As a genre, ragtime requires strict attention to structure, not inventiveness or virtuosity. Ragtime style stresses a pattern of repeated rhythms, not the constant inventions and variations of jazz. Ragtime remains distinct from jazz both as an instrumental style and as a genre. Tension in ragtime compositions arises from a polarity between two basic ingredients: a continuous bass - called by jazz musicians a boom-chick bass - in the pianist's left hand, and its melodic, syncopated counterpart in the right hand. Not concerned with development of musical themes, the ragtime composer instead sets a theme down intact, in finished form, and links it to various related themes. Therefore, themes must be brief with clear, sharp melodic figures. Typically, each strain is divided into two 8-bar segments that are essentially alike, so the rhythmic-melodic unit of ragtime is only eight bars of 2/4 measure. The aim of the structure is to rise from one theme to another in a stair-step manner, ending on a note of triumph or exhilaration. The rag opens with a bright, memorable strain or theme, followed by a similar theme, leading to a trio of marked lyrical character, with the structure concluded by a lyrical strain that parallels the rhythmic developments of the earlier themes. The classic formula for the piano rag disposes three to five themes in sixteen-bar strains, often organized with repeats. It arises from ragtime's following a well-defined form and obeying simple rules within that form. Ragtime's is not a mechanical precision, and it is not precision limited to the style of performance. For instance, Wilfred Mellers comments, "rags 'were transferred to the pianola roll and, even if not played by a machine, should be played like a machine, with meticulous precision." However, there is no reason to assume that ragtime is inherently mechanical simply because commercial manufacturers applied a mechanical recording method to ragtime, the only way to record pianos at that date. It has sometimes been charged that ragtime is mechanical. Composers like Scott Joplin and James Scott were in a sense collectors or musicologists, collecting dance and folk music in Black communities and consciously shaping it into brief suites or anthologies called piano rags. A strong analogy exists between European composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edvard Grieg, and Anton Dvorak who combined folk tunes and their own original materials in larger compositions and the pioneer ragtime composers in the United States. Ragtime was greatly influenced by the African American jazz roots of blues, work songs, and Negro spirituals.Ragtime is a musical form that synthesizes folk melodies and musical techniques into a brief quadrille-like structure, designed to be played-exactly as Line written-on the piano. The cakewalk was influenced by the African tradition ring shout. Two of America’s first dance crazes, the cakewalk and the fox-trot, were often done to rag. During his short career, Joplin wrote forty-four original ragtime pieces, as wells two operas and one ragtime ballet. Scott Joplin is considered the “King of Ragtime” and one of the “big three” composers of classic ragtime (Joplin, Scott, and Lamb). Ragtime exploded and evolved as a precursor to Dixieland and later forms of jazz with all-time greats such as the aforementioned Scott Joplin, James Scott, Jelly Roll Morton, Joseph Lamb, and James P. These roving composers include Scott Joplin, Charles Hunter, Thomas Turpin, Louis Chauvin, Charles L.
3 Itinerant pianists, who traversed the South and Midwest, eventually congregated in Missouri to produce a compilation of core ragtime compositions. Ragtime seemed to emanate primarily from the southern and Midwestern states, with the majority of activity occurring in Missouri. The popularity and demand for ragtime also boosted sales of pianos and greatly swelled the ranks of the recording industry.
2 By the early 1900s, ragtime flooded the music publishing industry. In 1899, Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag was published, which became a great hit. The emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags (musical compositions in ragtime) were published. “Piano Professors” journeyed throughout the river valley “thumping” in all night cafes, saloons, pool halls, and sporting houses in cities such as Sedalia and St. 1 Sometimes referred to as “jig piano” or “piano thumping,” ragtime originated in African American communities in the Mississippi Valley. Its cardinal trait is a syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. Ragtime is a musical style that enjoyed its peak popularity between 18.
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