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Farmgirl, it sounds like you are having great piano adventures when you are away from home!
The kindness of strangers, ...it really is something special isn't it?

I think having a repertoire at your fingertips is a great idea. It is something my teacher suggested to me a month or two into my lessons. She gets me to learn most of my pieces by memory, and I use them as "warm up" and "cooling down" pieces when I practice, so I keep them in shape. Of course my repertoire is pretty small and the pieces are short, but I do hope to continue the trend.

Michael....how many pages ARE there in the Entertainer??? My husband and I were talking about it yesterday and he was surprised when I said Joplin was so difficult. He said ..but it sounds so light and easy-going....and I suggested he listen more closely next time we play a cd with rag time. ... and then I showed him the scores for several pieces in one of my "easy" piano collections!! He was astonished.

Which brought up the question of "Why is it called rag -time" - Seems this is a contraction of the "ragged time" description it got due to the syncopation.

Glasslove (Christine) asked me to say hello to everyone, I figured this was the best thread to write in.

She is having a most excellent adventure, and will tell us about it in the near future!

probably more than anyone wants to know.....



Ragtime (from wikipedia)

Historical contextRagtime originated in African American music in the late 19th century, descending from the jigs and march music played by black bands.[13] By the start of the 20th century it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African syncopation and European classical music, especially the marches made popular by John Philip Sousa.

Some early piano rags are entitled marches, and "jig" and "rag" were used interchangeably in the mid-1890s.[13] Ragtime was also preceded by its close relative the cakewalk. In 1895, black entertainer Ernest Hogan published two of the earliest sheet music rags, one of which ("All Coons Look Alike to Me") eventually sold a million copies.[14] As fellow black musician Tom Fletcher said, Hogan was the "first to put on paper the kind of rhythm that was being played by non-reading musicians."[15] While the song's success helped introduce the country to ragtime rhythms, its use of racial slurs created a number of derogatory imitation tunes, known as "coon songs" because of their use of extremely racist and stereotypical images of blacks. In Hogan's later years he admitted shame and a sense of "race betrayal" for the song while also expressing pride in helping bring ragtime to a larger audience.[16]

The emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags were published. In 1899, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" was published, which became a great hit and demonstrated more depth and sophistication than earlier ragtime. Ragtime was one of the main influences on the early development of jazz (along with the blues). Some artists, like Jelly Roll Morton, were present and performed both ragtime and jazz styles during the period the two genres overlapped. Jazz largely surpassed ragtime in mainstream popularity in the early 1920s, although ragtime compositions continue to be written up to the present, and periodic revivals of popular interest in ragtime occurred in the 1950s and the 1970s.

The heyday of ragtime predated the widespread availability of sound recording. Like classical music, and unlike jazz, classical ragtime was and is primarily a written tradition, being distributed in sheet music rather than through recordings or by imitation of live performances. Ragtime music was also distributed via piano rolls for player pianos. A folk ragtime tradition also existed before and during the period of classical ragtime (a designation largely created by Scott Joplin's publisher John Stillwell Stark), manifesting itself mostly through string bands, banjo and mandolin clubs (which experienced a burst of popularity during the early 20th Century), and the like.

A form known as novelty piano (or novelty ragtime) emerged as the traditional rag was fading in popularity. Where traditional ragtime depended on amateur pianists and sheet music sales, the novelty rag took advantage of new advances in piano-roll technology and the phonograph record to permit a more complex, pyrotechnic, performance-oriented style of rag to be heard. Chief among the novelty rag composers is Zez Confrey, whose "Kitten on the Keys" popularized the style in 1921.

