Scott Joplin Biography |
| Scott Joplin was a Romantic. He was known as the King of
Ragtime for obvious reasons. Perhaps the strongest proof that
Scott Joplin is the best ragtime composer, is the fact that everybody
knows "The Entertainer" which is the most popular ragtime piece.
Scott Joplin also composed the famous "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. In
The Maple Leaf Rag, Scott Joplin used a combination of a ragtime and
waltz styles. Scott Joplin used catchy tunes, which is why The
Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag are the best known ragtime pieces of this
date. The form of most of Scott Joplin's music is in the form of AABBAACCDD. Many times he would include an introduction, and a transition after the AABBAA into first repeat C. He followed a systematic format, however this format seemed to work well. The keys that Scott Joplin favored the most were C major, and A flat major, and he rarely wrote a piece in the minor, usually sticking to the major key. This results in much of the music of Scott Joplin being very happy. Not only was his music happy, but he was musically gifted for writing music in the ragtime style. One great thing about the music of Scott Joplin is that for the average to advanced piano player, his music is not only quite easy to play, but fun to play as well. Joplin wrote much of his music in key signatures that are logical. The left hand will mainly be playing a low note or octave, followed by a high chord, and the right hand will always contain the melody. It is this straightforward writing style that makes the music of Scott Joplin easy, and fun to play, because once you master a few of his pieces, the learning curve to master his other pieces will be greatly reduced. Thus, another reason why Scott Joplin is known as "The King of Ragtime". It is very important not only to create wonderful music tunes, but it is also extremely important to write a music tune that is playable, and most musicians of this date do not keep that in mind. |