Scott Joplin: The King Of Ragtime

Scott Joplin exact date of birth and location is unknown, but was he supposedly born in 1868 somewhere between Texas and Arkansas. He was born into a musical family, his mother a singer and banjo player, and father a violinist. Growing up in Texarkana as a child Joplin took up piano, then gradually learning to play the violin and soon started travelling as a musician as a teen. Julius Weiss was a German music teacher who gave Joplin instruction, not long after he began to sing and play the cornet. He left him in his teens and started traveling performing in bars and dancehalls where he would learn new techniques and musical forms. This experience lead Joplin to find his sound of ragtime, which had a distinct syncopated rhythms, and a burst of musical sensibilities. Joplin was known as the “King of …show more content…
Ragtime can also be related to “Negro” songs or influenced songs, not from the words or tune but by the form. In ragtime the composer/performer plays part of the leader and the chorus, rag is also open-ended music also was during the era where music was not written down. Ragtime is during the early 90’s, comes from ragged rhythmic patterns. Scott Joplin was not a practical man, he created this music in hope of creating a new African-American classical music. His desire was to make ragtime music respectable. The first time the music was heard, was by the playing of a banjo, and later piano for accompaniment, and then piano solos. Joplin is known for his songs “The Entertainer” “The Maple Leaf Rag” and “Original Rags”. The Entertainer was one of the classics of ragtime, it was used as the theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting. The Entertainer was a popular two step dance until around 1911. In 1899 The Maple Leaf Rag was selling slowly at first, then it became nationwide best seller. As a result to this song, they began to call Joplin the “King of Ragtime. It is known that in the first six months that