RAGTIME AND

PRECURSORS OF JAZZ
ALEX HAMLET, SCOTT PENNMAN, MADELINE HALL, ANDREW BURNS
THE ORIGINS OF RAGTIME

The earliest ragtime instruction book was written in 1897 and titled Negro Dance
Time.
Dances began to be named after songs such as march, two-step, and cake walk.
The rag Cake Walk was adopted by minstrelsy shows somewhere between 1870 and
1890 where it was used to portray a competition on plantations to win some cake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkjsN-J27aU
DEFINING RAGTIME

Ragtime is music for a solo piano that ultimately achieved significance and endured.
Syncopation is a key feature of ragtime.
Rags may or may not have an introduction
The three types of ragtime songs:
Piano renditions of ragtime songs
The ragging of syncopated music
Original compositions for the piano
SCOTT JOPLIN

Scott moved to Missouri to publish approximately three dozen songs.

He put a lot of effort into including ragtime into stage productions (none of his rags were
used in his lifetime).
Ragtime was difficult to play so Scott wrote some lessons that were published and used
many places.
Maple Leaf Rag - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc
JELLY ROLL MORTON

After instrumental ragtime had reached is decline Morton set out to make music with his
band that could make his piano sound as much like a band as possible
Morton made it a point to separate rags from blues and stomps by specifying that many
of these post-ragtime music reused rags that were already written.
REVIVAL

Ragtime revivals existed around 1940 and focused primarily on piano rags.
Joshua Rifkin began making studio recordings of Joplins pieces to produce his best-selling
record.
William Bolcom and John Hasse are notable, because they both performed and produced
rags of their own.
Ragtime has also showed up in modern media -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkjsN-J27aU
PRECURSORS OF JAZZ

Minstrelsy, ragtime, and blues were only the most public forms of black music that came
before jazz.
New Yorks orchestral ragtime was run by blacks for the purpose of furnishing music for
dance.
The Clef Club produced syncopated dance music that was very popular in both Europe and
America.
Black Brass Bands parade music and funerals
After America joined WWI many black soldiers were enlisted forming bands within their units.
The most famous band was lead by James Reese Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ykCRc5LYs