Scott Joplin may not be a household name in modern music, but his influence has permeated through the past century and had a profound effect on modern music as we know it. His fame and his music also broke down racial and cultural boundaries at a time when not many things did. In this article, we will discuss how Scott Joplin came to be known as the King of Ragtime and how the genre laid the foundations for jazz and, indirectly, influenced rock and roll.
Ragtime was a music genre that blended African rhythms and classical music in a very interesting way – it sparked dance crazes, social upheaval, and a revolution in sound that would echo all the way to the days of rock and roll. Nobody had more ragtime hits than Scott Joplin. His biggest hits were “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag.”
What Made Ragtime the Sound of Early 20th Century America?
Compositionally, ragtime music is rooted in the ragged time rhythms from which the genre gets its name. Those ragged off-beat, syncopated rhythms became the backbone of ragtime music. If you’re playing on a piano, you’ll often find that the left hand maintains a steady beat while the right hand plays the accented notes that comprise the melody.
While ragtime was clearly an influence on much of the jazz music that would come later, there was generally no improvisation as we’d find in jazz music. This style of composition would typically sound bouncy and upbeat, which fits perfectly in the years leading up to World War I. Popular dances such as the two-step, turkey trot, and foxtrot were driven by syncopated ragtime rhythms, further ingratiating ragtime into popular culture in America.
Ragtime was a style of music that emerged at the right time, when America was experiencing an era of growth in middle-class leisure, characterized by player pianos and dance halls. Ragtime also reflected the optimism of early 20th-century America.
Scott Joplin grew up in Texas and had piano lessons early in his life, which were primarily rooted in classical music. It was this basis that allowed him to blend African American folk music and European classical music into a unique style all of its own. It appealed to both white and black audiences, further bridging the gap between the two cultures, which were, at the time, still segregated in many facets of society. Music has always been a bridge connecting cultures, and Scott Joplin is one of the far too often forgotten heroes who helped build those bridges.
Scott Joplin Was Widely Popular, But Denied Recognition in His Lifetime
Ragtime was a form of music that experienced its heyday between the 1890s and the start of World War I in 1914. But ragtime never really faded into obscurity; it simply grew into the next phase of American music – it evolved into jazz, which would go on to influence many of the genres we still enjoy today. Jazz leaned into the ragtime syncopation and added swing and elements of improvisation. Jelly Roll Morton claimed that he created jazz by “[putting] the blues in ragtime.”
Scott Joplin’s music was incredibly famous; it could be heard in the homes of wealthy socialites on player pianos throughout the early 1900s. But Joplin himself wasn’t treated like a rock star. Scott Joplin was an African American man. Today, he is known as the “King of Ragtime,” but that moniker wasn’t given to him until years later. During his life, he had to contend with the reality of the era, which was a society that was still segregated and racially biased. He was often limited to the venues he could perform, and most of his income came from sheet music sales.
Scott Joplin Died in Obscurity, Then ‘The Sting’ Revived His Music
According to his biography, Joplin died in relative obscurity in a mental institution, of syphilitic dementia at the age of 48. He was buried unceremoniously in Queens, New York, and his grave remained unmarked for 57 years. His grave finally got a modest marker in 1974 after the film The Sting became a sensation and won an Oscar for Best Picture. That film, set in 1936, featured Joplin’s music, sparking a brief resurgence in popularity for ragtime music and Joplin himself. It was this chance resurgence that earned the “King of Ragtime” the dignity of a grave marker.
Later in his life, in 1911, he deviated from his ragtime laurels and wrote an opera called Treemonisha, which he struggled to get staged, primarily due to racial and economic barriers. Despite all the struggles in his life, the music he wrote was incredibly influential on American culture. Joplin’s music has been celebrated among musicians and critics for generations. While ragtime may not be a popular genre today, we can still hear echoes of the compositions that resonated so heavily in America just a century ago.
