Ragtime (music)

Ragtime is a classic form of American music typically written for the piano and particularly noted for its use of syncopated, or irregularly accented, beats. Derived from the distinct musical rhythms played by African American minstrel show performers, ragtime music first appeared in the 1890s and developed primarily in the Midwest before growing in popularity and spreading across the United States and into Europe. Public interest in ragtime remained strong through much of the first two decades of the twentieth century until the beginning of the Jazz Age. Chief among the genre's best-known contributors was Scott Joplin, an African American composer who wrote such celebrated ragtime songs as "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer." These and other Joplin compositions were at the forefront of ragtime's unlikely resurgence in the 1970s. Although that revival was relatively short-lived, ragtime remains one of the most uniquely American musical styles.

Background

Unlike some other musical styles, ragtime does not have a concise, singular definition. The overriding characteristic of all forms of ragtime music is the use of syncopation, a distinct rhythmic technique in which a steady pulse is embellished through the unexpected melodic accentuation of weaker beats that would not normally be accented. As is evident in ragtime music, syncopation typically yields an exciting, lively sound that encourages the listener to move and dance. Historically, syncopation was a common component of traditional African music that made its way to the Americas through the slave trade. After the abolition of slavery in the 1860s, black performers brought syncopation into the evolving sound of American music and, in doing so, provided the genesis for new musical styles like ragtime and jazz.

While syncopation is the defining characteristic of the genre as a whole, it is generally held that there are four different types of ragtime music. The first and most well-known form of ragtime is the classic instrumental rag—usually written in march-tempo for either piano or band performance—that was popularized by Joplin and similar composers. There were also less syncopated ragtime songs and ragtime waltzes. Finally, there is a more informal type of ragtime known as ragging, which is the practice of taking a previously written piece of music and altering its original rhythm through syncopation.

The term ragtime is probably a reflection of nineteenth-century trends in musical linguistics. At the time, it was common practice to use the suffix -time to describe a style of music based on its rhythmic characteristics. For example, waltzes—musical pieces typically written in triple metre—were often referred to as being in waltz-time. In ragtime style, the melody of a song is broken into short, syncopated rhythms while the performer plays a steady beat. For this reason—and in reference to the practice of ragging—it is widely believed that such music was commonly said to be in ragged-time. At some point, the phrase ragged-time was likely shortened to ragtime, and the modern term for the genre was born.

Overview

Ragtime first emerged as a unique musical genre through the works of African American musician, comedian, and dancer Ernest Hogan. Born in Kentucky in the 1860s, Hogan grew up as part of an African American society steeped in the traditions of slave plantation culture. One of the slave traditions with which he was intimately familiar was the cakewalk, a dance often performed by slaves at plantation get-togethers. In the 1890s, Hogan took the unique musical rhythms that usually accompanied the cakewalk and translated them into original songs like the hit "La Pas Ma La," thereby creating a new musical style later described as ragtime.

Classic ragtime first took hold in and around St. Louis, Missouri, one of the first American cities where black musicians flourished. There, in 1897, a young African American saloon owner named Tom Turpin published the "Harlem Rag," a landmark ragtime composition that laid the groundwork for the genre's future innovators. Two years later, John Stark—a music store owner in nearby Sedalia, Missouri—met composer Scott Joplin and agreed to publish his "Maple Leaf Rag," which was an instant hit. Inspired by his success with Joplin, Stark began working with an array of talented ragtime composers that included Joseph Lamb, James Scott, Artie Mathews, and others. Thanks to these and other artists, ragtime quickly soared in popularity.

By the early 1900s, ragtime was a full-blown cultural fad. Ragtime music could be heard in saloons, music halls, and theaters across the United States. Ragtime songs could also be purchased commercially in the form of sheet music, phonograph records, and piano rolls for player pianos. Eventually, the ragtime craze became so big that it even migrated to Europe. However, like rock music in the 1950s and 1960s, ragtime was heavily disparaged in some quarters. Critics alleged that ragtime was an impure and dangerous form of music that threatened to undermine the moral fiber of America's youth. Despite such fiery criticism, ragtime's popularity continued well into the 1910s.

Ultimately, the ragtime craze began to wane around 1917. This was mostly due to the emergence of jazz, which would become one of the dominant musical genres of the 1920s. Although ragtime never completely died out, it was mostly seen as a novelty for the next several decades until an unexpected revival took hold in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ragtime's resurgence began with Columbia Records' 1968 release of The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake, an album featuring the titular pianist's skilled ragtime musicianship. Two years later, composer and conductor Joshua Rifkin released Piano Rags of Scott Joplin, a best-selling album on which Rifkin played Joplin's great ragtime works. The most important component of the ragtime revival, however, was composer Marvin Hamlisch's decision to include some of Joplin's songs, such as "The Entertainer" and "Pineapple Rag," in the score of the 1974 feature film The Sting. Both the film and Joplin's music were immensely popular with audiences. While its popularity again subsided in the years that followed, ragtime retains a permanent place in American music history.

Bibliography

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