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Ragtime: Its history, composers, and music
. 1985 clean bright copy
- GenresMusic
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1985
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July 28, 2020
This is one of those music books that I've had on my shelves for years, but which I had never read in its entirety until recently. It was published 35 years before I finally read the whole thing, so I'm sure that some of the research is outdated, but I still found it interesting and informative.
It's not perfect, however. It's a collection of articles on various aspects of ragtime and its musicians - some written for this collection, some revised for publication here, and some older pieces. The quality of the writing varies considerably, as might be expected from such an anthology. Many of the articles have a slightly unattractive pleading quality, asking the reader to recognize ragtime as a true American art form. (I doubt that anyone reading this book would need much convincing on that score.) And some of the articles share a flaw common in writing about American vernacular music: they go into detailed analysis of aspects of the music that probably don't need detailed analysis.
But the positives outweigh the negatives. For me, the highlights included:
"The Grace and Beauty of Classic Rags" by Roland Nadeau - An excellent overview of the musical aspects of piano ragtime.
"The Banjo in Ragtime" by Lowell H. Schreyer - Invaluable for its insights into 19th-century Black American music.
"The Ragtime Kid (An Autobiography)" by Brun Campell - Picaresque memoir by a student of Scott Joplin.
"Joplin's Late Rags: An Analysis" by Guy Waterman - An article that made me hear this music differently.
Anyone with a slightly serious interest in ragtime music should read this book. You'll like some of the articles more than others, but you will certainly find your favorites.
It's not perfect, however. It's a collection of articles on various aspects of ragtime and its musicians - some written for this collection, some revised for publication here, and some older pieces. The quality of the writing varies considerably, as might be expected from such an anthology. Many of the articles have a slightly unattractive pleading quality, asking the reader to recognize ragtime as a true American art form. (I doubt that anyone reading this book would need much convincing on that score.) And some of the articles share a flaw common in writing about American vernacular music: they go into detailed analysis of aspects of the music that probably don't need detailed analysis.
But the positives outweigh the negatives. For me, the highlights included:
"The Grace and Beauty of Classic Rags" by Roland Nadeau - An excellent overview of the musical aspects of piano ragtime.
"The Banjo in Ragtime" by Lowell H. Schreyer - Invaluable for its insights into 19th-century Black American music.
"The Ragtime Kid (An Autobiography)" by Brun Campell - Picaresque memoir by a student of Scott Joplin.
"Joplin's Late Rags: An Analysis" by Guy Waterman - An article that made me hear this music differently.
Anyone with a slightly serious interest in ragtime music should read this book. You'll like some of the articles more than others, but you will certainly find your favorites.
Displaying 1 of 1 review