What is ragtime? -- A demonstration

[@BachScholar]

Excellent explanations. The one-step sounds like Schumann.

[@SissyFlower5]

I'm a classical musician and don't know too much about ragtime, and this was very informative. Thanks! (Not to mention it featured my favorite one-hit wonder, Pachelbel! :P) One part that made me laugh out loud was your description of how people thought ragtime music was going to make people insane. That seems to happen every time a new musical genre emerges. It's always the "devil's music" and will "destroy society" (Not to mention "corrupt the youth"...) People think that mindset is new, that it started with rock and roll or jazz, but it's been going on since at least the classical era. xD (Or even earlier, with the first emergence of secular music)

[@nonsochefare2326]

You're right :D they've said it with jazz, rock and even now with electronic music

[@Keeper1st]

I read an article recently that cites a letter written by a member of a royal family who heard Mozart play and also claimed it to be devil's music. Some things never change!

[@LadyIarConnacht]

I think it's interesting though, that doctors had noticed the calming effect of music on the brain and heart, which is a real thing. So this music made purposely to excite the senses must have seemed quite abnormal to them.

[@Michael-st9ky]

Ragtime is the devils music

[@rainqd1889]

poor paganini and Liszt

[@JTLCritRocket777]

Holy crap, I am so playing Canon in Ragtime now.

[@jemuzu0944]

Jireh Lo that will be awesome

[@WillBravoNotEvil]

Upload or it never happened.

[@zuzannawisniewska4464]

A very informative lesson. Excellent exsplanations.Thanks for the ragtime...I wish I knew that version...10. July 2023...Austin, Texas.

[@aidangittings]

I was asked to play canon at a wedding. I wish I knew this version then...

[@wizard101transcended]

that one step verson sounded really awesome

[@jamesonrichards5105]

The Variations of Canon in D 1:08 Standard 1:35 March 3:06 Ragtime (Two step) 5:21 One step

[@pouetpouet9775]

The fact that you explained it with sheet music without having to know any sheet notation is just brillant! I've watched multiple videos about what makes ragtime ragtime, and yours was absolutely the best. I really liked the different examples you took to demonstrate your points.

[@ffjsb]

4:23 "Physicians thought these uneven rhythms would... mess with your brain, and make you insane..." So Ragtime is proven to be the fore runner of the Insane Clown Posse. I like history.

[@MillieEyelash14]

*My music teacher has been poisoning me-*

[@Keeper1st]

Stride is a development of ragtime. Its most distinguishing feature is the left hand. The notes are not as strictly march-like in that they may have on-beat passing tones, and much less of the strict tonic/fifth of a march. Also the bass notes tend to be single notes quite low, rather than octaves, and the chord inversions tend to be higher. Quite often a stride pianist will swap the bass/chord positions for a moment too, playing a chord on a beat and a bass note between beats.

[@delirio1987]

i don't know why youtube started recommending your videos now after almost 9 years, but i'm glad it did

[@shiningarmor2838]

You can almost hear the beginnings of swing in ragtime.

[@LanceClark]

Fantastic explanation. This is now my reference video for anyone who needs a reference.

[@utubewillyman]

Very informative lesson! Thanks for this. I wish there were other lessons like this that deconstructed various genres of music. I've always thought of syncopation as a very American thing. You hear it so much in Coplandesque cowboy music, for example. Even Rock and Roll, with it's accent on the 2nd and 4th beats seems to be a sort of manifestation of syncopation.

[@OoompaaLooompaa]

What is this Taco Bells famous cannon

[@matteozanon]

it's the Pachelbel Canon en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachelbel's_Canon

[@OoompaaLooompaa]

Thank you Matteo

[@OoompaaLooompaa]

Ive been looking for Taco Bell famous cannon for 9 months

[@matteozanon]

It's a pleasure to help music lovers!

[@LivingUnlabeled]

like legit? omg that's hilarious

[@Keeper1st]

I never saved it. But you should be able to re-create it, knowing it's in the key of D and knowing the chord sequence D, A7, Bm, F#m, G, D, G, A7 (and you can look up the original canon's sheet music to get the original melody). Treat it as a challenge to develop a bit of musical intuition!

