Joplin

[rk910522]

Does anyone here play anything by Joplin like the maple leaf rag or the fig leaf rag

[iratehamster]

I play a bunch of his rags.  I particularly like his later, slower rags, such as Fig Leaf Rag and Gladiolus Rag--extremely gorgeous, with several voices in parts.   His "mature" rags are underrated in my opinion, considering how much publicity is given to his early works like Maple Leaf Rag and the Entertainer, which are not as complex.  Joplin was the first solo piano composer who grabbed my attention when I was a kid and he's probably the reason why I play the piano today. 

[mostlyclassical]

I play a bunch of his rags.  I particularly like his later, slower rags, such as Fig Leaf Rag and Gladiolus Rag--extremely gorgeous, with several voices in parts.   His "mature" rags are underrated in my opinion, considering how much publicity is given to his early works like Maple Leaf Rag and the Entertainer, which are not as complex.  Joplin was the first solo piano composer who grabbed my attention when I was a kid and he's probably the reason why I play the piano today. 

Totally agree, the slower rags are great. I have the Dover edition, with the Joplin exercises at the beginning of the book. It's impressive how many times Joplin warns "Not fast". I've heard some performances and most people take a lot of liberties with the tempo or even the notes themselves. I feel with Joplin a 100% classical approach should be taken. The rag-wow effect will come out naturally!