The year was 1899. The instrumental for piano was the Maple Leaf Rag. It set fire to an exciting new style of music that was about to sweep the nation. That style was ragtime. And whatever state of mind the United States was in at the time one thing was quickly making itself known. Ragtime Piano was here, and it was here to stay. Although it was only wildly popular for approximately 20 years. Thanks to the publishing business rags are still with us.

   The business of popular music publishing was also about to grow in leaps and bounds. Ragtime piano was going to make a lot of money for a lot of publishers. One of them was Scott Joplin's new publisher, John Stark. He at first turned down the Maple Leaf, saying it was too hard for most piano students. He at least was partially right. Playing ragtime is not easy. But many students then, as now, were forced to practice, and parental force in 1899 was probably a lot stronger than it is today.

   Fortunately Stark changed his mind and published the M. L. anyway. It quickly became one of the top selling ragtime compositions. And let me tell you, the Maple Leaf is no trashy piece of music, nor is ragtime in general, as most of the classical teachers deemed it to be. The M. L. does take a good bit of practice to master. But once you get it down, boy is it fun to play.

   Sit down at a piano anywhere(except maybe in church) and play the M. L. people will take notice. Even those church members! Ragtime is highly syncopated so don't be surprised if some people do not like ragtime. No style of music is liked by everyone.

   Stark went on to publish The Entertainer (1902), Elite Syncopations (1902) plus many more Joplin hits. At that time if a piece of sheet music sold more than 5000 copies a year it was considered very successful. And so Joplin's compositions helped fire up the modern sheet music industry as we know it today. Plus many other composers such as James Scott, Joseph Lamb, and Charles L Johnson contributed to the ragtime piano era.

   Please book mark this page. We will be adding more history and facts, plus links to piano CD's and sheet music.

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Ragtime Piano Sheet Music

Ragtime sheet music was written mostly for piano and vocal. Although arrangements for band were also quite popular. Ragtime really started in the 1800's with the 1890's being the decade that brought it to the attention of the American public. Ragtime was the first completly American music. It's influence upon all American music that followed is undeniable. Jazz music which followed the ragtime era also holds the distinction of being all American. I have even wondered that if ragtime had never happened maybe we would not have jazz music?

Ragtime is noted as being a very syncopated style. Along with with a steady beat, syncopation is the backbone of popular rhythm. In the piano sheet music the right hand part almost always uses syncopation, while the left hand part is a steady march like beat. Sort of a "bass note - chord - bass note - chord" beat usually in 2/4 time signature. Although it's possible to feel it and count it in 4/4. But it's better to follow the 2/4 time signature.

When ragtime music first came out this syncopation was new and exciting, and still is. Still exciting at least if no longer new. As ragtime piano music started to emerge in the late nineteenth century it was played mostly in red light districts and saloons. And maybe a few cafes. This of course brought about a somewhat bad image in decent society. This apparantly begin to change slightly as it grew in popularity.

Although maybe this bad image helped it's popularity. You know, bad boys always get attention. Probably a few mama's and grandma's did not pay much attention to the origins of the music. Nor the places it was played at. On the other hand many women were quite aware of whince it may have came from. There are reports that some would not allow ragtime music to be played in their house.

But seriously, it's only ragtime. Just because it was played in bad places does not make it bad. Especially now, over 100 years later. I know! Scott Joplin caught syphilis and later died from the diease. After all he was a piano player and those jobs were plentiful. And of course since Joplin was black, his options were very limited. Maybe that's when he decided to raise his ragtime piano music above the seedy world of brothels and saloons.

We are very fortunate that he and hundreds of others used their composing skills to write and publish all that wonderful ragtime. Thru it all it's a great thing that ragtime piano prospered and we still have all that fantastic sheet music. As I said earlier, ragtime's impact on all American and world music that followed including jazz and rock is oblivious. Long live that great American ragtime piano music!

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Scott Joplin

Jazz Piano

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