[@nickyreynolds3326]

Passionate and thorough.

[@Floognoodle]

Nicky Reynolds Gamerish and epic

[@Keeper1st]

@chriswrightmusic Syncopation is not melody notes in unexpected places per se; it is accented melody notes that are out of sync with the underlying melody. Adding a march line to your Mozart example would just make a march -- not a rag. You'd have to move the melody notes off-beat to create syncopation, same as demonstrated here with the canon. That extensive use of syncopation is what caused some to believe that ragtime was physically unhealthy to listen to.

[@LivingUnlabeled]

this was so well explained that i thought i was watching a college professor give a crash course on it

[@Keeper1st]

Not Reno, but northern Douglas County. Close. I haven't seen Squeek at Gold Hill, but I did see her at the Bucket of Blood recently. She insisted I play something, so I played Crab Apples by Percy Wenrich.

[@chriswrightmusic]

@Keeper1st Actually that theme does has syncopation. Syncopation, to make sure our definitions are the same, is when a note gains rhythmic interest by occurring at an unexpected place. Check the score again - the rhythm at the beginning is chock full of syncopation. Not trying to nitpick, but the idea that ragtime invented syncopation is a bit stretched. I do agree that ragtime is definitely the grandfather of today's pop as it helped bring about dixieland and early jazz.

[@Pyrolonn]

This is really the explanation I needed, so your video is a resounding success. I think an interesting follow-up might be to hear a ragtime song like "The Entertainer" converted to non-ragtime. Just a thought (If this was a math class you'd just leave it as an exercise for the student ha ha!)

[@Keeper1st]

Try this old video, where they play it as a 6/8 march and a tango: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inK0ppegnqyinMU

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

This is how I found this video, I was searching for unsyncopated ragtime and it seems no one's made that video yet!

[@emmawilding9484]

thank you! this was a very helpful coincidence to find this in my yutube suggestions as my concert band is currently playing the Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russel Bennett and this helped me to understand the cake walk, one step and rag movements of the suite much better!

[@damianvila]

What a great explanation! Thanks a lot. I really enjoyed this video. :)

[@orangejuiceman]

Great video. Very interesting how ragtime works.

[@nitorishogiplayer3465]

A friend showed me this and this is the only helpful (and it is very helpful) teaching of what syncopation is since articles just say it means accenting that is unexpected so I thought it means if I randomly play some notes louder then it's syncopation. The comparison with a non-syncopated version is the killer here.

[@doodwasalreadytaken]

Real informative video. Thanks for the ragtime, one step and cakewalk lesson.

[@Keeper1st]

@ThePokeman92 Not necessarily held notes, but the accented notes. Of course you can add or remove melody notes too. Have a listen to any ragtime arrangement of something and I'm sure you'll notice a lot of filler notes, such as arpeggiated chords thrown in.

[@CKE142B]

Stumbled across this. Thanks for the explanation.

[@axisrules1]

1:07 Normal 1:34 March 3:06 Ragtime 5:20 One-step I would like to request the sheetmusic nshown in this video, I think it's a fun thing to play. Thanks!

[@Schnurrbartmann]

Thank you, this helped so much! I've been trying to compose a ragtime piece but I couldn't quite figure out why it wasn't coming out sounding like ragtime, and this answered all my questions!

[@jenniferhunt7089]

This is a very clear, concise and helpful video! Thank you!

[@Keeper1st]

@theCrimosnBeard Also descendants of blues such as rock'n'roll are syncopated. And of course, jazz and blues were both evolutions of ragtime. One only needs to listen to modern popular music on the radio -- whether it be pop, country, hip-hop, alternative, or anything else -- to hear the syncopated melodies that came out of ragtime.

[@MrPipex75]

Thank's man, it really helped me to understand ragtime

[@pklausspk]

6:10 - Wow, this seems to be a Commodore CRT Monitor.

[@Keeper1st]

Yep! Still used on my old VCR! They don't make 'em like they used to!

[@Wallhackingplusesp]

anyone notice the major 3rd interval in the background?

