POPULAR MUSIC
OF THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY
TWENTIETH CENTURIES
The Ragtime Craze: 1896–1918
Ragtime Music
Emerged in the 1880s
Its popularity peaked in the decade after the turn
of the century.
Ragtime initially was a piano music but gradually
came to identify any syncopated music.
The term ―ragtime‖ was used to describe any music
that contained syncopation.
Ragtime Music
The word derives from the African American term ―to
rag,‖ meaning to enliven a piece of music by shifting
accents to the offbeats (a technique known as
syncopation).
It began as an obscure folk-dance music up and down
the Mississippi valley beginning about 1875.
Ragtime energized popular music in America by
adding rhythmic vitality (syncopation) to the music.
The Banjo
A stringed instrument developed by slave musicians
from African prototypes during the early colonial
period.
The basic patterns of ragtime music were
transferred from the banjo.
Ragtime
Also influenced by Latin American rhythms such as
the Cuban habanera
Marching band music contributed the regular ―oom-
pah‖ bass common in ragtime pieces.
Ragtime Songs
Coon song
Popular among white audiences from the 1890s until
World War I
Usually accompanied by a simplified version of the
syncopated rhythms of ragtime piano music
―All Coons Look Alike to Me‖
The first piece of sheet music to bear the term ―rag‖
Composed by the African American songwriter
Ernest Hogan
Published (complete with racist caricatures on the
cover) in 1896
March Songs
Ragtime-influenced songs that were less
derogatory in content than coon songs
Owed less to the style developed by Joplin and
other black pianists
George M. Cohan (1878–1942), author of
―You’re a Grand Old Flag‖ (1907)
Ragtime Songs
Popularity suggests a continuation of the white
fascination with African American music first evinced
in minstrelsy.
Most popular ragtime songs were vigorous march-
style songs with a few ―irregular‖ rhythms added
for effect.
Scott Joplin (1868–1917)
The most famous ragtime composer of the era
Best known for his piano rags
Born in Texas
Began to play piano around the town of Texarkana
during his teens and received instruction in classical
music theory from a German teacher
His first regular job as a pianist was in a cafe in St.
Louis.
Scott Joplin (1868–1917)
Developed a ―ragging‖ piano style, improvising
around the themes of popular songs and marches in
a syncopated style
Between 1895 and 1915, Joplin composed many of
the classics of the ragtime repertoire
Helped popularize the style through his piano
arrangements, published as sheet music
Scott Joplin (1868–1917)
Joplin’s rags were also widely heard on player
pianos.
Player pianos were elaborate mechanical devices
activated by piano rolls—spools of paper with
punched holes that controlled the movement of the
piano’s keys.
―Maple Leaf Rag‖ (1898)
Scott Joplin’s first successful piece
Named after the Maple Leaf social club in Sedalia,
where he often played
The piece was published in 1899 and became a
huge hit, spreading Joplin’s fame to Europe and
beyond.
―Maple Leaf‖ started a nationwide craze for
syncopated music.
Listening: ―Maple Leaf Rag‖
The form and style are typical of ―classic‖ ragtime.
―Maple Leaf‖ consists of a succession of four distinct themes:
AABBACCDD
This type of form is common in marches.
The rhythmic interest comes from the interplay of the two
hands.
Ferdinand ―Jelly Roll‖ Morton
New Orleans jazz pianist
Took Joplin’s composition and treated it as the basis
for extended, rhythmically complex improvisations
Ferdinand ―Jelly Roll‖ Morton’s version of ―Maple
Leaf Rag‖ can be heard in The Smithsonian
Collection of Classic Jazz
The Rise of the Phonograph
Invented in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison and, at
around the same time, by a French inventor named
Charles Cros
The energy from sound waves was transferred to a
foil or wax cylinder, which could then be used to
reproduce the original sounds.
Phonograph Discs
Two companies dominated the American market in
phonograph discs at the turn of the century:
Columbia Records (formed in 1887)
Victor Talking Machine Company (1901)
Phonograph Discs
1890s: The first nickelodeons—machines that
played music hits for a nickel—were set up in public
places.
1902: Enrico Caruso recorded a series of Opera
arias in London. Victor sold over two million dollars’
worth of discs after his death in 1921.
1902: Twelve-inch shellac discs were introduced.
Radio
1920: The first three commercial radio stations in
the U.S. were established (KDKA in Pittsburgh,
WWJ in Detroit, and WJZ in Newark).
1926: The first nationwide commercial radio
network was established (National Broadcasting
Company [NBC]).
1927: There were over 1,000 radio stations in the
United States.