Ragtime’s Lasting Impression

Though panting from running all over the internet throughout this day, I am glad to say that I have found links to certain things that were nameless to me up until now.

During the summer of 2009, I had the honor of attending Laura Pels Theatre (as part of the Summer CollegeNow program) to see Tin Pan Alley Rag. Initially, I hadn’t the slightest idea was to what this play would be about. However, despite my apathy, I grew to admire this play.

To view a New York Times article (2009) giving a brief overview of the play click here.

Mark Saltzman’s Tin Pan Alley Rag focuses not a retelling a historical event, but rather it explores the possibilities that could have arose if two brilliant composers from the early twentieth century had met: Scott Joplin, the “musical prodigy,” son of a slave, and Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant who couldn’t even read music.

Sadly enough, what struck me wasn’t the interactions between the men (both who connected over their loss of a loved woman, who shared the similarities of rising to fame despite being a descendant of a slave and an immigrant respectively) but the music being played.

Yep, I’m talking about ragtime music. In a modern world of teen boy sensations and Lady Gaga,  ragtime really is (in my honest opinion) a fundamental that is forgotten.

Ragtime music is nothing more than taking a tune that is pretty well known and “ragging it.” Accenting beats that are normally not accented, altering the rhythm. It became popular after the emancipation of the slaves in the late 1800s, when African artists were trying to be taken as serious composers. Scott Joplin himself was able to make an impression with his popular hit “Maple Leaf Rag.”

\”The Entertainer.\” Anyone wants to explain why it feels nostalgic?

This is the part of the play that got me: Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.” It’s a peaceful, yet definitely playful and entertaining piece that unfortunately brings me to tears whenever I listen to it. This tune has lived on throughout the decades, whereas ragtime has died down. It’s got a fundamental, old school rhythm to it, and it just screams of sunny schoolyard days.

Where have we heard this? It played throughout the years of my childhood, stuck at the back of my mind till last year. An ice cream truck? An old cartoon? Your grandparent’s record player? This is a pretty famous tune, and I would like to know were anyone else has heard it.

Ragtime has made a lasting impression on music. It had a great influence on jazz later on, and even today, there are new spins on well-known tunes. It’s also made a lasting impression on me, for the catchy tune has carved it’s way into a crevice of my childhood.