Ragtime fans please read.

[dcstudio]

Hi
so I have recently been asked to perform a show of ragtime tunes and turn of the century popular music for a cultural center here.  I have the complete Scott Joplin rags and I am thinking of performing the following standards...all of which I already play...

The Maple Leaf
Easy Winners
Swipsey
Bethena
Pineapple
Entertainer
Solace
Heliotrope bouquet

and then there's Jelly Roll Morton .. I play "the Crave" but I am open to more suggestions by him.

ok so give me some suggestions guys...   try to keep it southern and turn of the century.  I live in the Deep South (in the US) this show is supposed to be showcasing regional talent from the Gulf Coast region circa 1900.  Bring on the showy hard stuff--I need something new and different--yet old.... understand?

if you have some favorite obscure rag by someone from that era... send it on to me please and thanks.

[dogperson]

Black Bottom Stomp- Jelly Roll Morton
Buddy Bolden Blues
St. James Infirmary

[dcstudio]

ST. James Infirmary...  that's a great tune.  Used to play with a blues band that did that one...
I will check out the others
thanks

[adodd81802]

Not sure but would debussy's Cakewalk be any good?

[dogperson]

Forgot 'St.Louis Blues'   

[dcstudio]

Not sure but would debussy's Cakewalk be any good?

you know... I have been considering adding Claude to the list and Golliwag is a cool tune... always liked playing that one.   There was still a very heavy French influence in this part of the country at the dawn of the 20th century...  actually it exists to this day down here.   I would be willing to bet there was a lot of his music played in around this area...   that tune has such a stomp feel to it too... it would go absolutely perfectly with the other stuff...

I was thinking CDL but GCW does work better... thanks

[dcstudio]

Forgot 'St.Louis Blues'  

wow... that was my late father's favorite song...I had been thinking about that one, too... It's from up the river a ways...but it was enormously popular here and in New Orleans which is just West of where I live.  My father is actually why I am able to play ragtime and stride so  easily...  He struggled for years with the Joplin rags and I learned them when I was quite young so that I could hear them played correctly..lol... his renditions would make your ears bleed.  It was also something I could do better than he could...  and I really enjoyed showing him up.

thanks  

[ted]

You could include a couple by James Scott and Joseph Lamb. There are also several volumes of folk rags available, published by Dover I think, for example, "Ragtime Rarities" contains a large number of very early such pieces. You could also include a Gottschalk piece, e.g. Bamboula, if you can be bothered learning it, that would certainly go down well. If it is permissible to include an example of contemporary development of the Southern idiom, one of David Thomas Roberts's "New Orleans Streets" suite or Frank French's "Belle of Louisville" or "Bucktown Buck" are beautiful pieces.

[dcstudio]

You could include a couple by James Scott and Joseph Lamb. There are also several volumes of folk rags available, published by Dover I think, for example, "Ragtime Rarities" contains a large number of very early such pieces. You could also include a Gottschalk piece, e.g. Bamboula, if you can be bothered learning it, that would certainly go down well. If it is permissible to include an example of contemporary development of the Southern idiom, one of David Thomas Roberts's "New Orleans Streets" suite or Frank French's "Belle of Louisville" or "Bucktown Buck" are beautiful pieces.

I have played Bamboula... it rocks and that is an excellent suggestion especially since he was from New Orleans... I will be talking about these pieces I choose and the composers and their contributions to music... the state has implemented a blues history curriculum for elementary kids.. so I am trying to tie it in with that.    I have a few months to learn knew stuff and it's no bother...I pick things up pretty quickly..  especially this kind of music.

I am so glad I asked this... GREAT IDEAS thanks everyone 

[indianajo]

Sorry. All the Scott Joplin I play comes from the New York era.  I first discovered the Belwin collection of rags, which had pieces still in copyright probably in 1973.  
Where is this museum? I drive from Kentuckiana to Houston occasionally to see my brother, it is getting about time. After Memphis there is a long stretch of bad FM radio in south Mississippi, until you get to the zydeco stations around LaFayette.  
I'm trying to start an American music revival around here, outside the JC Handy blues festival which is big in Hendersonville. I play SJ, Pinetop, Granados, Lecuona.   I've been playing for the indigent at free dinners, not much noticing of anything happening there.  I contacted an "Americana" center Friday that had a table at Worldfest; they have an after school program for kids in south Louisville.  They have an old piano on stage which is "probably unplayable and should have been thrown out".  Sounds just up my alley, a genuine American antique.  I've tuned and adjusted  Hamilton and Wurlitzer consoles this year at different churches, both sorely neglected. A little school glue on felts was required in addition to tuning.   I think ragtime sounds better on tinkly uprights, but don't have the strength anymore to move in one of my own. Neither do the floors of my summer trailer have the strength, LOL; I bought a $50 Wurli spinette this summer instead of a genuine 450 lb antique.  

[dogperson]

I wasn't familiar with Bamboula, so I did the YouTube hunt.  You might find the intro useful

[pianoplunker]

Hi
so I have recently been asked to perform a show of ragtime tunes and turn of the century popular music for a cultural center here.  I have the complete Scott Joplin rags and I am thinking of performing the following standards...all of which I already play...

The Maple Leaf
Easy Winners
Swipsey
Bethena
Pineapple
Entertainer
Solace
Heliotrope bouquet

and then there's Jelly Roll Morton .. I play "the Crave" but I am open to more suggestions by him.

ok so give me some suggestions guys...   try to keep it southern and turn of the century.  I live in the Deep South (in the US) this show is supposed to be showcasing regional talent from the Gulf Coast region circa 1900.  Bring on the showy hard stuff--I need something new and different--yet old.... understand?

if you have some favorite obscure rag by someone from that era... send it on to me please and thanks.

