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I still play a few dozen ragtime pieces, Joplin, James Scott, David Thomas Roberts and Frank French, and I wrote quite a bit of it myself years ago. It has a perennial charm for me which has not waned over time. More fine ragtime has been written over the past couple of decades than in the whole of its history. People such as David Thomas Roberts, Frank French, Scott Kirby, Hal Isbitz, Reginald Robinson and Brian Keenan are among its best exponents. The Smithsonian edition of James Scott is worth having if it is still in print. Scores of most of the recent ones are usually available from the composers themselves but if all else fails AnthemScore seems to do a brilliant job of transcribing ragtime recordings in particular, I don't know exactly why.
Last edited by Ted; 01/04/2211:29 PM.
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." - James Joyce
If so what do you play? I play mostly Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb. Rags are such fun to play and a good break away from classical music for a change!
What do you play and what books/collections do you have?
I mostly play Joplin and some Lamb. I lost most of my printed books due to some bad storage, but I still have a very worse for the wear copy of "Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works" that has a home on my piano.
Just listening I would call that HonkTonk piano and very similar in sound to Ragtime that would have been prevalent around that same time, wasn't it?
Joplin type rags became their own unique genre, but the same cannot be said for stride which is more of a general piano style that has been used in everything from Chopin to contemporary music and including Rags, but in very different treatments.
I guess you can still compare them, but seems to me like they should be in completely different categories.
The great Dick Hyman describes the differences between Ragtime and Stride Piano in the very show that clip is taken from. The main difference being that the jump between the bass note(s) and chords is much bigger than in Ragtime.
My understanding (from listening to Dick Hyman) is that Stride Piano developed out of Ragtime. Generally Stride Piano is more technically demanding and became a showpiece for many Jazz Pianists like Fats Waller and Count Basie.
Stride Piano has become more of a general style these days, but I think that's mostly because the definition of the style has become murky, and people think (and say) they are playing in a stride style when actually they aren't.
Let's face it you can play virtually anything in any style if you have the skill. Monty Alexander used to play a fabulous swinging version of The Entertainer, which incorporated Swing, Stride and Ragtime.
And to answer the OP's question, I'm another Ragtime player, though not at much at the moment.
Cheers
Simon
Casio PX-S3000 Korg SV2S (73)
ABRSM Grade 7 distinction 2023. Decent blues/rock Pianist. Try to play Jazz Piano, but pretty rubbish. Studying ABRSM grade 8 now.
"Let's face it you can play virtually anything in any style if you have the skill. Monty Alexander used to play a fabulous swinging version of The Entertainer, which incorporated Swing, Stride and Ragtime."
John Arpin inspired me to learn the Bohemia rag. Bohemia rag is already quite nice out of the box, but to make it as beautiful as this and "not boring"you have to have the skills to play like Arpin. It is still my ambition to try it at least (afraid I dont have the skills), with all the extra notes, octave repetitions and doublings and whatever else he was doing. He died in 2007, so this must be one of his last performances.
Me being a lifetime ragtime addict and adorer of Scott Joplin's work.
I've been starting with the piano being 16 yrs, classically w.o. ragtime... Then I had lessons at same classical teacher who had taught me violine. When I first caught a sight at a simplifiied version of the "Maple Leaf Rag" - and tried it... , this did not please my teacher, and soon lessons stopped, but not me stopped playing Scott Joplin...
It lasted until I was 56 (and had got my grand...) that I first learned a ragtime by another composer, "Saint Louis Rag" by Tom turpin.
I own several sets of Scott Joplin "Whole Works", and a sampling book compiled by David Jasen with "100 Authentic Rags", a compilation of Joseph Lamb's rags and a "women Ragtime Composers" book also.
And now I try to stroll on another ragtime which I've heard playing by a funny "human robot" at the Hanover fair "who" played for an italian company of electronic control devices, and nobody of the fair personnell was able to tell me WHICH ragtime it was. It had been programmed in Italy by a freelancer who no longer was available, tested in Italy, and no note sheets availabe...
I have a video of this and I would like to know by a ragtime liker which ragtime it is... But to see the video, it needs a Facebook account.
I love Joplin's stuff. I've played Entertainer, Maple Leaf, Solace, currently working on Gladiolus. Looking to branch out into other composers. Think I'll order a Joseph Lamb book today.