Ragtime also served as the roots for stride piano, a more improvisational piano style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Elements of ragtime found their way into much of the American popular music of the early 20th century. It also played a central role in the development of the musical style later referred to as Piedmont blues; indeed, much of the music played by such artists of the genre as Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Elizabeth Cotten, and Etta Baker, could be referred to as "ragtime guitar."[17]

Although most ragtime was composed for piano, transcriptions for other instruments and ensembles are common, notably including Gunther Schuller's arrangements of Joplin's rags. Ragtime guitar continued to be popular into the 1930s, usually in the form of songs accompanied by skilled guitar work. Numerous records emanated from several labels, performed by Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Lemon Jefferson, and others. Occasionally ragtime was scored for ensembles, (particularly dance bands and brass bands) similar to those of James Reese Europe, or as songs like those written by Irving Berlin. Joplin had long-standing ambitions for the synthesizing for the worlds of ragtime and opera, to which end the opera Treemonisha was written. However its first performance, poorly staged with Joplin accompanying on the piano, was "disastrous" and it was never to be fully performed again in Joplin's lifetime.[18] In fact the score was lost for decades, then rediscovered in 1970, with a fully orchestrated and staged performance in 1972.[19] An earlier opera by Joplin, A Guest of Honor, has been lost.[20]

There are 6 pages in my "easy" version. If I didn't suck so badly, I could have had it down in a week or two. I have the first 5 pages memorized. I can play the last page, but not with both hands! I'm pretty excited to have gotten as far as I have.......I didn't think I would be able to play this song......in fact, I was ready to give up! I'm glad that I stuck with it! My family is very impressed. I'm looking forward to learning Maple Leaf next.

Michael, I think you should be impressed and pleased with yourself - I sure would be!!! I hope we get to hear you playing it.


JimF - that was really interesting- I had no idea that there was so much racism tied up in ragtime.

A while back my teacher had me listen to Debussy's Children's Corner Suite, and in particular "Gollywog Cakewalk" - I remarked at the time that it made me think of Joplin.

I think it is wonderful to be able to make connections and see the small changes and influences that go into developing a new genre of music.

Here is Debussy playing the work: (seems he was also spoofing Wagner at some point here, but I don't quite get that....)

Sad history. Great music. BTW, if you want another "interesting" surprise ... google how Jelly Roll Morton (referred to in the post) got his name. WARNING: Not for the easily offended.



This always sounds strange to me. Debussy crossed with ragtime. Bizarre. The parody of Wagner is very buried - apparently Debussy had to tell people it was there so they could hear it. It's taken from the opening theme of Tristan und Isolde and, though I know exactly where in the piece it comes, I really can't hear it.

Just came back from a little piano practice and dinner afterwards. The place I practiced on Monday and Tuesday is having a recital so they kindly told that I could practice in their other store in the same city. I really appreciate the store. It's so special to have a place to practice while I am on the raod. I offer to pay for the piano rental but he did not take money... Instead, he told me that I could go there any time and practice as long as I want. It brought tears in my eyes. He knew the piece I am working on (more like, struggling) and had some very encouraging words for me. "It sounded great, you are doing good with the Rach piece"... I love piano. I love musicians. I love Salt Lake City. I love the world. Thank you.

Cheryl,

What a vantastic idea! How smart you are to incorporate it in your practice rutine. I will follow your guidance on it.

I will definately resurrect a couple of Debussey pieces I love; Sunken castle and Claire de Lune. I may throw in a Chopin waltz and yes, my favorite Japanese piece called "Haru no Umi". The Japanese piece may be translated as "Spring Ocean". It's originally composed for Japanese Harp and lute. Now I have an idea. I should play those in the Piano Bar or ABF recital. It will be a good motivation and less work since I don't need to learn it from the scratch. The Japanese one is great since not so many people know about it - I can make mistakes (lol). Also, the timing is a bit different. It's not rubato. To certain extent, it's upto you how you play.

Andy, I did google Jelly Roll Morton - and I was surprised, it was not what I was expecting - ok, I was expecting offensive,but I thought it would be some kind of racial issue again! Good thing you posted a warning !

Farm Girl, I'm glad you like my idea - (my teacher's idea!!!) It works well for me. I would love to hear your Haru no Umi piece!!!

Did anyone see the Legend of 1900? While it is totally ridiculous from many points of view, it was actually my "introduction" to Jelly Roll Morton!

I always see that it's on cable.. is that the one about the guy who has never left the boat? Is it any good?

Pretty pleased with myself that I was able to work out Short People (Randy Newman) over the last two nights, particularly the intro and verse parts. I found it very interesting how he keeps G above middle going throughout. While the basic chord pattern for the chorus is simple (G, Em, A7, D) it's difficult to hear what he is really doing underneath all the other instrumentation. (OK. before someone corrects me ... the song is in F# - I think - I just play it in G.) The beauty of the digital piano is the ability to transpose so easily. It makes tasks like this so much easier. Especially for new players like me who have not mastered playing in flat/sharp keys.




