History In the Pages
(Excerpt from Chapter 4, An Imperfect Woman)
Mary immediately thought of the Chinese vase, beckoning her to far-away lands and mysterious people, gilded pagodas and exotic flowers. Must take that vase. But she held her tongue until she and John would be alone.
Elder Mrs. Wood sat rigid, glaring at her husband but dared say nothing. Mary murmured an appropriate and gracious thank-you to her father-in-law. Inside her mind, non-dancing Mary was ready to jump up and strut a cakewalk to the ragtime music firmly frowned upon by her in-laws. Instead, she sent a sweet and painfully demure smile to her fuming mother-in-law. She was thrilled with permission to acquire the Chinese vase; She felt finally superior to her mother-in-law’s meddling and interminable disapproval.
(Excerpt from Chapter 9 , An Imperfect Woman)
The rest of the Wood family and Doggie were headed for City Park’s lake. John promised them each a lively piggy-back ride for good behavior. Mary fretted recent rains would bog down their adventure with bothersome mud. Washing day was almost a week away. “John, please. Keep an eye out for slippery banks. Remember, you’re the parent. Therefore, in charge of proper manners.”
The Wood children donned winter coats in a rush, scampered out the front door and caught up to where their father strutted an impromptu cake walk down the street. Mary heard Doggie’s joyful barking and her children laughing with John playing the pied piper down the street. What on earth will I do with them? And John’s the ringmaster!
History Between the Pages
Played on bordello pianos in the late 1800’s and elegant shipboard orchestras on transatlantic ships in the early 1900’s, ragtime music was THE popular music repertoire. Rhythms were syncopated, or “ragged.” Up to date aficionados called the songs “rags,” a distinctly American form of popular music.
Ragtime was a music marriage of two widely different musical influences: classical European marches and African polyrhythms.
Nurtured and inspired by syncopation found in spirituals and blues, ragtime borrowed early from a southern dance form called “cakewalk.” Played in African American dance contests, the prize was . . . a cake! Other elements descended from jigs and march music played by African American bands. European influences came from German polkas and Anglo-American marching band music, notably from John Phillip Sousa.
The defining characteristic of ragtime music was syncopation with melody beats occurring between metrical beats. It’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time. The listener accentuated the beat, thereby inducing an inspired rag cakewalk or two-step.
With sound recording in its earliest stages, ragtime was distributed on sheet music and piano rolls for player pianos. Ragtime songs tended to cycle through sophisticated chord progressions and key changes. Unlike later jazz, ragtime didn’t venture into improvisation.
Polite white society didn’t adopt a fan base until ragtime was performed by brass bands and “society” dance ensembles. The bands of W. C. Handy and James R. Europe crashed the color bar to the widely emerging popular music. Rhythms of ragtime changed the formal world of dance bands and led to innovative dance steps. Shocked Victorian parents were likely dismayed by both the music and dance steps, so different from a traditional waltz.
Ragtime debuted to European music and dance enthusiasts at the Paris Exposition of 1900, one stage of Sousa’s European tour. Notable classical composers took an early and serious interest in ragtime. Claude Debussy emulated ragtime in three pieces for piano. Other European composers, such as Igor Stravinsky and Antonin Dvorak, expressed their ragtime enthusiasm by incorporating elements in their works.
Scott Joplin, the iconic “King of Ragtime,” has been cited as an American equivalent to the minuets of Mozart, the mazurkas of Chopin, and the waltzes of Brahms. His most famous compositions are “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer”
A New York newspaper in a 1913 interview, quoted Mr. Joplin: ” . . . there has been ragtime music in America ever since the Negro race has been here, but the white people took no notice of it until about twenty years ago in the 1890s.” Later, he noted: “Play slowly until you catch the swing. . .” and, “Notice! Don’t play this piece fast. It is never right to play ragtime fast.”
Whatever the tempo, ragtime will have you moving your feet to its compelling beat and hand clapping in its syncopation. Just try to sit still, if you can!