Ragtime

Ragtime by: Nia Webb

Ragtime is a genre of music created by African Americans that is played on the piano in a syncopated style. It was a popular style of music between 1896-1920’s that started in the mid-west city St.Louis, Missouri, and later spread to other cities in the mid-west/southern regions. Ragtime became popular before recording music was a thing so it gained its respect from ear and sheet music. The “King of Ragtime” known as Scott Joplin, became popular for his songs “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) and “The Entertainer” (1902), but the first musician to have his song “La Pas Ma La” (1895) published was Ernest Hogan. Like any other genre of music Ragtime was appropriated and used to mock the black culture. It was used in Minstrel shows, cake walks, and coon songs that were all performed by black people at the amusement of whites. As Ragtime began to loose its popularity it sparked the start of a new genre of music, Jazz. 

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