Analysis Of Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin was a composer and pianist of ragtime who was born in the late 1860s near the border of Texas. He learned to play the piano as a young adult and started to travel with his amazing talent while he was young. He is known as the king of ragtime during his generation. He is famous for writing 44 ragtime pieces during his lifetime. He wrote one ballet and two operas as well, and one of his pieces called “Maple Leaf Rag”, eventually was one of the most well-known ragtime pieces of the time. Joplin moved to Missouri to teach piano. Julius Weiss tutored Scott Joplin when he was a young boy. Joplin began to be introduced to classical and folk music from her. He taught several people like Arthur Marshall and Brun Campell to compose ragtime music there. He eventually died later in his life in the city of New York in 1917 at the age of 49.

Glaser took care of the business end of things, leaving Armstrong free to concentrate on his music. He also hired the Luis Russell Orchestra as Louis' backup band with Russell as the musical director. This was like going home for Armstrong, because Russell's Orchestra was made up of

Adam Mikulicz’s bassoon solo to open the piece captured the audience while Emily Clements added colour and ornamentation with both the flute and piccolo. Jodie Upton on clarinet and Peter Facer on the oboe encompassed style, texture and timbre which broadened the sound of this small ensemble. Conducting on the side, Facer kept the ensemble together in demanding sections. Julia Brooke with her angelic horn sounded like an entire brass section packed into one instrument and finally, Gladys Chua tied everything together with her outstanding

Watching Louis Armstrong’s live performance in Berlin during the year 1965 was a pleasure, especially because I am a great fan of his music. Throughout the concert in Berlin, Armstrong and his chamber orchestra played 13 different pieces. With the exception of Jewel Woods’ entrance on vocals for two songs, the makeup of the chamber orchestra did not change throughout the concert. As a result, the cello, clarinet, drums, piano, trombone, and trumpet remained vital parts of each song throughout the concert.

When listening to “The Santé Fe Jazz Combo,” you get a mellow feeling that courses through your body. Their opener “Recorda-Me,” which was my favorite piece, featured solos from Dr. Hamilton on Piano, Spencer Hoefert on Guitar, Ben Salhanick on Bass, Doc B on Alto Sax, Wyatt Thomas on Trombone, and Noah Woolard on Drum Set. The song had a moderate swing tempo that kept your feet tapping up until the solo. First, the brass rang through their part, then the electric instruments. Next came the bass; he was strumming so fast but he was barely audible. The pianist busting through with a tricky piano rift and the drummer finished it off with an intense solo. Every rim-shot sent a jolt into the air like lightning and the buzz rolls sounded like thunder. Noah’s part reminded me why I love playing the drums.

The song starts off from 0:00 to 0:12 with a melody begun by the saxophones, and there are riffs apparent played by the brass section behind this melody, followed by a repeating of this section until 0:22 when the brass section of instruments climbs up the scale to a higher key. This section, from 0:22 to 0:29,

Ragtime and blues were alike in many ways but different in many others. Blues was genuinely emotional; it had a darker side to it. Singing was the key tool to blues; it wasn’t so much the type of instruments that were used but more of the

Then on December 31, 1912, Armstrong was arrested during the New Years Eve celebrations for shooting his mother’s boyfriend’s pistol into the air. The judge sent him to a colored Waif’s Home for boys in the country. It was ran by a man that went by “Captain” Jones and ran it with a military esc style. He did not like the home initially, but then things started to change. He was actually getting regularly fed, clean clothes, and hygiene. There were many classes that the boys went to and learned practical skills, but his favorite was music class, taught by Professor Peter Davis, who initially did not like Louie due to being raised in the Battlefield. Armstrong couldn’t read music, but soon learned to play by ear. Davis also ran a brass band for the home that would perform at private events and in the streets of New Orleans. Louie would always sit in and listen to their rehearsal. He enjoyed the music and was very interested. After 6 months, Davis asked him to join the band. Louis started on the tambourine, quickly advancing to the drums, alto horn, bugle, and then finally the cornet. Armstrong was a quick learner and had a good ear for music. He would frequently improvise parts of songs, a huge feat for a

music in the 1880’s and traveled to St. Louis, which was becoming a major center of

Born November 2nd, 1868 in Texarkana, Texas, was the king of ragtime: Scott Joplin. He was born in just the right time frame to experience the uprising of African-American music. He saw the cakewalk and heard the "coon songs" (Waldo 21). But it was not until the age of 16 that he discovered his passion for music (Berlin 6). Joplin started out in a choir group with his siblings, but after meeting German teacher Julius Weiss, he learned the piano (Berlin 7). It is said that at the age of 19, Joplin left home and traveled extensively before ending up in St. Louis, Missouri (Berlin

He was later discovered here by John Stark who eventually published his first composition know as the Maple Leaf Rag. He later moved to St. Louis where he had the opportunity to perform for the next five years. Furthermore, he later left for New York, where he developed his own opera in 1911. This opera, called Treemanisha, was the first and only ragtime opera, but unfortunately, it only lasted one show. This was the falling point of his career, and he never regained the popularity he once had at the beginning of his career. In the 1970’s, Joplin and his opera was rediscovered with the revival of ragtime.

The song was called “Funk Indeed Free”. The texture to this song was very soft. Not all the instruments were competing with each other like the last song. The song had some form to it aside from the trumpet. The trumpet was very wild and had many different ranges. The melody was the same throughout the song aside from the trumpet as well. There was a steady flow throughout the whole song. The dynamic of the song was very calm and quiet aside from the trumpet. I didn’t appreciate that because it was so distracting. The tempo was at a mild pace. Not all the instruments were played during this song. It was only 2 instruments played at a time during the whole time.

Acoustic guitar by Jerry, vocal & piano by Zino Park, bass guitar by Clay Luna, vocal & guitar by Zen, guitar & saxophone by Dan Stark, drum by Skip Mccain, and harp by Monica.

It was performed by the CSU Graduate Brass Quintet, consisting of Nikolas Valinsky, Matthew Chanlynn, Emelie Pfaff, William Gamache, and Heather Ewer. While Valinsky and Chanlynn played the trumpet, Pfaff played the horn, Gamache the trombone and Ewer tuba. This quartet accomplished a wonderful work by the different melodies, pitches and dynamics. While the tuba was heard more in the background due to its low pitch, the most significant instruments were the trumpets. Not only did they provide the highest pitch but it was also heard as the main instrument because of their rhythm. Together, this group of brass instruments created a dense rhythm by providing the audience with several layers of music on top of each-other. Altogether, I enjoyed this piece the most. It made me feel happy, excited and joyful.

There is a minor brass introduction followed by ascending and descending major scales played by the harp. The strings play a legato melody and there is a pedal note in the woodwind. The music modulates back to minor and there is a crescendo with a sequence and use of the timpani. There is a descending arpeggio played by the brass section, and then the string melody is repeated with brass repeated notes. The music has a ¾ rhythm and an adagio tempo. There is a quiet woodwind passage with a timpani roll and crescendo. The main melody is then played by brass. It is then repeated with cymbal crashes, brass fanfares and a timpani roll. There is a crescendo with discords and imperfect cadences. And the piece ends with a perfect cadence and timpani roll.