Chapter 71 – Ragtime, Blues, and Early Jazz

Renee V., Molly B., Teague B., Gregory M., Artur M., Tabitha J.

Scott Joplin

  1. What is ragtime and what are its origins?
  2. What was the Maple Leaf Rag, and what was its significance for Joplin’s career?
  3. What kind of family background did Joplin come from, and how is this different from most composers before him?
  4. What was Treemonisha and what was Joplin’s goal in writing it?

Listening Guide

  1. What is the form and harmonic structure of this piece?
  2. In strains I, II, IV, what is the difference in rhythms in the left and right hand?

Billie Holiday

  1. What are “blues” and what are some of its basic elements?
  2. What is the importance of form in blues?
  3. What influence did Billie Holiday’s family background have on her vocal style?
  4. How is improvisation important to blues and New Orleans jazz, and what names can be associated with each genre?

Listening Guide

  1. What are the most important characteristics of this piece? (How can this be recognized as blues?)
  2. What is distinct about the vocal style of blues, and what is unique about Billie Holiday’s voice?

Summary

Scott Joplin was known as the King of Ragtime. His mother was born into freedom but his father was born into slavery but later freed after the Civil War. Ragtime developed from an African-American piano style characterized by syncopated rhythms and sectional form. In 1899, he introduced the Maple Leaf Rag at the Maple Leaf club and it ended up selling a million copies. He also wrote an opera called Treemonisha in 1911 but it wasn’t received well at first. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976. He became the first nationally acclaimed African-American composer. Joplin wanted ragtime to become a serious art form like European music.

Blues is an American folk music based on a text that is usually 3 stanzas and the tune that is usually 12 or 16 bars in length. Billie Holiday began singing at clubs in Brooklyn in 1930 and by 1933 was arranged to record with Benny Goodman’s band. By 1935 Billie was recording with the best jazz artists of her day. She became one of the first black singers to perform with a white orchestra, that of Artie Shaw. Although she had an untrained voice and a small vocal range she was popular because of her great sense of pitch, phrasing of melodies, and unfaulting delivery.