Editing Ragtime (section)

==History==

===Origins===
Ragtime music was developed long before it was printed as sheet music.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> While its precise origins are unknown, scholars like Terry Waldo believe it to stem from music played by [[Field slaves in the United States|plantation slaves]] for dance events called “rags” (these were mentioned in newspaper articles as early as the 1820s).<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> The musician ensemble would generally only consist of a [[banjo]] player and a [[fiddle]] player.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> They would play dance music like jigs, reels and schottisches, with the way the banjo is played providing the syncopation that ragtime came to be known for.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" />

While no examples of music from this era survives, there are nevertheless some examples from before ragtime’s heyday in the 1890s.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> Believed to be one of the oldest preserved pieces of ragtime music is ''The Dream Rag'' (originally titled ''The Bull Dyke’s Dream'') by [[Jessie Pickett]].<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> While its year of composition is unknown, [[Eubie Blake]] (who Pickett taught it to around 1900), believed it to have been written some time before the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> Unlike the march-style left hand pattern of many later rags, ''The Dream Rag'' uses a rhythm more closely related to the [[Contradanza|habanera]], providing a good example of how Spanish music influenced the ragtime genre.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> Jesse Pickett performed ''The Dream Rag'' at the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition|Chicago World’s Fair]], where the greater American public were first introduced to what would become known as ragtime.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /><ref name="parlor-songs">{{cite web |url=http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/ragtime/ragtime.php |title=Ragtime Piano, Musical Origins |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=Parlor Songs |access-date=December 11, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211020536/http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/ragtime/ragtime.php |archive-date=December 11, 2024}}</ref> Others present at the exposition were such names as [[Scott Joplin]], [[Ben Harney]], and [[Shep Edmonds]]<ref name="parlor-songs" /> (referred to by some as the “father of ragtime”{{Who|date=December 2024}}<ref name="parlor-songs" /><ref name="musical-crossroads">{{cite web |url=https://musicalcrossroads.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/the-attucks-music-publishing-co/ |title=The Attucks Music Publishing Co. |last=Meyers |first=David |date=January 31, 2010 |website=Columbus, The Musical Crossroads |access-date=December 11, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211022500/https://musicalcrossroads.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/the-attucks-music-publishing-co/ |archive-date=December 11, 2024}}</ref>).

Another surviving example of early ragtime is the music of [[Louis Moreau Gottschalk]].<ref name="parlor-songs" /> While not a ragtime composer per se, there are elements in his music that are distinctly reminiscent of ragtime.{{Explain|date=December 2024}}<ref name="parlor-songs" />

The composed ragtime of the 1890s had its origins in [[African Americans|African American]] communities of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi Valley]] in general and [[St. Louis]] in particular.<ref name="waldo-ragtime-piano" /> Most of the early ragtime musicians could not read or [[Musical notation|notate]] music, but instead [[Playing by ear|played by ear]] and [[Musical improvisation|improvised]]. The instrument of choice by ragtime musicians during this time was usually a [[banjo]] or a piano. It was performed in brothels, bars, saloons, and informal gatherings at house parties or [[juke joints]]. These places were an excellent breeding ground for new music as European classical music was mixed with African-American folk songs.

[[File:Las ma la.jpg|thumb|260px|Cover for "La Pas Ma La" sheet music (1895). Words and music by Ernest Hogan.]]

