Maple Leaf Rag is still one of Scott Joplin’s most popular works. As the main melody is repeated near the end as the music moves back into the home key of Ab major, the hands unite for the final chords to create a bold conclusion. The frivolity of the work masks the serious concentration and dexterity required from the performer. The suspended melody line trickles down the scale as Joplin’s chromatic writing grows into fruition. This athletic rag requires focused coordination for both hands to make sure each off-beat inflection and bass line motif meet and part at the right time. Joplin’s persistent use of seventh chords also creates that archetypal sound for a ragtime piece. The four sections of this rag create diversity in the melody and show the development of the bassline. With Maple Leaf Rag Joplin writes bounding leaps for the bass line and off-beat melodies on the other hand. The march-like style paired with the cakewalk-inspired melody creates the archetypal ragtime composition. The quick tempo and huge leaps for both hands makes this a difficult rag for any pianist. This quintessential rag brings together many aspects of a rag into one neatly packed piano work. It is often known as the most famous ragtime piece that has gone on to inspire a number of composers. Maple Leaf Rag was one of Joplin’s earliest rags for the piano. A number of his piano rags and his opera Treemonisha have become some of the most recognisable music of the genre. It wasn’t until some ground-breaking recordings done in the 1970s that Joplin’s music found a new lease of life. Joplin’s music went out of fashion, with only a small number of ragtime aficionados keeping his music alive. After Joplin’s death in 1917, ragtime music came out of the ‘mainstream’ line and started to form into the likes of jazz, big band swing and the blues. (A syncopated rhythm stresses weaker beats and omits stresses on stronger beats, thus upending listeners’ expectations.) It could even be said that ragtime (via jazz) is a distant ancestor of much of today’s up-tempo pop music.Scott Joplin is remembered for being one of the most memorable ragtime composers of the turn-of-the-century during his lifetime (1868-1917). Maple Leaf Rag and its syncopated rhythms helped establish a new and distinctly American musical style that would later strongly influence jazz. I was entranced by the music and promptly went down to the local music store and purchased a book of his complete rags, which I own to this day! Having learned to play Maple Leaf Rag at the tender age of 12 (when musical memory goes deep), I can still reliably perform it by heart even if it’s been a year or more since I last played it. In addition to albums, that revival included a TV movie about Joplin’s life, which I saw as a child. Maple Leaf Rag was central to the ragtime revival that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Random factoid: Maple Leaf Rag may have been played by the band on the Titanic’s first (and only) voyage in 1912. It was a domestic and international hit, although at Joplin’s contracted royalty of $0.01 per sale, it did not make him rich. The success of Maple Leaf Rag played a pivotal role in bringing music created by African-Americans into American popular culture. It is never right to play ragtime fast.” Despite this directive, Maple Leaf Rag and other Joplin rags became staples of “cutting contests,” battles between piano players attempting to outperform each other, often by playing as fast as possible. On many of his rags, Joplin wrote: “Notice! Don’t play this piece fast. Maple Leaf Rag and the many beautiful and exciting rags that Joplin subsequently wrote brought him widespread fame and eventually the moniker “King of Ragtime.” Today, Maple Leaf Rag is one of the most famous of rags, probably exceeded only by The Entertainer.
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