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Im a beginner still in the early stages in the Alfreds Adult Basic. I like the ragtime era. Was thinking about getting the "A first book of ragtime" David Dutkanicz. Any one tried it. Also notice there are several books in that series. thanks

I haven't seen this particular series.

Music publishers are very parsimonious with what they'll let you preview online. However, I got to see a representative page of Alfred's All-in-One and the first page of Dutkanicz's arrangement of "The Entertainer" and the difficulty levels seem similar to me, so you'll probably be fine with it.

Depending on how fast you move through Alfred's, you may find that you outgrow the Dutkanicz's arrangement (if page 1 of "The Entertainer" is representative of the whole series). However, in the meantime, you'll have gotten used to some offbeat stresses that are characteristic of ragtime and that a lot of the classical repertoire doesn't introduce you to. That should give you a great leg up.

Hope to hear you perform some Joplin at one of the forum's quarterly recitals!

I have a little book with easy arrangements of four rags by Scott Joplin. It's Bastien's Scott Joplin Favorites. They are very basic but still a nice introduction to syncopation.

Thanks for the input. Sinophilia whats the name of the book? I may just work on the Entertainer thats in the Alfred's book for now. Have not even thought about a recital. Ill have to check on that. thanks

amazon.com seems to have more pages to preview.

It's this book

I don't know why one of the reviewers says it's okay for a fourth year student, the Entertainer here is no harder than the arrangement at the end of Alfred 1.