Some questions about ragtime.

[cuberdrift]

Hello there,

I've just learned Liszt's popular "Liebestraume no.3". Then I decided to take up "Maple leaf Rag" after developing an interest in ragtime music. As a result, I have discovered that this is one of the most fun-to-play tunes I've ever learnt from sheet!

Now I have some question regarding the difficulty of some ragtime pieces; mainly, based on your assumptions, what grade levels are these pieces?

"Maple Leaf Rag" (the one I am taking up):
"Magnetic Rag"
"The Cascades"

Also, just out of curiosity, which is Scott Joplin's most difficult piece by far?

Thank you for reading. Best regards!

[mousekowski]

If you can play Maple Leaf Rag, you will be able to tackle most of Joplin's other rags. During his lifetime, Maple Leaf Rag was regarded as a bit of a 'test piece'. If you could play Maple Leaf Rag, then you were regarded as a proper ragtime professor!

Later on, Joplin wrote Fig Leaf Rag to supersede Maple Leaf Rag's 'most difficult' status. The third strain is difficult for the right hand - lots of quaver chords in different positions. I also find the third strain of Sunflower Slow Drag difficult - it has chords in the RH that jump around.

Solace is a very beautiful piece, and not too difficult and I also really like Sugar Cane. If you can find the dots, 'A Real Slow Drag' from Treemonisha makes a very effective piano solo.

If you want to progress onto more technically demanding material, try a transcription of Carolina Shout (James P Johnson) or one of James Dalpony's transcriptions of Jelly Roll Morton's Shreveport Stomp or Kansas City Stomp. They are pretty hard though!

[49410enrique]

my post here and the video i embedded might be of interest to you 
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?board=6.0

[asuhayda]

Hey!

Agree with 1st responder.  If you can play Maple Leaf well, then you should be able to play most of the rest of them.

I haven't played the Magnetic Rag, but The Cascades was one of the first rags I learned how to play.  It's not easy, but it's easier than Maple Leaf.

One of my favorites is Elite Syncopations.  The finale to that piece is AWESOME! 

Have fun!

[cuberdrift]

Hey!

Agree with 1st responder.  If you can play Maple Leaf well, then you should be able to play most of the rest of them.

I haven't played the Magnetic Rag, but The Cascades was one of the first rags I learned how to play.  It's not easy, but it's easier than Maple Leaf.

One of my favorites is Elite Syncopations.  The finale to that piece is AWESOME! 

Have fun!

I have wondered, if the Maple Leaf is actually one of Joplin's harder pieces, why didn't he compose some that would be somewhere along the lines of a Chopin etude or Beethoven sonata in difficulty? Surely, being a classically-oriented composer, Scott Joplin could have composed his own "ragtime etudes" and such (though didn't he frequently tell the performer "not to play fast"?).

Just wondering. I mean, surely our appreciation of him as an art musician (this what he had to make out of with the unrefined "honky-tonk" playing at his time) stems from the quality or complexity of his repertoire?

[fleetfingers]

One of my favorites is Elite Syncopations.  The finale to that piece is AWESOME! 

+1

I love Elite Syncopations! Agree about the finale.

This is fun to listen to:

[fleetfingers]

"Maple leaf Rag" . . . I have discovered that this is one of the most fun-to-play tunes I've ever learnt from sheet!

I felt the same way when I learned The Cascades, and then Maple Leaf. Very fun!

I believe Maple Leaf is considered Level 8. Not sure which is considered the hardest, but once I learned one, the rest were so similar that it was not too difficult to learn/play any of them after that.

[indianajo]

I find the Db section of Magnetic Rag harder than Maple Leaf. 
I don't find Fig Leaf Rag in the New York Public Library Collected Works of Scott Joplin
First I ever noticed right hand tremelo chords was JoAnn Castle doing them on Lawrence Welk
I heard something similar on Lynyrd Skynyrd pieces, but on PBS Soundstage Peter Keys did the effect with two hands alternating consecutive notes. 

[mousekowski]

Enjoy: https://imslp.org/wiki/Fig_Leaf_Rag_(Joplin,_Scott)

[alexszojka]

Hi CuberDrift,

Congratulations on learning some fairly advanced repertoire, and having so much fun in the process.

I'd rank the difficulty of the pieces you mentioned as:

Grade 8.5: "Maple Leaf Rag" - The second last section earns this piece it's Grade 8.5 rating; the huge jumps in the left hand and the somewhat awkward right hand position are particularly challenging. It doesn't help that the piece is built around Ab major, although the key definitely contributes to the delightful flavour of the piece!

Grade 7: "The Cascades" - If you practice good fingering in the right hand, you will find that this rag isn't much of a challenge, except perhaps in the second last section. Make sure you can play TENSION-FREE octaves!

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with playing the Magnetic Rag so I'm not qualified to comment on its difficulty.

Hardest Joplin piece: Fig Leaf Rag! (in my opinion)

Cheers, feel free to email me if you want to get in touch.

Alex Szojka
alex.szojka@gmail.com

[bryfarr]

I think it's worthwhile to keep the conversation going re Ragtime.  The most well known composer is Scott Joplin but there are others, like Joseph Lamb.  I've only played Joplin, to date, and quite a few (I started at age 14, over thirty years ago):   Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, Pineapple Rag, The Strenuous Life, The Easy Winners, Peacherine Rag, Solace, Magnetic Rag, Bethena.  To me many of these rags were more difficult than than Maple Leaf, especially The Easy Winners.
- Solace is a lovely piece, as is Bethena.  Need to be careful to not get sappy.
- Wallstreet Rag may be one of the most difficult ones - lots of double notes.
- Magnetic Rag is his last published piece (1914) - it shows Joplin in a more experimental mood with dramatic key changes and a different musical ideas.  He was working on the opera Treemonisha at that time.  There is also indications that he was working on a symphony and a piano concerto (lost).

I've most recently been working on Joplin's collaboration pieces: Swipesy Cakewalk and Sunflower Slow Drag.  I've recorded these two, so may post (or may try to get a better recording).  I think Fig Leaf or Sugarcane is next.

Any one else including ragtime in their practice sessions?

[ego0720]

…there are others, like Joseph Lamb..
Any one else including ragtime in their practice sessions?

Finally topic about ragtime! I love Joseph Lamb! He blurs the line between ragtime and jazz.. as his ragtime pieces have nice Melodie’s that varies. I got a few of his hard to get pieces but haven’t gotten around to practice. I was trying to get some of his collections but they are slowly hard to get now. I’ll have to get back to u on some of his works..

Pretty much when I’m sick of classical I have to break the monotony with ragtime.

[piabanoch]

hello, i think you should have some experience in standard classic repertoire before playing this Liszt piece, try a chopin nocturne like op 9 ones are good to start, then you should able to play this liszt. you can also tri consolations first.

[improvisator]

I'm practicing maple leaf and magnetic rag currently and it's hard to tell, which one is easier.

Maple Leaf: The first (and famous) part is the easiest one, part two is challenging and the trio in D flat major is the stepstone of this rag. The last part in A flat major is slightly easier, I guess the whole piece is late intermidiate.

Magnetic:  The parts in B flat major and G minor are intermediate and again the trio is the hardest one. It's in B flat minor and in my opinion not easier than that of maple leaf rag. This rag with two parts in minor is beautiful and worth practicing.