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The music created by the legendary Scott Joplin can be heard everywhere around the world even to this day. Many of his works are immediately recognizable to millions of people, including myself. I was not even aware that I knew any of Scott Joplin’s masterpieces but I certainly did. The composition entitled The Entertainer has been featured countless times in movies and games that I have experienced and its catchy beat was cemented in my mind (IMDb). Joplin was the king of the ragtime musical genre, and his name is synonymous with that period of music.
Ragtime music is described as having a syncopated or “ragged” rhythm, and that is exactly how Scott Joplin’s music sounds. The music he writes sounds to me like upbeat but light piano music. The music is not classical and dramatic; it is hoppy and sometimes delicate. All of it however has a strange but incredibly catchy beat or tune. I wasn’t sure if I would like ragtime music because I thought that I had never heard any before, and since its origins are from the early 1900s. However, I had heard ragtime music before and just hadn’t realized it, and I liked it a lot. Something about the beat of the music made it easily get stuck in your head and I found myself singing the beat to The Entertainer over and over in my head.
Scott Joplin was born in eastern Texas and raised in a town called Texarkana; the date of his birth though, is under debate. It was originally thought that he was born on November 24, 1868, but later research indicates that his birthday was more likely some time in the second half of 1867 (Berlin). He was the second child born to Giles Joplin and Florence Givins of their six children. He was of African decent and his father was a liberated slave, meaning that Jo...
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... and the abolishment of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was written and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, just five years before the birth of Joplin. Being a member of the first generation of free African Americans in the nation’s history was a positive and liberating notion for Scott Joplin. His father did have to endure the hardships of slavery, so the cruelty of the slave trade was not lost on Joplin. Free to do what he wanted to, Joplin pursued a life of music at a very early age, bringing to his compositions the carefree and jubilant attitude of a nation under reconstruction, even if the country was in the process of rebuilding itself. It was not an easy time for blacks in America, as they had a long ways to go before they enjoyed equal rights and freedoms, but the promise of a better life was enough to empower many of them, including Joplin.
Scott Joplin, commonly known as the "King of Ragtime" music, was born on November 24, 1868, in Bowie County, Texas near Linden. Joplin came from a large musical family. His father, Giles Joplin was a musician who had fiddled dance music while serving as a slave at his master's parties. His mother, Florence Givens Joplin, born free and out of slavery, sang and played the banjo, and four of his brothers and sisters either sang or played strings.
Ragtime takes place in New York City, during the 1900’s. This time period is referred to as the Progressive Era. This era was true to its name because many insightful people endeavoured to make the society of the ...
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
"He just got his music out of the air," said one neighbor. One cannot hear the word "ragtime" without thinking of the "King of Ragtime," Scott Joplin. He is clearly one forerunner in the field of American music, particularly at the turn of the twentieth century.
One man made his impression on the music world soon after he arrived to America. His
Ragtime was preceded by minstrel shows, and adapted many of the same rhythms and swing-feeling to its music (Haskins). “[Ragtime’s] intoxicating compulsion came from within the depths of its symbolic drama: the triumph of freedom over slavery” (Waldo 34). Many stipulate that ragtime is not true jazz because there is little to no forms of improvisation, a hallmark of modern jazz. However, ragtime was extremely influential because music was played using syncopation, which is when notes that are off the beat are emphasized, instead of playing songs like the traditional marches of the time. The song “Michigan Waters,” published by New Orleans native Tony Jackson, is sometimes pointed to as the beginning of ragtime (Haskins). However, Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” which uses a form of syncopation, is usually thought of as the beginning of popular ragtime, and many of his later songs set the standard for other ragtime compositions. Ragtime eventually led to more classical pieces, usually played by white orchestras that had the same “ragged” notes that so closely was related to
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.
For example, the 1st song “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Bessie Smith, who of which was nicknamed “Empress of the Blues” was a mainstream African-American female Blues singer. The 2nd song “When you’re smiling” by Louis Armstrong, King of Blues, was an African-American trumpeter, composer, singer, and an occasional actor. Furthermore, he was the most prominent figures in jazz. The final song “East of St.Louis Toodle-oo-” by Duke Ellington is, once again, an African-American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra that lasted about 50 yrs. Additionally, he was known for his nickname “The King of Jazz”.
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; as the country headed toward the third year of the civil war. This proclamation stated: “that all persons held as slaves are, and hence forward shall be free,” however this only applied to the states that were no longer part of the union, leaving slavery untouched in other states. However the Emancipation Proclamation was needed to benefit African Americans.
Fitzgerald was born on September 28th 1896 into an upper middle class family living in Saint Paul Minnesota. His mother and father Mollie and Edward Fitzgerald named him after his second cousin three times removed Francis Scott Key the author of the star spangled banner. His mother previously had two children Mary and Louise who unfortunately passed away before he was born from illnesses at the ages of one and three. Mollie Fitzgerald became pregnant once more after that but lost the baby an hour after birth. However in 1901 Scott’s Sister Annabel was born completing the family.
Berlin, Edward A., A Biography of Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation, 1998. Web. 28 Nov. 2010
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called "The Popular Duke Ellington."
Bob Dylan was considered one of the greatest influences on popular culture of all time, and though influential, Bob Dylan’s rise to idol status in popular culture was more brought about by historical factors, his life was affected by many historical events including, The Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination and the civil rights movement, to name a few. His songs became known as protest songs, despite Bob Dylan’s apparent lack of understanding for the meanings the public attached to his writing.
Rag time as it is most commonly know was the type of fast paced music played around 1885 in St. Louis. Scott Joplin was born in 1868 and lived until 1917, but has done a lot in his life span. He was one of the first African Americans to be know as a composer. Born in Texarkana, Texas to a large family with musical background, he began learning to play the guitar and beagle, and gained free piano lessons by showing such fast progression to his teachers. After death of his mother, he left the house at age fourteen. He learned much form traveling through Mississippi playing in local spots and learning form what was offered to him. In 1885 he arrived in St. Louis, at the time a center for a new music phenomenon called ragtime.