[@Keeper1st]

@chriswrightmusic There's no syncopation in that theme. All the accented notes are on a downbeat or an upbeat. There is a hornpipe by baroque composer Jean Baptiste Loeillet that is almost entirely in syncopation. It's quite unusual.

[@Emybys13]

Finally, someone who knows what he's singing! Congrats!!

[@Keeper1st]

Most of my videos are examples of ragtime, but just hearing and seeing someone play it doesn't help people to understand what actually makes it ragtime. Visually showing the rhythm was the most effective method.

[@tom_something]

I'm glad you made this video. I was recently watching one of those "one song in many styles" videos, that was pretty uninspired. The melody stayed almost exactly the same in all of them, and they just changed up the left hand. Their "ragtime" version was exactly what you call a "march" in this video. Same song, just oom-pa oom-pa. It was disappointing.

[@hardvitor2012]

Even the brazilian Choro has syncopation, its first appearance is dated around 1870. So that's why I think ragtime isn't the first or the only one to use those characteristics !

[@ivyssauro123]

Choro, Ragtime, Jazz, samba All come from african-american(as in the continent) music, this unique mix of western music and african rythms gave way to popular music like never seen before in all countries where this kind of mixture of cultures appeared. Ragtime and Choro appeared pretty much togheter.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Yes, although some Asian and European folk music I’ve heard has some syncopation in it from time to time, by far the most frequent and advanced syncopation is found in African music.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Scott Joplin himself once wrote something to the effect of “Ragtime has been around as long as the colored people have been in America”, and I believe he’s right. Obviously that’s quite a lot longer than the WORD “ragtime” has existed or the music available in published sheet music, so I’m pretty sure he means that the music itself (or at least syncopated music), long, long preceded the name.

[@Keeper1st]

@ShinigamiSama6666 I've never had sheet music of a ragtime version of the Tiny Toons theme. Martin Spitznagel (KZbin's "spitzfire1138") is the only person I've heard play it in ragtime, but I'm sure he never wrote down his arrangement. I do have a sheet music transcription of the TTA theme (from an old Sheet Music Magazine), though it's not a good one. One of these days I should make my own, sensible arrangement.

[@JennyLens]

Thank you! I don't know anything about notes or music. I've listened to rag since Eubie Blake was on TV in the late 60s/early 70s. People laffed at me til The Sting came out. Now Joplin was accepted. Ha. Anyway, listening to Jerome Kern's Ragtime Restaurant. And read Ian Whitcomb's book on American music, rags and Irving Berlin. Now I understand what is called ragtime and syncopation better. Thanks!

[@TheSteelDialga]

*laughed

[@Doug19752533]

about "Swipsey" - true it isnt a pure cakewalk, its a hybrid of the two. but it does contain enough of the typical cakewalk rhythm in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th sections to be classified a cakewalk. also Marshall wrote the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, sections, Joplin writing the 3rd. the piece was written about 1896/97, when Joplin was living with the Marshall family and was teaching Arthur composition - this was an essay. was published after the Maple Leaf when Joplin was gaining fame from the Maple Leaf.

[@Keeper1st]

@mrsid6581 No C64 connected to it these days -- just a VHS-DVD converter. I've used the 1702 as my television monitor since the '80s until this year (typically using a VCR as a tuner). I don't have TV in my room now that Linda and I have our own place and a nice HDTV in our living room. Can't imagine any monitor made today lasting for more than a quarter century like the 1702 has!

[@powellmountainmike8853]

Glad you mentioned Cake Walks. They were the root from which ragtime, and jazz, and boogie woogie, and eventually rock and roll all descend. I'm surprised you didn't choose as your example At A Georgia Camp Meeting.

[@paul201]

I like how you made it easy to understand. Great job! Thank you.

[@Keeper1st]

@30inventionman Clearly you're not paying attention. I arranged the canon (which has five chords, by the way) in different styles for demonstration purposes.

[@Chris246t8kr]

I like the newspaper article you mention, it's funny what kind of thoughts they come up with. I understand now what you meant by "One-step" like you mentioned in Spinach Rag :-)

[@yunanasey]

ragtime sounds so much better :D

[@Keeper1st]

@paniq303 I contemplated doing that, showing how you can still put in syncopated fill-ins within a one-step, but I didn't want to confuse the issue.

