The height of the genre Ragtime existed between 1896 to about the 1920’s. This genre is a mix of a lot of different aspects, not just solely african roots. Ragtime music is categorized as fusion between classical music and jazz music, as well as containing origins from European and African American music. The music is created through rhythms accenting between weak and strong beats and embellishing melodies, aka syncopation. This mixture of cultures makes ragtime the unique genre it is. Key instruments in ragtime include the piano, as the music was composed for pianos, as well as the drums, the banjo, and the guitar during the revival of the genre. Another aspect of ragtime is the conversion from the oral tradition to music written and printed through sheets. But, the transition of composition led to the genre straying away from its African American roots (performances), and more towards the European American roots (compositions). White people of course tried their hardest to try and recreate what they heard, yet they were unable to comprehend the true depth of ragtime. Thus leading to a simpler version of the genre of ragtime created around the twentieth century. Ragtime first originated in venues where African Americans were actually allowed to perform in, these venues opened up to blacks closely around the end of the Civil War.
- Vess L Ossman (Whistling Rufus, 1899) Ragtime Banjo
- George Schweinfest, A Rag Time Skedaddle
- Bunch O’ Blackberries by Abe Holzmann (1899, Cake walk piano)
- “The Ragtime Drummer” – James I. Lent (1912 Victor)
