![]() While white performers dominated the industry, black troupes also participated in minstrelsy since the 1840s. They were enjoyed primarily by middle and lower class white audiences. Though filtered through white performers in blackface makeup, the music incorporated African American folk elements, including banjo styles learned from Southern black musicians.Ĭapitalizing on negative stereotypes of African Americans, minstrel shows were the most popular form of entertainment in the United States in the middle decades of the century. Ragtime and the music industry, including sheet music publishing and new phonograph and player piano technologies, enjoyed a symbiotic relationship and rapid growth.įifty years before ragtime became a national sensation, touring minstrel troupes gave much of white America its first taste of a version of black music. While dancers and audiences, both black and white, embraced it, some scorned it as an African American cultural invasion. It burst onto the national stage during the Gilded Age in the 1890s, when sentimental love songs dominated popular music. Ragtime emerged from African American communities in the South after the Civil War. The term “ragtime” likely derived from a contraction of “ragged-time,” indicating the highly-syncopated rhythm that characterizes the music. The suffix “-time,” as commonly applied in the late nineteenth century, referenced the rhythm of a musical composition: jig-time, waltz-time, march-time, etc. It results in more rhythmic diversity and excitement. Syncopation occurs when notes are stressed or accented between beats, interrupting the regular flow of rhythm and emphasizing the weaker beats. Rhythmic syncopation pre-dated this era and style, but ragtime gained notoriety for its pervasive use throughout a composition or improvisation. Ragtime derived its name from the insistent, highly-syncopated “ragged” rhythm that distinguished it from other contemporary styles. Ragtime and blues, a related African American musical form that developed concurrently, are essential components in jazz music, which rose in popularity as interest in ragtime waned. The genre eventually took a variety of forms, including vocal and instrumental music, intended for a listening audience. Rooted in African American folk dance traditions, it evolved in the decades after emancipation, incorporating both African and European musical elements. But there was a huge Joplin revival in the early 1970s, spurred by pianist Joshua Rifkin's recordings of Joplin rags, and the Academy Award winning movie The Sting, which featured several Joplin compositions as well as The Entertainer.Ragtime was one of the most popular forms of music in the United States between 18. The popularity of his music diminished after his death. One of his first pieces, The Maple Leaf Rag, became ragtime's first hit. His work had a profound influence on subsequent writers of ragtime.ĭuring his brief career, Joplin wrote forty-four rags, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. He achieved fame for his wonderful ragtime pieces ("rags"), and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime". Scott Joplin (1867/1868 - 1917) was an African American composer and pianist, who belonged to the first post-slavery generation. Composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation of The Entertainer was rated number three on the Billboard pop chart in 1974, and number one on the adult contemporary chart that same year. ![]() One of the classics of ragtime, it returned to prominence in the 1970s, when it was used as the theme-music for the 1973 Academy Award winning film The Sting. ![]() The Entertainer is rated number ten on the list "Songs of the Century". Written for piano in 1902, Scott Joplin's The Entertainer is a popular piece of ragtime, a musical genre whose main characteristic is its syncopated (or "ragged") rhythm, and which enjoyed its peak popularity between 18. ![]()
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