Rags Scott Joplin Didn't Write

Contributors: Euphemia Allen, George D. Barbard, John W. Boone, Louis Chauvin, Chas Hunter, J. Bodewalt Lampe, Henry Lodge &Tom TurpinFOREWORDThe latter half of the nineteenth century was a period of great development in American music. Ragtime became extremely popular and it dominated the popular music of the early twentieth century. One tends to imagine that Scott Joplin was the only ragtime composer but there were many others. The recent revival of ragtime has led to the rediscovery of many lost compositions. The manner in which ragtime developed is a matter of conjecture. Some suggest that the catalyst was 'Chopsticks' which was written by a 16 - year - old English girl, Euphemia Allen. It was published in 1877 and became an 'overnight success'. The technique needed to play it is in some ways similar to that which is needed for ragtime. Ragtime undoubtedly has Afro-American roots. The great ethno- musicologist Trebor Jay Tichenor has written that the end of the Civil War gave black musicians much greater access to keyboard instruments and that this was a factor in ragtime's development. It was, however, preceded by dances known as 'cakewalks'. They became all the rage and were so called because black couples would dress up in their finest clothes and parade about town - the best dressed were said to 'take the cake'. Needless to say, as ragtime developed, many prudes condemned it as the 'music of Satan' - one recalls similar reactions to 'rock and roll'. Ragtime achieved a vitality and spontaneity which transformed popular music. It led to a great craze for 'Animal Dances' - the foxtrot is all that remains. They had wonderful names like: 'The Grizzly Bear Rag', 'The Kangaroo Hop', 'The Rabbit's Foot', 'The Lobster Glide' among others. The ragtime era was remarkable and it was pivotal in the development of popular music. Classical composers fell under its spell - Debussy, Stravinsky - and its rhythmic intensity gave music a new life and excitement. Contemporary music owes it a great deal and its influence has been important and lasting. Colin Mawby