The first ragtime composition to be published was "[[La Pas Ma La]]" in 1895. It was written by [[Minstrel show|minstrel]] comedian [[Ernest Hogan]]. [[Kentucky]] native [[Ben Harney]] composed the song "You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke Down" the following year in 1896. The composition was a hit and helped popularize the genre to the mainstream.<ref name="rb1">{{cite book |last1=Blesh |first1=Rudi |title='Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist, Introduction to Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works |date=1981 |publisher=New York Public Library |page=xvii}}</ref><ref name="Penguin History">{{cite book |last1=Brogan |first1=Hugh |title=The Penguin History of the United States of America |date=1999 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-025255-2 |page=415 |edition=2}}</ref> Another early ragtime pioneer was comedian and songwriter [[Irving Jones]].<ref name="Ragged">{{cite book |last1=Abbott and Seroff |first1=Lynn, Doug |title=Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, 'Coon Songs' and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz |date=2009 |publisher=University of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-4968-0030-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwSiDwAAQBAJ&q=Ragged+but+Right+Irving+Jones |access-date=January 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Miller">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Karl Hagström |title=Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow |date=2010 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=43 |isbn=978-0-8223-9270-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfkOv_3Gc0oC&dq=%22coon+shouters%22&pg=PA128 |access-date=January 22, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Scott Joplin in 1912.jpg|thumb|left|[[Scott Joplin]], considered the “King of Ragtime” (1912)]]
Ragtime was also a modification of the [[March (music)|march]] style popularized by [[John Philip Sousa]]. Jazz critic [[Rudi Blesh]] thought its [[polyrhythm]] may be coming from African music, although no historian or musicologist has made any connection with any music from Africa.<ref name="rb2">''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', pp. xv–xvi.</ref> Ragtime composer [[Scott Joplin]] (''ca.'' 1868–1917) from Texas, became famous through the publication of the "[[Maple Leaf Rag]]" (1899) and a string of ragtime hits such as "[[The Entertainer (rag)|The Entertainer]]" (1902), although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s.<ref name="rb3">''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', p. xiii</ref><ref name="rb4">''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', p. xviii</ref> For at least 12 years after its publication, "Maple Leaf Rag" heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its [[melody]] lines, [[Harmony|chord progressions]] or [[Metre (music)|metric patterns]].<ref name="rb5">''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', p. xxiii.</ref>

In a 1913 interview published in the [[black newspaper]] ''[[New York Age]]'', Scott Joplin asserted that there had been "ragtime music in America ever since the [[Negro]] race has been here, but the white people took no notice of it until about twenty years ago [in the 1890s]."<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> | title = Theatrical Comment: Use of Vulgar Words a Detriment to Ragtime | work = [[New York Age]] | date = April 3, 1913 | page = 6}}</ref>

===The heyday of ragtime===
[[File:The Top Liner Rag.jpg|thumb|253px|[[Joseph Lamb (composer)|Joseph Lamb]]'s 1916 "The Top Liner Rag"]]

Ragtime quickly established itself as a distinctly American form of [[popular music]]. Ragtime became the first [[African-American music|African American music]] to have an impact on mainstream popular culture. Piano "professors" such as [[Jelly Roll Morton]] played ragtime in the "sporting houses" ([[Brothel|bordellos]]) of [[New Orleans]]. Polite society embraced ragtime as disseminated by brass bands and "society" dance bands. Bands led by [[W. C. Handy]] and [[James R. Europe]] were among the first to crash the color bar in American music. The new rhythms of ragtime changed the world of dance bands and led to new dance steps, popularized by the show-dancers [[Vernon and Irene Castle]] during the 1910s. The growth of dance orchestras in popular entertainment was an outgrowth of ragtime and continued into the 1920s.

Ragtime also made its way to Europe. Shipboard orchestras on transatlantic lines included ragtime music in their repertoire. In 1912, the first public concerts of ragtime were performed in the United Kingdom by the American Ragtime Octette (ARO) at the [[Hippodrome, London]]; a group organized by ragtime composer and pianist [[Lewis F. Muir]] who toured Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Blue Book of Tin Pan Alley: A Human Interest Encyclopedia of American Popular Music, Volume 2|author=Jack Burton, Graydon LaVerne Freeman, Larry Freeman|year=1962|publisher=Century House|page=213}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Music and Dancing|title=City Of Cities: The Birth Of Modern London|author=Stephen Inwood|year= 2011|isbn=9780330540674|publisher=[[Pan Macmillan]]}}</ref> Immensely popular with British audiences, the ARO popularized several of Muir's rags (such as "[[Waiting for the Robert E. Lee]]" and "[[Hitchy-Koo]]") which were credited by historian [[Ian Whitcomb]] as the first American popular songs to influence British culture and music.<ref name="Faber">{{cite book|chapter=Invasion|title=After the Ball: Pop Music from Rag to Rock|author=Ian Whitcomb|year=2013|publisher=[[Faber & Faber]]|isbn=9780571299331}}</ref> The ARO recorded some of Muir's rags with the British record label [[The Winner Records]] in 1912; the first ragtime recordings made in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=British Dance Bands on Record 1911 to 1945 and Supplement|author=Brian Rust, Sandy Forbes|page=1139|year=1989|publisher=[[General Gramophone Publications]]}}</ref> James R. Europe's 369th Regiment band generated great enthusiasm during its 1918 tour of France.<ref name="Scott1919">{{cite book|author=Emmett Jay Scott|title=Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War|url=https://archive.org/details/scottsofficialhi00scot|year=1919|publisher=Homewood Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scottsofficialhi00scot/page/308 308]}}</ref>