Edited for sense

All this talk about ragtime has gotten me interested. They only thing I've been learning/playing is baroque, classic, and romantic. Maybe I'll ask my teacher what he thinks about a ragtime piece when I finish up with my current pieces.

I got to do a little "performance" at home the other day. My grandson had a school friend over for the first time, and she was excited to see that we had a piano. She is a dancer and asked me to play something for her. So I played a little Chopin and some of the Moonlight Sonata, while she did ballet. It was so cute! But if you can believe it, I was even nervous playing for a six-year-old!

As long as we are talking about Joplin, can anyone tell me how tough Bethena is? Its on my someday list.

I'm not familiar with that piece, but you made me curious.

I found it here http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=2
and downloaded it.
Compared to other Joplin scores I've seen (and the ones I have are SIMPLIFIED ha ha , right, simplified!!).... this looks quite approachable.

Have started the second part of Fur Elise...slowly. I didn't like playing the piece at first because it's played all the time. Now I'm really enjoy playing it. Also enjoying prelude. Hope to make it to the end next week.

It's been a TON more fun for me since I left my method book behind. My new teacher pushed me so much further and the music is much more "musical" than what I was learning on. I'm ready to record a few new pieces as soon as I get some quiet time without my kids in the house.

GracieCat, I love that Prelude! I agree with you on the method books. Alfred's 1 was ok, but 2 was really annoying.

I got a new piece this week and really wasn't expecting it, so I'm excited about that. It's Haydn's Gypsy Rondo. This is probably going to be a long project piece - I can't even imagine me playing it at speed. There is lots of banging though, and I like that.

GracieCat - great to hear how much you are enjoying your new approach - and the new pieces!
AimeeO - I love Haydn - now I've got to look up Gypsy Rondo and see what it is about.

Remember the discussion we had about Spanish composers a little while ago?
Today we went into town (Milan) - had sushi for lunch and did a little shopping.
Including a stop at 2 music shops. They both had this cd

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iberia-Goye...mp;ie=UTF8&qid=1310749017&sr=1-4

In one shop it was over 20 euros, in another it was only 13.50 PLUS I have a membership card, so I got 10% off of that. Cheaper even than ordering from Amazon!

I'm a happy camper.

Has anyone noticed that 4 more posts and we'll be at 1000 AOTW entries???

I think we deserve a round of applause!

Cheryl,

Thanks for the Bethena score. It sounded a little more approachable too. I'll have to ask my teacher at the next lesson. Oh, that's a great cd - you get both Albeniz and Granados. I love disc 1, track 4 - "Quejas o la maja y el ruiseñor". That's the one I also have a copy of Granados himself playing. It is interesting to play his version right after hearing Alicia deLarrocha's interpretation, or vice versa.

ps. its funny how these things get priced. Amazon USA has it at $10.50 for the CD and $9.50 for mp3 download.

if you get a chance pick up deLarrocha playing Granados "danzas". This is a utube of no.5 Andalusia. The gal's body english is over the top, but I think her playing of it is quite good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuLHh8JM0a8&feature=related

Hi everyone - I need to come here more often - it's always interesting reading what you're all working on, and what you're thinking and feeling about it.

After finishing the Haydn Minuet I mentioned in a previous recent post I started work on this beautiful, almost operatic, Cole Porter song from the Broadway musical "Kiss Me, Kate", a piece I have always loved and have been wanting to tackle for a long time.

If I have it finished by 8/15 I may submit it to the ABF Recital instead of the Haydn - if so I'll upload that one here for your dining, dancing and, hopefully, listening pleasure:





Trap

I played Bethena for one of the recitals a little while ago. It is more approachable - the real trouble for me, as always, is the octave stretches. I also think the interpretation is trickier - I didn't get it like I wanted it, anyway. I think Rustyfingers also played this in a recital, and it's interesting to compare interpretations (you can use Sam's handy-dandy recital index to find them). At any rate, it's a piece I love.

Cathy