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ragtime

Ragtime

United States · 1890s
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Description

Ragtime is an African American–rooted piano style that flourished from the 1890s to the 1910s, characterized by lively syncopation in the right hand against a steady, march-like “oom‑pah” accompaniment in the left hand.

Typically written in 2/4 or 4/4 time and notated with straight (unswung) eighth notes, classic rags unfold in multiple 16‑bar strains, often in the form AABBACCDD. The music draws on cakewalk rhythms, marching-band forms, and popular song, and it became a sensation through sheet music, piano rolls, and parlor performance. Scott Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime,” helped codify the genre’s refined, compositional approach, calling for moderate tempos and a clear, singing melody.

Beyond solo piano, ragtime was arranged for small ensembles and orchestras, found a home in vaudeville and dance halls, and laid essential groundwork for early jazz, stride piano, and much of 20th‑century American popular music.

History
Origins (1890s)

Ragtime emerged in African American communities of the U.S., particularly in Missouri (Sedalia and St. Louis) and the Midwest/South, where itinerant pianists adapted dance rhythms from the cakewalk and the steady pulse of military marches. Early rags circulated as sheet music and piano rolls, and saloons and social clubs helped spread the sound.

Classic Era (1900s–1910s)

Publication of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag in 1899 established the commercial viability and formal template of the classic rag. Composers such as James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Tom Turpin, Eubie Blake, Charles L. Johnson, Artie Matthews, and others expanded the repertoire. Ragtime also informed popular songwriting (e.g., Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band, 1911) and was widely performed on vaudeville stages and in parlor settings.

Transition and Decline (late 1910s–1920s)

After World War I, hotter, improvisation‑forward jazz styles and stride piano eclipsed classic ragtime in dance halls and on records. While ragtime’s popularity faded, its formal devices, left‑hand patterns, and syncopation directly fed early jazz, Dixieland, stride, and piano blues.

Revivals (1940s onward)

Historians, collectors, and performers reignited interest starting in the 1940s and 1950s (notably through scholarship and archival recordings). A major 1970s revival followed Joshua Rifkin’s Joplin albums and the film The Sting (1973), which popularized Joplin’s rags for a new generation. Ragtime festivals, societies, and contemporary composers continue the tradition today.

Legacy

Ragtime is a cornerstone of American music: it bridged parlor and popular traditions, standardized multi‑strain instrumental forms, and provided the rhythmic DNA for early jazz, stride, novelty piano, and beyond.