Nice to see a Scott Joplin fan !   I have been working on Chrysanthemum and the Entertainer lately.  I am revisiting Entertainer after a number of decades  I dont know how I ever did it , it is hard ! Anyhow, you mention the great Jelly Roll Morton, how about Wolverine Blues? At speed I dont think there is a more kicking piano than that one.  

[dcstudio]

o Houston occasionally to see my brother, it is getting about time. After Memphis there is a long stretch of bad FM radio in south Mississippi, until you get to the zydeco stations around LaFayette.

I am with you there...south MS radio is pretty bad.

I live across the street from the gulf of mexico in Ocean Springs MS...  an artsy fartsy little town just east of Biloxi and the casinos.  We were just named in the top 5 happiest seaside cities in the US...woohooo

the cultural center is the Mary C Okeefe and we are looking at Feb for the big concert but I will be playing there for cruisin the coast in October and for Peter Anderson art festival which is in Nov I think--so if you are passing through then come on down I will be the chick playing ragtime with a very handsome awesome guitar player and possibly with a dixieland band but that isn't for sure yet...   they have lots of these street festivals here... gigs are plentiful but don't pay for crap...but tips can be AWESOME

this thing in February is actually kind of a big deal for me... they will be selling tickets and there's a 400 seat auditorium..plus a TV spot, radio and even a percentage of the sales.. not to mention a shot at getting a grant from the state to do this at all the schools... 

I apologize if I sound like I am bragging but I am really excited... and it is cool to post this here and get so many great ideas guys 

thanks!

[briansaddleback]

Hi
so I have recently been asked to perform a show of ragtime tunes and turn of the century popular music for a cultural center here.  I have the complete Scott Joplin rags and I am thinking of performing the following standards...all of which I already play...

The Maple Leaf
Easy Winners
Swipsey
Bethena
Pineapple
Entertainer
Solace
Heliotrope bouquet

and then there's Jelly Roll Morton .. I play "the Crave" but I am open to more suggestions by him.

ok so give me some suggestions guys...   try to keep it southern and turn of the century.  I live in the Deep South (in the US) this show is supposed to be showcasing regional talent from the Gulf Coast region circa 1900.  Bring on the showy hard stuff--I need something new and different--yet old.... understand?

if you have some favorite obscure rag by someone from that era... send it on to me please and thanks.

Love Scott Joplin that his pieces got me started on piano again. Plus my sight reading greatly improved by just going through his compositions. Easy winners is such a masterpiece. It starts off very simplistic in its melody almost childlike but it gets really going in the second and third sections. And real difficult to play too.  You can almost repeat those two sections more than once or twice and it won't sound boring.
Swipesy is a sweet tune. It is relaxing and pleasant for everyone.

I don't know many other artists because I don't find others make their compositions melodies as catchy and endearing as joplins but I can recommend Great Scott rag by James Scott I believe. This one I had tons of fun learning and at a fast tempo it is really catchy and just gets you revved up. Forgot how to play it though.  Very hard to be accurate in that one you will see what I mean.


I really do recommend from Scott Joplin , New Rag , Eugenia , and Sugarcane Rag. 

This set here were the most difficult for me to learn from him.  But also my favorite tunes from him. Eugenia is almost Mozartian in its melody at times and very difficult to learn. 
Sugarcane has four sections that are each on their own merits , powerhouses. Imo.
Each section is so catchy and powerful they can turn heads on their own outside of the piece as a whole.
(As opposed to let say, the last two sections of the entertainer where he just seemed to have lost steam and just placed some filler melody in there to complete it out perhaps. )
And New Rag is so catchy. What a feeling of euphoria learning that one and completing it to the point of performing for the recital I never got more applause by any piece I did than that one ( even though I made tons of mistakes ) the piece is just killer. I beg you to go listen to it. Tell me what you think of it. Hands down my favorite Joplin piece of perhaps of all ragtime.

[dcstudio]

Love Scott Joplin

 I never got more applause by any piece I did than that one

there is something so magical about those rags...  they just make people happy   
 
thanks for your suggestions...  I will check those out!!

[visitor]

this is legit. if you play this, please record and post, please please. i added an old copy of this to my collection a couple years ago. super cool piece. not a rag per se but stylistically could fit in well or work as a nice encore show stopper type piece.

Old Black Joe. Transcription de Concert. [Stephen] Foster's Original Theme with Variations.
https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:172.020

Composer, Lyricist, Arranger:

by F.W. Meacham.

Publisher:

National Music Co.

Location:

New York

Date:

1903

Form of Composition:

theme and variation

Instrumentation:

piano


also, although he's German, the Walter Nieman Louisiana suite (ie Foster) is really cool and worth considering.

ie

[dcstudio]

hey visitor that is really great thanks for sharing!

that is a unique angle actually to take settings of Americana tunes done by foreign born composers

I will check out old Black Joe.. if I play it I will post it I promise

[visitor]

hey visitor that is really great thanks for sharing!

that is a unique angle actually to take settings of Americana tunes done by foreign born composers

I will check out old Black Joe.. if I play it I will post it I promise

cool.

check out the rest of these Foster transcriptions, the three by Ellinor Remmick Warren are the best of the lot. Think like if Sam Barber penned these tunes with a Copeland lean and you'll get the idea. The decamptown races is a rompy good time and could also serve as a good encore type work as well

[devron]

It's outside of rag time but if you have played any James p. Johnson a stride machine it will turn a head or two, some of the hardest music I have come across, bleeding heart blues, blueberry rhyme, and Arkansas blues.