(Easy Piano Composer Collection). 12 of the best from "The King of Ragtime," complete with an introduction, a biography, and extensive playing tips to help the beginning ragtime player. Songs include: The Entertainer * Maple Leaf Rag * Bethena * The Easy Winners * and more.
Ragtime was an immensely popular form of music in the United States prior to World War I. Its toe–tapping style was exactly what a country like America, bursting into the 20th century full of excitement and enthusiasm, desired. Ragtime was uniquely American—just as America was unique among all the nations in the world. Scott Joplin was the King of Ragtime. His ragtime songs defined the genre and brought it into the homes of millions of people. Yet Joplin wanted more than that. He wanted to be known as a serious artist, a man whose work would elevate him along with the entire African–American community. His struggles in that regard make his life story all the more memorable.
(Easy Piano Composer Collection). 12 of the best from "The King of Ragtime," complete with an introduction, a biography, and extensive playing tips to help the beginning ragtime player. Songs include: The Entertainer * Maple Leaf Rag * Bethena * The Easy Winners * and more.
As a member of the first generation of African Americans who were born just after the end of slavery, Scott Joplin faced a world of unique challenges. His musical family scraped out a living by sharecropping and cleaning houses—but Scott was exceptionally gifted, and his mother made sure he got piano lessons. Classically trained, he spent several years playing in churches and saloons. While for a time he wanted to compose classical music, he was drawn to ragtime, an early form of jazz that featured African folk tunes and syncopated rhythms. After his first composition, "Maple Leaf Rag," was published in 1899, Scott Joplin was able to keep ragtime popular for the next two decades. In fact, ragtime influences can be heard in later forms of music, such as jazz, blues, and even rock and roll. Scott Joplin, the Father of Ragtime, whose compositions cut across geography, race, and class, was truly a Master of Music.
First Published in 1998. This book is the first resource guide to published materials on Scott Joplin and encompasses a wide variety of items having to do with the man, his Iife, his music, and his influence on ragtime throughout the twentieth century. This guide includes articles and listings on festivals, concerts, clubs or societies, individual performers, performing groups, radio, television, and film as well as bibliography on Joplin and ragtime in general.
Forty-three of Joplin's best rags, with introductory remarks and exercises to assist players. Titles include: Bethena * The Cascades * The Easy Winners * Elite Syncopations * The Entertainer * Maple Leaf Rag * Palm Leaf Rag * "Solace" A Mexican Serenade * Swipesy * Weeping Willow.
Scott Joplin was a composer and pianist who achieved great fame for his unique ragtime compositions. Before his early death at the age of 48, Joplin had composed music that would define an era and remain influential for a century. This simple biography will serve an inspiring experience to budding musicians and musical enthusiasts.