Scott Joplin Rags

This playlist presents all the Joplin rags I have recorded from my beginnings on YouTube in September, 2008 to the present. I love ragtime and grew up and was nurtured on it even though the focus of my piano studies has always been classical. I began playing piano at age 6-7 and remember always being attracted to ragtime like Joplin as well as the music of Zez Confrey since around age 10. My father used to play around with Confrey pieces like "Dizzy Fingers" and "My Pet" on our old upright piano and my goal since around age 6 was to learn to play "Dizzy Fingers" which I eventually learned around the age of 10-12. Classic ragtime music is like an "old friend" to me which I come back to time and time again. Sometimes I go long periods without playing ragtime (like a whole year or longer) but I eventually always come back to it because it is "in my blood". Playing ragtime well requires a certain attention to detail, control of articulation, and rhythmic accuracy that very few pianists possess. It has always bewildered me why almost no "serious" classical pianists attempt to play ragtime, especially considering that it takes a solid classical technique to play ragtime well. For example, is there any good reason why pianists of the likes of Barenboim or Perahia should ignore great piano works such as "The Entertainer" or "Magnetic Rag"? They apparently play everything else, so why not a little Joplin? Why is Joplin and other great ragtime composers' works apparently treated like second-rate music not to be touched by classical pianists? I have a theory. The reason is because since its beginnings ragtime was "dirty" or "risque" or "cheap" music associated with black composers, brothels, and bars. Of course, nobody would want to admit this; however, in this phony, politically-correct world we live in today it is quite ironic that otherwise liberal-minded musicians would be so sadly racist in their choice of composers and music. The one piece of advice I offer pianists who wish to attempt to play ragtime is to become grounded in classical technique, since ragtime is impossible to play without it. The one piece of advice I offer serious classical pianists is to get out of your "shells" and try playing a style of music you very well may enjoy as much as Bach or Beethoven.