Ragtime was an influence on early [[jazz]]; the influence of Jelly Roll Morton continued in the Harlem [[stride piano]] style of players such as [[James P. Johnson]] and [[Fats Waller]]. Ragtime was also a major influence on [[Piedmont blues]]. Dance orchestras started evolving away from ragtime towards the [[big band]] sounds that predominated in the 1920s and 1930s when they adopted smoother rhythmic styles.

===Revivals===
There have been numerous revivals since newer styles supplanted ragtime in the 1920s. First in the early 1940s, many jazz bands began to include ragtime in their repertoire and put out ragtime recordings on [[phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments|78 rpm records]]. A more significant revival occurred in the 1950s as a wider variety of ragtime genres of the past were made available on records, and new rags were composed, published, and recorded.

In the 1960s, two major factors brought about a greater public recognition of ragtime. The first was the publication of the book, ''[[They All Played Ragtime]]'', in 1960, by Harriet Janis and Rudi Blesh. Some historians refer to this book as "The Ragtime Bible". Regardless, it was the first comprehensive and serious attempt to document the first ragtime era, and its three most important composers, Joplin, Scott, and Lamb. The second major factor was the rise to prominence of [[Max Morath]]. Morath created two television series for National Educational Television (now PBS) in 1960 and 1962: ''The Ragtime Era'', and ''The Turn of the Century''. Morath turned the latter into a one-man-show in 1969, and toured the US with it for five years. Morath subsequently created different one-man-shows which also toured the US, that also educated and entertained audiences about ragtime.<ref>John S. Wilson, New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/30/arts/max-morath-in-rag-and-unragtime.html "MAX MORATH IN RAG AND 'UNRAGTIME'"]. Originally published, July 30, 1982; site accessed, July, 2021.</ref> New ragtime composers soon followed, including Morath, [[Donald Ashwander]], [[Trebor Jay Tichenor]], [[John Arpin]], [[William Bolcom]], and [[William Albright (musician)|William Albright]].

In 1971, [[Joshua Rifkin]] released a compilation of Joplin's work which was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]].<ref name="Past Winner Database">[http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/1971/1971grammy.htm Past Winner Database], "1971 14th Grammy Awards". Accessed Feb. 19, 2007.</ref>

In 1973, [[The New England Ragtime Ensemble]] (then a student group called The New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble) recorded ''[[The Red Back Book]]'', a compilation of some of Joplin's rags in period orchestrations edited by conservatory president [[Gunther Schuller]]. It won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance of the year and was named Top Classical Album of 1974 by ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine. The film ''[[The Sting]]'' (1973) brought ragtime to a wide audience with its soundtrack of Joplin tunes. The film's rendering of "The Entertainer", adapted and orchestrated by [[Marvin Hamlisch]], was a Top 5 hit in 1975.

Ragtime – with Joplin's work at the forefront – has been cited as an American equivalent of the [[minuet]]s of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], the [[mazurka]]s of [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], or the [[waltz]]es of [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]].<ref>Hitchcock, H. Wiley. "Stereo Review", 1971, p.84, cited in ''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', p. xiv.</ref> Ragtime also influenced [[Classical music|classical]] composers including [[Erik Satie]], [[Claude Debussy]], and [[Igor Stravinsky]].<ref name="rb6">''Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist'', p. xiii.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Dickinson|first=Peter|title=Reviews of Books|journal=Music and Letters|date=1 January 1987|volume=68|issue=1|pages=78–79|doi=10.1093/ml/68.1.78}}</ref>