[@markds2]

Thanks for this, buddy, very interesting. I totally adore ragtime, it's fantastic fun to play on the piano.

[@alexandrafil4296]

This was really informative. Thank you!

[@carlosreptile]

1:07 original 1:34 march 3:06 ragtime 5:21 one step

[@ZvikaDror]

Thank you - enjoying and enriching at the same time, better than any formal piano lesson I ever seen :) Going to try some classic and pop tunes in ragtime style - great motivation!

[@Keeper1st]

+Zvika Dror It's fun to do. Here's one example I did a while back. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4HUfmRsjrGiZ8km51s

[@ZvikaDror]

+Keeper1st Cool! Thought about MAple Leaf Rag and Jazz twists... thanks :)

[@yarnforest_taiwan]

Perfect introduce Ragtime video , it can make people to catch what is ragtime in the most easy way and shortest time . Good job , thanks for sharing :)

[@matthewwilliams3643]

You said the second piece was not ragtime but would ragtime exist without the polka march and Irish fiddle music which has lil syncopation

[@Keeper1st]

Absolutely not! It was the blending of those European forms with African rhythms that created ragtime.

[@dedballoons]

I'm using it as a speed building exercise at the mo, for left hand in particular. I was thinking once I get it up to speed I want to extend it a bit. It's such a happy piece of music :)

[@angelthman1659]

You know your music. Great video, thanks!

[@유재은-w9p]

Thank you! I got more clear about the ragtime!

[@Keeper1st]

The term "Dixieland" to refer to the music was a result of the success of the ODJB. The term jazz/jass existed previous to that, but they popularized it for sure. "Normal" ragtime was often swung too, so saying that swing was what made the difference is as tenuous as saying that improvisation was. There isn't a black-&-white distinction. It was simply an evolution. "What won't they call ragtime next?"

[@jasneskis]

Great, I have been trying to play a couple of rags for months. Haven't given up. Now explain jazz, why is it so popular.

[@tatripp]

Thank you so much for such a great reply. This is just one of the reasons why I'm a subscriber.

[@TheLennongirl]

great explanation! now i know what ragtime is. thank you! and: i love the way you say "march"!

[@Keeper1st]

@wealthdigger Yeah, because syncopation became ubiquitous, the term "ragtime" fell out of fashion and now refers specifically pre-jazz syncopated music. Really, ragtime evolved into all these things. As legendary Eubie Blake put it once when someone referred to Stride, "What won't they call ragtime next?"

[@BrendanCalliesComposer]

this was actually interesting, dude, you deserve all 25000 of your subs. keep it up!

[@Keeper1st]

It's a very basic, skeletal arrangement though, for the demonstration purposes. I recommend playing around with it. Compare, for example, videos where I've made ragtime versions of Brahms' Hungarian Dance #5, a Super Mario Underwater Theme, and the Star Trek: The Next Generation theme, and you can get a sense of things you can do to fill it out and go nuts with it. Also look up classics like Desecration Rag or A Musical Massacre.

[@vinayseth1114]

wow- a very simple and concise explanation. Thanks a ton for this :)

[@Sakacarottes]

Syncopation is as old as music... Ragtime isn't the first time in history people put accent on weak notes

[@Keeper1st]

To the extent that it was the primary melodic force, it was (in Western music anyway). That's why it was so shocking to the ears of the establishment.

[@cvalkan1]

Keeper1st Well what about Beethoven's op. 111 for instance?

[@Keeper1st]

That's about as close as it gets. It isn't quite relentless syncopation on top of a straight rhythm like ragtime introduced to the world.

[@justlucamusic]

Do I hear Ballade no. 1 coda? xd

[@zoid405]

You know what that means... "Hey Tom we need you to brierize something!"

[@YotamPiano]

This is really a great explanation Ron! I learned a couple of new things , yay (EG difference between 1 step/2 step and the exact definition of cakewalk)

[@67Crazyboyz]

I get it so the upbeat and the downbeat are almost kind of flipped from each other and they give you like the two melodies that sound the same but are at different times.

