Old Rags, Cakewalks and Marches

Cakewalk is a late-19th-century African American dance-music style marked by a jaunty, strutting feel in duple meter, syncopated rhythms, and march-like bass patterns. Originally accompanying competitive dances where a cake was awarded to the winning couple, its music typically features multiple 16-bar strains (often AABBCC or AABBACCDD), bright major keys, and catchy, syncopated melodies. It was performed by solo piano, banjo-led ensembles, and brass bands, and became a staple of minstrel and vaudeville stages before feeding directly into the emergence of ragtime and early jazz.