How to make a track in this genre
Core rhythm and feel
•   Use duple meter (2/4 or 4/4) with a steady, unswung pulse. Keep the tempo moderate; classic ragtime is meant to be clear rather than rushed. •   Left hand: alternate bass notes and chords (oom‑pah), or use stride‑style leaps between low bass notes and mid‑register chords. •   Right hand: write syncopated melodies that accent off‑beats and tie over bar lines. Favor clear, singable motifs that can be sequenced and varied.
Form and structure
•   Build the piece from 16‑bar strains, typically in the form AABBACCDD (with repeats). The C (trio) section often modulates to the subdominant (e.g., from C major to F major). •   Contrast each strain with distinctive melodic material while maintaining a consistent accompaniment texture.
Harmony and voice-leading
•   Use diatonic progressions enriched with secondary dominants, chromatic approach tones, and occasional circle‑of‑fifths motion. •   Aim for bright keys (F, Bb, Eb, C major are common) and use simple modulations for the trio. •   Keep inner voices clean; avoid overly dense pedal or blur so rhythms stay crisp.
Melody, articulation, and notation
•   Notate straight eighths (no swing). Mark accents on syncopations and staccato/light articulations in the left hand chords as needed. •   Balance catchy motifs with ornamental turns, grace notes, and repeated figures. Ensure right‑hand syncopations lock against the left‑hand pulse.
Instrumentation and arranging
•   Primary medium is solo piano. For ensembles, double the melody with clarinet or violin, keep tuba or string bass on the bass line, and place banjo/guitar on up‑beats to enhance the cakewalk feel. •   Preserve the rag’s multi‑strain form and clear contrasts when orchestrating.
Practice tips
•   Compose each strain as a self‑contained, memorable tune, then vary through reharmonization, octave shifts, or figuration. •   Test at moderate tempo; if clarity suffers, simplify left‑hand leaps or reduce syncopation density until it “sings.”
Main artists
Influenced by
March
A march is a genre and form of music written to accompany or evoke the motion and ceremony of marching. It is characterized by steady, accentuated beats, simple periodic phrases, and a clear, forward-driving pulse. Most marches are in duple meter—commonly 2/4 or 6/8—with tempos that align to the pace of human steps (roughly 110–128 BPM for quick marches and 60–84 BPM for slow or funeral marches). The classic structure uses repeated strains and a contrasting Trio section, often modulating to the subdominant and thinning texture before a climactic return. Written primarily for winds and percussion, marches are central to military, civic, and ceremonial traditions, yet they also appear in orchestral works, operas, and popular festivities.
Cakewalk
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.
Habanera
Habanera is a Cuban song-and-dance genre that emerged in Havana in the 19th century, written in duple meter and defined by a distinctive syncopated rhythmic cell often described as a tresillo with an added backbeat (frequently felt as a 3–3–2 grouping across the bar). Typically moderate in tempo and frequently set in a minor key, habaneras combine European salon-song harmony with Afro-Cuban rhythmic sensibility. The style flourished both as a vocal strophic canción with romantic or nostalgic lyrics and as an instrumental dance form for piano and small ensembles. Its characteristic lilt and sensual sway made it an international craze by the late 19th century, permeating opera, art song, and popular music across Europe and the Americas.
Minstrelsy
Minstrelsy is a 19th‑century American theatrical music genre centered on variety shows that combined songs, dances, comic banter, and skits. It is historically associated with blackface performance and traffic in racial caricature, which makes it a profoundly problematic yet influential part of U.S. popular music history. Musically, minstrel troupes favored a small, lively ensemble built around banjo, fiddle, bones (clappers), tambourine, and occasionally concertina or guitar. Songs typically used simple, memorable melodies and strong chorus hooks in verse‑chorus form, often with call‑and‑response patterns and danceable rhythms. The repertoire drew on Anglo‑Celtic balladry and parlor song while adopting syncopations, timbres, and participatory practices that originated in African American music.
Polka
Polka is a lively Central European couple dance and musical style in a brisk 2/4 meter, characterized by its buoyant “oom‑pah” bass-chord accompaniment and bright, diatonic melodies. Originating in Bohemia (today’s Czech Republic) in the early 19th century, it quickly became a pan-European craze before taking root across immigrant communities in the Americas. Ensembles typically feature accordion or button box/concertina, clarinet or saxophone, trumpets/trombone, tuba or string bass, and drum kit, with regional variants highlighting different lead voices and rhythmic feels. While the classical ballroom tradition codified polka into formal strains (often AABB with a contrasting trio), folk and popular styles favor singable tunes, simple I–IV–V harmonies, and tempos commonly around 115–135 BPM, inviting upbeat social dancing and communal celebration.
Classical
Classical music is the notated art-music tradition of Europe and its global descendants, characterized by durable forms, carefully codified harmony and counterpoint, and a literate score-based practice. The term “classical” can refer broadly to the entire Western art-music lineage from the Medieval era to today, not just the Classical period (c. 1750s–1820s). It privileges long-form structures (such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, masses, and operas), functional or modal harmony, thematic development, and timbral nuance across ensembles ranging from solo instruments to full orchestras and choirs. Across centuries, the style evolved from chant and modal polyphony to tonal harmony, and later to post-tonal idioms, while maintaining a shared emphasis on written notation, performance practice, and craft.
Coon Song
Coon song is a late-19th- and early-20th-century American popular song style associated with vaudeville and the Tin Pan Alley sheet-music industry. Musically, it often features lively 2/4 or 4/4 meters, cakewalk- and ragtime-derived syncopation, simple diatonic harmonies (I–IV–V with secondary dominants), and memorable, comic chorus hooks. Performances ranged from solo singers with piano to small ensembles with banjo and brass. Historically, the repertoire propagated racist caricatures of African Americans through dialect writing and stereotyped imagery. While some Black performers and composers worked within or adjacent to the format (sometimes subverting it or reshaping it toward ragtime and musical theater), the genre today is studied as a critical, cautionary chapter in American popular music history rather than as a living style.
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