scott joplin, Music, College Term Papers.com


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scott joplin

scott joplin Scott Joplin is a well know ragtime composer and his music is an obvious reflection of that. The music he composed always seemed to be light with repeated patterns and emphasized off-beats. These characteristics are defining of ragtime. Ragtime originated in New Orleans, also known as the birth place of Jazz. It is a unique blend of European classical styles combined with African American harmony and rhythm. “Rag” is usually known as a piano oriented style that is written down. Being written, Ragtime songs can be performed over and over and remain the same throughout time. However, since it was written down, it did not involve much improvisation, causing people to dispute it as being a pure jazz style. It also lacked the “swing feeling” to its songs. Although it might not be considered strict jazz, it has still set the foundations for jazz as we know it. One of ragtime’s main contributions is the presence of off-beats, also know as syncopation. This involves the accenting of before and after beats off the main beat of the song. It helps to provide “rag” with the lively light foot type of feeling. This feature provided a psuedo swing feeling to the songs. Also ragtime contained an extensive repetition of brief patterns. Musicians use ostinato to describe this characteristic. This is an obvious characteristic in Scott Joplin’s composition. It helps to add to the swing feeling and keep a common theme in the song. This characteristic came from accompaniment rhythms in folk music and march music. Another feature of ragtime is the polyrhythm. This is the practice of sounding different rhythms at the same time. It helps to provide a rhythmic excitement and a catchy hook for listeners of ragtime. “The Entertainer” carries all these features in it, which helps to make it a Ragtime classic. It contains many brief repetitions. It is obvious throughout the song as the listener can always identify the same sounding parts. Also there is syncopation helping to provide the lively swing type of feeling to it. The syncopated beats can be clearly heard on the piano and felt by the listener. Both other selections contain the same features and implement them in the same way. Selection 1 – I’ve been hearing pieces of this song sing I was a little kid. They always play this song on commercials and tv shows. This is the first time I had to chance to listen to the song the whole way through. I was very impressed by this song and like it a lot. It has a very happy and uplifting beat to it. It makes me want to get up and dance. Selection 2 – This song reminds me of a bar scene and old black and white still movies. I like it a lot. It sounds like a conversation between two people on some topic and they back and forth on certain points. It still has a lively and cheerful tune to it though. I could just picture Joshua Rifkin swaying side to side as his plays this song. Selection 3 – Out of the three songs this one is the least well known. I listened to this song and it striked me because it was not as upbeat and the last two. It has a slower and more serious tone to it. It still had a dancing feel to it, but a more serious and slow one. It reminds me of two older people dancing around. It has a bar / saloon feel to it. Bibliography:

Word Count: 589