Scott Joplin Ragtime Medley

            I’ve been wanting to test how the blog will handle my piano solos, so I decided to record this under ten-minute ragtime medley to check it out.

            I’m a long-time Scott Joplin fan. A prominent musicologist wrote of Joplin’s rags that they “are the precise American equivalent, in terms of native style of dance music, of minuets by Mozart, mazurkas by Chopin or waltzes by Brahms.”

            Each of his fifty-plus compositions contains at least four different tuneful melodies. I’ve pieced together here one melody from each of the following dozen Joplin tunes (in this order):

The Nonpareil

Easy Winners

Reflection Rag

The Sycamore

Magnetic Rag

Elite Syncopations

Swipesy

Pine Apple Rag

Peacherine Rag

The Entertainer

Maple Leaf Rag

Solace

             You’ll note that, in contrast to many fine pianists who play Joplin melodies at a quick tempo, I play these in a much slower fashion. In that regard, I’m not only trying to emphasize the soulfulness I discern in the music, but I also believe I’m following the spirit of the composer. On the sheet music for many of his works, Joplin wrote this or a similar warning at the top of the first page:

 Notice! Don’t play this piece fast. It is never right to play ‘ragtime’ fast.” Author.

             I hope you enjoy this. If you’re interested in Joplin and would like a more complete offering of his music, I recorded a CD in 2007 titled A Salute to Ragtime – Jim Freund plays the Euphonic Melodies of Scott Joplin, with excerpts from 39 of his works (including a few complete ones) and detailed liner notes about him and many of his compositions. Email me your mailing address and I’ll send you one of the CD’s (no charge, of course).

Click on the play button to start listening to the audio. (If you should wish to pause it, click again; to move forward or back, click on the (nearly invisible) progress bar as appropriate.)