Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin

August 23rd, 2009

Before I started learning Debussy’s Clair De Lune, Maple Leaf Rag was my all-time favourite piece to play. Now, both are tied for first place. They’re both so different, but I don’t think I could choose between either of them.

Maple Leaf Rag was composed by Scott Joplin, an African-American composer and pianist from Texas during the first post-slavery generation. He is most known for his amazing ragtime compositions and was even dubbed “King of Ragtime.”

Scott Joplin (1867 - 1917)

He wrote 44 different ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. Maple Leaf Rag was one of his first ragtime pieces, and it became ragtime’s first and most influential composition.

Scott Joplin possessed an incredible ability to improvise at the piano; a skill that defines music of jazz and ragtime genres. He was mostly inspired by the music that he was surrounded with, including gospel and spiritual music, dance music, plantation songs, syncopated rhythms, blues, and choruses.

In 1894, he moved to Missouri and began working as a pianist in the Maple Leaf Club and the Black 400. These were social clubs for “respectable black gentlemen.” In 1899, Joplin composed the original and first major hit, Maple Leaf Rag.

Maple Leaf Rag was an immediate success and served as a model for the hundreds of ragtime compositions to come in the future. As the first instrumental to sell over one million copies of sheet music, Maple Leaf Rag really put Joplin right on the top of the list of ragtime performers, and even moved ragtime into a popular musical form.

Although Joplin composed over 40 ragtime pieces, many did not get the exposure they probably deserved as compared to Maple Leaf Rag. Joplin apparently realized that his music was ahead of its time, and he came to the conclusion that he would not be much of a popular hero during his own lifetime.

Joplin once said, “When I’m dead twenty-five years, people are going to recognize me.” Thirty years later, he was indeed recognized. Historian Rudi Blesh wrote a large book about ragtime, which he dedicated to the memory of Scott Joplin, “King of Ragtime.”

I absolutely love listening to Joplin’s ragtime pieces, and of course, Maple Leaf Rag is my favourite. I can play the entire piece, except for two lines which I skipped learning years ago because I was in a hurry to learn the piece for a piano recital. I had to skip a section in order to make good time for practicing. I’m learning it now, and I’m hoping it won’t take too long to master. It will be a real achievement once I can play the entire piece, including the section I skipped.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

A lot of people focus on the few popular genres in piano music, such as classical, contemporary, popular, and jazz. I’d like to encourage people to listen to some ragtime pieces, and even expand on that by trying to learn some through sheet music. Sometimes I think that a lot of people forget about ragtime because there are not as many pieces out there, and many piano players are intimidated by the quick-step rhythm of the pieces. The music also has a really “old” feel, and even kind of a goofy personality to it. Usually, when you hear ragtime music, it’s paired up with a video clip of a fast-forwarded black and white historical clip. Ragtime, in my opinion, is a bit of neglected genre in piano these days, and I definitely plan on learning more ragtime pieces in the near future. You can find Maple Leaf Rag and other works by Joplin in the book, Scott Joplin: Collected Piano Works by Scott Joplin.

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