Dawn

My performance of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, recorded in 2001…
Please forgive little errors!

Thanks for your big support, guys! ^__^

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WutherSoxDentonhttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/wuthersoxdentonMusicMagnetic, Rag, Piano, Joplin, RagtimeMagnetic Rag by Scott Joplin2007-04-13

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http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoSeminars

RAGTIME!

Scott Joplin playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FB7AC4F189BD2C2F

If you wish, view my dotted or “swung” version for sake of comparison. Both are played at exactly the same tempo in bpm, so it is an interesting comparison.

It has become popular lately (or “in vogue”) play The Easy Winners at a relaxed tempo, which is incorrect considering the title of the rag as well as the picture on the front cover. It shows athletes playing football, baseball, and horse racing. Now ask yourself what type of character “athletes” and “winners” suggest, “calm and relaxed” or “energetic and exuberant”. In essence, this rag is something like a happy victory dance after a hard game. It is vibrant, fun, and energetic. I do not know why there has been a movement to strip this rag of all its life and turn it into a serious affair. (See discussion of tempo below!)

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There has been much attention given recently to Joplin’s “slow” and “not fast” indications, which are often misleading if taken literally. Never has there been a composer in the history of music who wrote only slow music, but rather all the great composers included a wide gamut of speeds and emotions from slow to moderate to fast. Joplin certainly was no exception, meaning that it would be too one-sided and simplistic to take his “slow” and “not fast” indications literally and never play any of his rags in a lively fashion. Joplin probably became obsessed with “slow” and “not fast” indications to guard against outrageously fast tempos exceeding 120 bpm that saloon virtuosos often took, such as Alan Thompson’s version of Maple Leaf Rag (here on YouTube).

Most of Joplin’s rags are marches or in a march-like style. Considering that a normal march (like by Sousa) has a tempo of about 120 bpm, when Joplin says “slow” or “slow march tempo”, he didn’t necessarily mean a truly slow tempo, but rather a tempo slower than 120 bpm. In other words, “slow” was a relative term to Joplin rather than a purely specific or quantitative term most people associate with the word “slow”. For example, Joplin gave “Sugar Cane” a metronome mark of 100 bpm accompanied with the indication “slow march tempo”. To our ears Sugar Cane at 100 bpm is actually “fast”, although compared to a normal march tempo of about 120 bpm it is indeed “slow”.

Our duty as performers is to decide through analysis and logic which rags should be slower and more introverted, which should be faster and more extroverted, and which should be something in between. Often times one needs to look no further than the title and title page! For example, the title page of “The Easy Winners” shows football, baseball, and horse racing, in which “winners” and “athletes” clearly suggest an energetic and exuberant kind of performance rather than a calm and stately one. On the other hand, a title like “Weeping Willow” suggests the complete opposite–a calm, melancholy, and reflective mood that is best captured with a truly slow tempo.

One of the most misunderstood of Joplin’s rags is “Gladiolus Rag”, whose title indicates an energetic and masculine performance rather than a calm and serious one, as is often done. (See discussion of Gladiolus Rag for more details.) Of course, titles do not tell us everything; however, recognizing the implications of the titles along with study of the musical character and important musical motives at least bring us closer to capturing the true essence of the music as Joplin intended.

For my bio, please see: http://www.bachscholar.com/who_is.html

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The popular ragtime piece, “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin!

Recorded before playing at a Piano Guild audition a few years back (age 13).

Thanks for all the critique and kind comments!

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Please do not ask me for sheet music. You can find it here:

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/8/80/IMSLP02607-Joplin_-_The_Entertainer.pdf

If it is no longer available, please remember that I am a musician, not a music distributor. Thanks!

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I play Sugar Cane Rag for Treemonisha who requested it

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RAGTIME!

Scott Joplin playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FB7AC4F189BD2C2F

I like this rag best with dotted or swung rhythms, since they add energy and create the illusion that the tempo is faster than it really is. This is an advantage because it allows the ear to pick up all the details and nuances. In addition to being a pianist I am also a “music scientist” interested in how different modes of performance are perceived. No piece offers better concrete examples than this rag.

For example, I play this rag a full 10 beats per minute slower than Joshua Rifkin (86 vs. 96 bpm), who has become famous for his “slow” and “majestic” tempos. The funny thing is that if one listens to both performances back to back, it is hardly noticeable that mine is a full 10 beats per minute slower. In fact my performance even sounds faster in a way, since the insistence created by the dotted rhythms creates an *illusion* that the tempo is actually faster than it really is. Some of this illusion may also be created by my use of less pedal and more emphasis on crisp articulation.

Then, you may compare my performance at about 86 bpm with something entirely different, Tom Brier’s and Patrick Aranda’s duet performance here on YouTube (on keeper1st’s channel), who play it at a very fast 116 bpm (with straight rhythms). Theirs is a whopping 30 bpm faster than my performance and one would think “the faster the better”, but this is simply not so. In reality, it is some of the worst ragtime playing on YouTube because Tom (who murders just about everything he plays) takes it so insanely fast that Patrick can barely keep up. This proves that faster is not necessarily better, a philosophy I steadfastly believe in and will continue to promote time and time again in my videos.

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Here’s me playing the Maple leaf rag by Scott Joplin.

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A Rag Time Piano solo

www.lucabaldessari.net

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Me playing Scott Joplin’s Magnetic Rag on my parents’ Knabe baby grand piano. This was his final published piece (in 1914), and while not as widely known as The Entertainer or Maple Leaf, it’s my very favorite Joplin rag.

I’m a self-taught hobby ragtime player (and pretty camera-shy), so please excuse the mistakes (although I do get a rousing cheer from Mom, which you’ll hear at the end). Thanks Mom!

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“Maple Leaf Rag” written by “Scott Joplin(1868-1917)”.

The music of such a style is called “Ragtime Piano” or “Honky Tonk Piano”.

The original sheet of music is written with straight 4/4 beats, but it is often played in shuffle-style(Triplet).

Also Keith Emerson, Andre Previn, Toshiko Akiyoshi and many other players love this title and recording.

Emerson and Previn play straight-style, Akiyoshi plays shuffle-style

I played shuffle-style. When I took this video, the piano of my studio was out of an interval because I did not tune it. However, the sound was suitable for a honky-tonk piano.

Enjoy!

Fumitaka Anzai

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