The King of Ragtime

I am a huge Scott Joplin fan.  He is one of Scowl-Face's musical heroes. That may be the first time ol' Scowlly and I have shared something in common.

If you have never heard of the King of Ragtime, and if you have preschoolers or early elementary school children, then you should all read (or readaloud) Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime, by Mary Ann Hoffman (Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2010).  The book is one of the Inspiring Lives children's series.  Watch our book trailer below for details.

Click the Image to Play Our Book Trailer

My introduction to Scott Joplin was in a previous life, when I was hanging around the neighborhoods of St. Louis, Missouri, around the turn of the 20th century.  I lived much as I do now--visiting several "guest homes," panhandling free suppers from the public (right now, library patrons), and dumpster-diving--but I always had good meals at one particular house.

Scott Joplin House, St. Louis, Missouri

I used to be invited inside to listen to the latest ragtime compositions.  I even got to play the piano using the classic feline four-paw trounce technique, which, in some ways, sounded a bit like barrelhouse piano. (Usually, this display of feline musical talents was accompanied by being led to the kitchen for a saucer of milk.)  (By the way, I looked a little like the cat at the end of our book trailer in that particular previous life.) Those were exciting times, when the air was filled with innovative, invigorating syncopations.

  

Scott Joplin House, ca. 1902

Although Scott Joplin spent considerable time living and working in the St. Louis area, his "home base" was Sedalia, Missouri, to which he moved in 1894 and performed in local clubs, notably with the Queen City Cornet Band.  It was in 1899 that music publisher John Stillwell Stark first heard "Maple Leaf Rag," composed and performed by Joplin, which Stark bought for $50 and paid Joplin a royalty of one cent per copy of sheet music sold.  Stark initially printed 5,000 copies of sheet music; over one million were sold.  (Stark, by the way, grew up in Indiana.)

Scowl-Face, who discovers interesting things decades after the fact, learned about Ragtime generally, and Scott Joplin particularly, when he heard The Entertainer (1902) played on AM radio in 1973, when the motion picture The Sting (1973) filled theaters. Joplin's music, conducted and arranged by Marvin Hamlisch, was used in the soundtrack.  Hamlisch did a fine job adapting Joplin's various compositions to fit the movie, but you should listen to Scott Joplin Piano Rags, by Joshua Rifkin, pianist; or to The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, by Richard Dowling, pianist; or to The Complete Works of Scott Joplin, Volumes 1-5, by Richard Zimmerman, pianist. There's also Joplin Playing Joplin, compiled by Peggy Adler, which is a set of digitally enhanced original recordings performed by Scott Joplin himself (presumably for piano rolls in the early 20th century).  You can search for Joplin music CDs in the Evergreen Indiana online catalog (if you have an E.I. library card) or go online to a streaming service or online music seller, or YouTube, or wherever.  They don't pay moi to be a reference librarian; that's Scowl-Face's job.

Readers of all ages interested in learning more about Scott Joplin should find several biographies available in the Evergreen Indiana online catalog to be both interesting and informative, although some have been criticized as being speculative when details about Joplin's life have been historically sketchy.

For myself, I have only fond memories of the King of Ragtime.  He shared many a tin of meat and saucer of milk with moi in my former days as a St. Louis kitty-about-town over a hundred years ago.  If you had been walking along the street, you'd have heard some mighty sweet piano-playing from Scott Joplin's home.  You might even have heard my stylings on the ebony and ivory keys.

Four-Pawed Piano Playing is a Gas; Can You Dig It?

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Biographical News Beat

P.S.  For this version of the "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899), Scott Joplin played the piano to create the "master" for the piano roll from which this recording was made.  Enjoy!