Scott Joplin (1868–1917)
Known as the “King of Ragtime”, Scott Joplin gave this syncopated African American music a refined written form, between the European march and the rhythms of the South.
Born around 1868 in Texas, near Texarkana, Scott Joplin grew up in a family of African American musicians. He learned piano and theory from local teachers, then worked as a travelling pianist in the Midwest.
Settled in Sedalia, Missouri, he published the Maple Leaf Rag in 1899 with the publisher John Stark: a huge success that made him the leading figure of ragtime. Then came The Entertainer (1902), Elite Syncopations, Solace, Bethena and many more.
Joplin wanted ragtime recognised as art music. He published a method, School of Ragtime (1908), warning that ragtime should never be played fast, and wrote an opera, Treemonisha, which was only properly staged after his death. He died in New York in 1917.
Rediscovered in the 1970s, notably through the film The Sting, he received a posthumous special Pulitzer Prize citation in 1976. For pianists, his rags teach right-hand syncopation over a perfectly steady “stride” bass.
Piano sheet music (17)
- Elite Syncopations · level 5
- Something Doing · level 5
- The Strenuous Life · level 5
- Wall Street Rag · level 5
- The Entertainer · level 5
- Search-Light Rag · level 5
- Peacherine Rag · level 5
- Original Rags · level 5
- The Easy Winners · level 5
- Bethena (ragtime waltz) · level 5
- Sun Flower Slow Drag · level 5
- Solace (Mexican serenade) · level 5
- Eugenia · level 5
- Maple Leaf Rag · level 6
- Sugar Cane · level 6
- Pine Apple Rag · level 6
- A Breeze from Alabama (march and two-step) · level 5