Ragtime Research Paper

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Pages: 5

I chose ragtime jazz because throughout all of my pre assignment research I found that it was the most interesting to listen to. The main reason I chose it was because the syncopated piano connected with me as I am a piano player. As a piano played I have never been interested in classical music or even certain types of jazz music but after listening to this fast paced and layered piano based genre I found myself intrigued. Ragtime was one of the first genres of Jazz in history after New Orleans. It came about from he African American music in the late 19th century

The first known ragtime composition was by a Pianist Tommy Turpin called Harlem Rag in 1892. Originally the early ragtime jazz was used in marches, waltzes, and other traditional song forms with the common characteristic of syncopation. A few years later Scott Joplin published his first two rags in 1895. Ragtime really emerged and became extremely
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Ragtime also served as the roots for stride piano, a more improvisational piano style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Elements of ragtime found their way into much of the American popular music of the early twentieth century.

In my opinion Jazz music would not be where it is today with out the creation of Ragtime Jazz. Ragtime Jazz was the building blocks and stepping stones to what we now know as Modern Jazz. Jazz has evolved so much over the many years, each different genre influencing the next but yet all with their own specific elements.

As Lionel Hampton once said, “[Jazz] went from the classics to ragtime to dixieland to swing to bebop to cool jazz,.. But it’s always jazz. You can put a new dress on her, a new hat, but no matter what kind of clothes you put on her, she’s the same old