Scott Joplin said: “Boy, when I’m dead 25 years, people are going to begin to recognize me.” With this quote, Scott Joplin seemed to predict the impact that his music and life would have on generations to come. Indeed, as time moved on Scott Joplin’s prediction became true. Best-known as a ragtime musician and composer, Scott Joplin set the standard for many other musicians that followed in his footsteps. Scott Joplin was an important figure in American History because he is considered the “King of Ragtime Writers.” Ragtime is music played in “ragged” or off-the-beat time. Scott Joplin was born around 1868 near Linden, Texas. His parents were Florence Givins and Giles Joplin. In the 1870s, Joplin’s parents moved the family to Texarkana, Texas.
In 1894, Joplin joined the Queen City Cornet Band and performed at local clubs. Using Sedalia as a home base, he continued to travel around the country with various musical groups. In 1896 he enrolled at the George R. Smith College to study music seriously and to develop the skill of transferring musical sounds into notes recorded on a page that other musicians could then play. Scott quickly learned how to write down the vibrant melodies and complex rhythms he and his fellow musicians had been developing. Joplin published several original compositions and also started co-writing songs with Sedalia musicians Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. In 1899, a local music store owner and music publisher named John Stark printed Joplin’s song “Maple Leaf Rag.” Immediately popular, this song featured a pleasing melody and a catchy beat. It became a classic model of ragtime music and thrust Joplin into the national spotlight. In 1901, Joplin and several of his friends moved to St. Louis hoping to become successful performers and composers in this urban center. With their presence, Sr. Louis became a focal point for this special kind of music. Joplin’s ragtime compositions gained the attention of classically trained musicians and critics. By late 1907, Joplin had left St. Louis and moved to New York City, offering new experiences. In New York City, Joplin performed in vaudeville shows and
He was praised but not fully included in white society. Though Joplin’s popular rags were published, he had trouble raising money to produce the works that he cared most deeply about—his longer and more complicated compositions. Scott Joplin’s private live also became troubled. He suffered the loss of an infant child, his first marriage ended, and his second wife, Freddie Alexander, died shortly after they were married in 1904. Near the end of his life, Joplin was sick, discouraged and poor. As his career developed and for many years following his death, Scott Joplin earned the title “King of Ragtime Writers’. Alfred Ernst, conductor of the St. Louis Choral Symphony Society, described Joplin as “an extraordinary genius.” He played an essential role in the development of ragtime music. His work also laid the groundwork for jazz, another distinctly American musical form. Joplin gave the world a unique form of music and he opened the door for other black musicians and artists to succeed in a racially segregated
Joplin headed for New York in 1907 where he continued composing music and began instructing others in music. He son so...
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Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, more commonly known as Jelly Roll Morton, was born to a creole family in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Morton lived with several family members in different areas of New Orleans, exposing him to different musical worlds including European and classical music, dance music, and the blues (Gushee, 394). Morton tried to play several different instruments including the guitar; however, unsatisfied with the teachers’ lack of training, he decided to teach himself how to play instruments without formal training (Lomax, 8). ...
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One man made his impression on the music world soon after he arrived to America. His
Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.
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Robert Johnson is more than just another Blues man with a sad story. To sing the blues with as much soul as Robert Johnson did, you know his life was rough. The life of Robert Johnson was memorable but short. Robert Johnson was born on May 8, 1911. Robert was a product of an extramarital affair. He lived with many different father figures before moving 40 miles south of Memphis to Robinsonville, Mississippi, where he would live till his early adulthood.
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Berlin, Edward A., A Biography of Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation, 1998. Web. 28 Nov. 2010
Jazz music prospered in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Jazz was created by African Americans to represent pain and suffering and also represented the adversity that racial tension brought. (Scholastic) African American performers like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie “Bird” Parker came to be recognized for their ability to overcome “race relati...
Winfield Scott was born on June 13, 1876, near Petersburg, Virginia. Being very ambitious, Scott went to the William and Mary College to study law. When he joined the United States Army in 1808, Scott's ambition to become a lawyer subsided and subsequently, he began to focus on mi...
Scott Joplin was know as the kings of ragtime. I will explain also explain how he grew up and what type of music he played. I will also write about why I believe he deserves the title that he has been bestowed upon him.
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues