of the arch is in the home key but is NOT a return to the first strain! The second and fourth are minor strains, where we have g minor and b flat minor, the two minor keys relating to the tonic. It's sophistication brought to the ragtime form!

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, I'm a big fan of Magnetic Rag

[@randibar6847]

“The Chysanthemum” is the masterpiece. Ab again. He was writing with horn players in mind. Db, Ab, Eb.