[@DannoCrutch]

Love Ragtime. Glad I found your channel.

[@MorganLock]

Thanks for this, it s very clear !

[@TnseWlms]

If you want a logical explanation of how I wandered on this elegant syncopation.... GAR-y Indiana, Gary IN-diana, Gary Indi-AN-a, my home sweet home.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

That’s a great hemiola song, like “Stumbling” by Zez Confrey

[@dobrocat]

Wonderful music lesson. Thank you!

[@plaxcaster]

Great explanation, I still had a few doubts about some concepts, also loved the version of the canon-D you did, you should a full version one day =)

[@Mattojumala]

Now I get it what ragtime means! Pretty interesting, thanks for demonstration!

[@robin17171]

The second example isn't exactly a march. To be a march, it needs to have the march structure. Usually a first strain, second strain, trio with an added flat. Marches and Ragtimes are the only two musical styles that are March structured. A Ragtime just has a syncopated feel.

[@Keeper1st]

I wouldn't go so far as to call them arrangements; I'm just altering the rhythms a bit. "Arrangements" would be like where I made Rainbow Connection in ragtime or the Star Trek: TNG theme in ragtime, etc.

[@AndrewTheRadarMan]

3:06 Do you think you can make a video of just the song in its ragtime form? Like the one in 3:06? I find it a very catchy and cool song and is very interesting, I couldn't find any song like that in ragtime form anywhere else

[@Keeper1st]

+Andrew Agustin There are plenty of examples dating back more than 100 years. One of the most well-known is this one from 1914: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIDVkISYnZh7fpI

[@migrated4568]

I would love to hear a full ragtime version of Pachelbel's Canon now. Went searching for it online and couldn't find any!

[@redditus]

love ur vids

[@stuartbunyan3245]

This is very cool to learn 🙏

[@dedballoons]

I decided to just go ahead and copy it out from the screen down to some sheet, I keep listening to it though, I love it! Lol. It's got such a fun bounce to it. I really love the arrangement :)

[@SPINWER]

Great explanation thank you

[@Keeper1st]

@chickdigger802 All of them. Most ragtime bands have a percussionist.

[@ColonelMac1]

Just stumbled across your channel. I used to know how to send a private message in You Tube. But, since they changed the page layout, I can't figure it out. We seem to have much the same interest, although I have little knowledge of music theory. Would very much like to ask a few questions about "moving the notes" from march tempo into ragtime.

[@Keeper1st]

@axisrules1 I didn't save it. I only threw it together for the video.

[@Parmesana]

thank you so much for the information. I can play the rhythm, but find that some have difficulty playing it.. On the otherhand those same people can play boogie woogie, where I cannot.

[@maocharlisme]

music should be explained more often like you do! =D Marvelous!

[@tdub1941]

Nice work Mr. O'Dell! I enjoyed this lesson very much. Proof that old dogs still have tricks yet to learn. RagJazzMonkey Tom

[@RagtimePassion]

Hi, thanks for your comment to me, and... this is great and you have your own talent!! I enjoy very much, while it would be better if some short caption could be added for someone like me, who is not good at English listening... ;-) Anyway I hope you will continue this challenge!

[@kmofoshomyho]

i know what it sounds like, but i never understood why it sounded like that... Thanks!

[@paniq303]

Cool stuff, thanks man. The last, one-stepped version of the canon sounds like it could be syncopated once more, that is.. lead notes put between the bass notes - if i'm not mistaken. will you do that in a future video?

[@bugxter]

Thanks for this great lesson. Before I did'nt understand the rythm I was playing. Ragtime is hard to learn but I like it a lot.

[@98voteforpedro]

Can you do more videos like this explaining different genres of music?

[@isambo400]

I used to assume syncopation meant the left hand bounciness, but then I got what it was because of the way Bach .Scholar used the word in some video of his

[@malamutant65]

Wow! This is a great explanation! thanks!!

[@shadoninja]

Awesome explanation! Thank you!

[@Keeper1st]

I'm referring to rhythms, obviously -- not the structure of an entire work.