Ragtime

Urbanization and the rise of mass consumption in the late 19th century changed American lives forever in many ways. As new technology was invented, the need for human labor decreased creating an alienated term called leisure. Leisure was a brand new term for the American working class and, at first, people did not know what to do with it. (Alan Brinkley) Americans started to search for forms of entertainment and because of urbanization, industrialization, and immigration, ragtime music gained a very large audience fast. Ragtime, in its simplest form, was piano music that had syncopated or "ragged" sounding rhythms and melodies giving it a swinging feel. (The Library of Congress ) It originated from jigs or march music played and composed by African Americans. As ragtime gained popularity in the 1880s, ragtime mostly reflected stereotypical, black characters through album covers and lyrics. Ragtime in the early 1900s, however, was romanticized and less ridiculed. Piano was a very popular instrument and was kept in many households because middle class families put high value on learning to play an instrument, especially piano. The new availability of instruments and sheet music propelled ragtime into everyone's lives. Ragtime will become influential to modern composers and inspire new genres of music and dance.

Composers and Musicians

Ragtime was called “the one original and indigenous type of music of the American people” (Susan Curtis) in 1915 because it represented the patriotism and spirit of American people in the nation’s cities. Ragtime for the longest time was passed on orally and had very little opportunity to be written down. Before 1870, ragtime was mostly played at minstrel shows or accompanied song and dance, but around the 1880s,  ragtime caught the attention of white audiences and white composers began to imitate ragtime styles. (Ingeborg Harer) Pop culture was also developing alongside ragtime and was an important contributor to the growing popularity of ragtime. New, rapid developments in communications and printing technology helped develop pop culture and, in turn, helped ragtime become popular. Once this music got published, ragtime got its liftoff into the progressive lives of American people. Ben R. Harney was one of the first practitioners to bring ragtime to vaudeville shows in New York and, as an all round entertainer, he helped ragtime to spread even further to the mainstream public. A young composer who followed Harney teamed up with John Stark, a famous publisher of the time, and published his first rag Maple Leaf Rag. His name was Scott Joplin, who is known today as the King of Ragtime.

Ben R. Harney

Scott Joplin was born in Texas and grew up playing piano, cornet, and singing in a quartet. He later moved to Sedalia, a city outside of St. Louis, Missouri, which was where ragtime flourished. He wrote music, played in many small ensembles, and was a member of The Maple Leaf Gentleman's Club where he wrote his most famous song. Missouri was considered the heart of America based off its geographical location just like ragtime was thought to represent the heart and soul of America. Missouri got a lot of musical attention because of the railroad hubs, thriving community of commerce and transportation, and the many travelers seeking entertainment. (Crawford, 538-546) Missouri was “The Gateway to the West” so musicians thrived there because cities like St. Louis were going through social, commercial, and cultural change which attracted a lot of people.  

Maple Leaf Club, Sedalia, Missouri

Joplin among many other black composers struggled to get their works published because many of the big brand publishers would refuse to publish black composers. For example, Will Marion Cook, a black composer, started out studying classical violin, but found that classical music was prejudice against his race and decided to, instead, compose for shows centered around black characters where he was more successful. One of the most famous publishers of the time was civil war veteran, John Stark, who met Scott Joplin in 1899 with his unpublished song “Maple Leaf Rag”. He was one of the only publishers who ignored his prejudice and agreed to publish Joplin’s work. Because of this, John Stark and Co. actually became more successful than the other publishing companies. (Library of Congress) In only 15 years, "Maple Leaf Rag" sold over 1 million copies. Scott Joplin’s goals were to give ragtime music a salable form, expand the range of customers, and raise the status of ragtime. The only way to accomplish his goals was to get ragtime published and written down for all of America to enjoy. The new printing and distributing technology that was available at the time made this possible. John Stark and Scott Joplin were very important figures in history that helped make ragtime immortal.

Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin

It was not a surprise that ragtime caught on so fast after the first publication of ragtime music.  Americans during this time period were very spirited and energized as a whole because of the new opportunities they had due to leisure time. Ragtime was a musical representation of this energy and complimented many locations like saloons, sporting houses, ballrooms, and private homes. (Ingeborg Harer) The tunes were very catchy, foot- tapping, and humorous. What separated ragtime from all other music at the time was the unpredictable rhythms and beats. Ragtime introduced syncopation, which was the act of putting emphasis on the “weak” beats in music. Instead of the strict dance beats that put emphasis on beats 1 and 3, ragtime emphasized 2 and 4. Ragtime broke a lot of musical rules, but that was what made it so appealing to Americans. Composers brought to the stage a new sound by using syncopation, bending pitches, and exploring various vocal and instrumental sounds and techniques. For example, Scott Joplin created a unique technique in rag called “stop time” where the music stops and you just hear the musician stomping their feet to keep the beat. This premiered in his song “A Stop Time Two Step” in 1902 and later became a critical music device in Jazz and Blues music. (Jim Paterson)

Spirited Americans

Ragtime faded in popularity around the 1920s, because of the rise of Jazz and Blues music which originated in New Orleans. Even though it was fading, many aspects of rag were still prevalent in Jazz and Blues like syncopation and stop-time. Rag was also used in many broadway shows and is the inspiration for many broadway composers today. Ragtime was even popularized in Europe when Arthur Pryor, a ragtime composer who grew up playing trombone, composed rags for John Philip Sousa’s marching band to play while they toured Europe in 1900. (The Library of Congress) Urbanization and the need for entertainment created a platform for ragtime sheet music to be a nation wide household item. Even though ragtime is no longer in our Top 100 billboard list, it changed the way people viewed black culture and created new music genres and styles we still listen to today.

Works Cited 

“Back to Nature.” University Missourian [Colombia]. Library of Congress, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89066313/1913-11-14/ed-1/seq 2/#date1=1789&sort=state&date2=1924&words=ragtime&sequence=0&lccn=&index=6&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=ragtime&year=&phrasetext=&andtext=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=725.

Primary source about personal opinions about ragtime.

Berlin, Edward A. Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History. PDF ed., University of California Press.

Gave history behind the naming of ragtime and discussed attitude towards rag.

Brinkley, Alan. A Survey American History. 12th ed., McGraw Hill Company.

Gave background and set up for ragtime. Talked specifically how urbanization contributed to the popularity of ragtime.

Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.

Discussed specific examples of people and places that were crucial to ragtime popularity. Especially publishing companies and Scott Joplin.

Curtis, Susan. “Ragtime.” Encyclopedia of Urban America. Literati, literati.credoreference.com/content/entry/abcurban/ragtime/0?searchId=beba0eff-eb0f-11e6-a028-0e58d2201a4d&result=0.

Gave information about spirit of people and Missouri and that translating into ragtime. Gave primary quotes of people commenting on the music.

Harer, Ingeborg. “Defining Ragtime: Historical and Typological Research.” JSTOR. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/902493?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=ragtime&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Fgroup%3Dnone%26wc%3Don%26acc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26Query%3Dragtime&seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents.

Discussed african american culture behind ragtime.

“History of Ragtime.” Performing Arts Encyclopedia. The Library of Congress, memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035811/default.html.

Discussed why ragtime is different than any other music of the time. Sycopation, odd beats, etc.

Paterson, Jim. “Ragtime Music.” mfiles, Music Files, www.mfiles.co.uk/ragtime-music.htm.

Discussed the prejudice ragtime had to overcome to convince white people of its worth.

“Popular Culture in the Gilded Age.” History Study Center. History Study Center, www.historystudycenter.com/search/displayMultiResultStudyunitItem.do?Multi=yes&ResultsID=15974DFD3FD&fromPage=search&ItemNumber=1&QueryName=studyunit.

Discussed the technological advances that ragtime needed to get started.