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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Treemonisha ragtime opera excerpts composed by Scott Joplin, arranged and produced by Sue Keller. We Will Rest Awhile and Aunt Dinah Has Blowed de Horn.

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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!

*****
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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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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I’ve been meaning to record this tune for a while now…the recording isn’t PERFECT (especially the last bit), but I consider it to be a pretty decent runthrough overall. Considering how many repeats there are in the song, it’s as good as its going to get.

Comments are appreciated!

Keyboard: Korg TR Music Workstation

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Maple leaf rag!!

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Recorded Sunday, November 18, 2007 at Pearson Piano in Crete, IL by Sue Keller playing a Steingraeber 205 Conservatory Grand.

sheet music: http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/devincent/printable/LL-SDV-042067-01

Sue had the honor of being the very first pianist in the Chicago area to evaluate this limited production German piano in concert. The piece is Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin, The King of Ragtime. Here is a Scott Joplin’s own recording from his April 1916 piano roll:
http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9905_ragtime/rafiles/9905_mapleleafrag_28.ram

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