![]() In 1894 Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, where he played 2nd cornet in the Queen City Concert Band, taught piano, sang in choirs, and worked as a piano accompanist. manufacturing 150,000 pianos a year, and many middle class families purchased pianos for their homes, which created the demand for ragtime sheet music. By the end of the century there were 400 companies in the U.S. In the 1890s piano manufacturers began making inexpensive pianos. In order to promote Joplin’s music to respectable middle class families, his publisher advertised Joplin’s music as “classic rags…that have lifted Ragtime from its low estate and lined it up with Beethoven and Bach.” Most of his rags are purely instrumental, without words. It was called “a disease, an epidemic, a rapidly increasing mania, and the source of physical and mental disturbances such as a frenzied mind, and abnormal heart action!” The criticisms were due to the vulgar lyrics of the songs, which Joplin deplored. It was associated with lowlifes, saloons and bordellos. At first Ragtime was not considered suitable for polite society. Its syncopated rhythm was an exciting departure from the usual order and regularity of waltzes, marches, hymns and dreamy ballads. Instead of Victorian genteel self control, ragtime’s rhythmic exuberance created an irresistible urge to dance. It was a racy alternative to the stuffy, respectable Victorian parlor music. By 1893 people wanted to break free from the restraints of traditional, Victorian culture. Ragtime music originally derived from spirituals and minstrel songs. In 1893 he visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a huge world’s fair, where he formed his 1st band, playing cornet, and piano, and made orchestrations for the band. It was filled with saloons, gambling houses and bordellos, where musicians were in constant demand. Louis, then known as “The Gateway to the West”. He found steady employment in the brothels of the red light districts throughout the mid-south. He just got his music out of the air.”Īround age 20 he quit his job with the railroad, where he had been working as a laborer and became a traveling musician. He made up his own, and it was beautiful. He did not have to play anyone else’s music. One of his friends recalled “Scott worked on his music all the time. He was a quiet, introverted person, yet he had a magnetic personality that attracted people to him. Joplin played at church gatherings, taught guitar and mandolin, and at 16 formed a vocal quartet. Weiss money when he became old and sick until his teacher’s death. Joplin never forgot him, and later in life, sent Prof. He also helped Joplin’s mother buy a used piano for the boy to practice on at home. He tutored him in folk music, sight-reading, harmony, composition and the music of classical composers. Weiss taught Joplin for free from age 11 to age 16. He soon attracted the attention of Julius Weiss, a German Jewish immigrant who had been hired to tutor the children of a wealthy landowner. I won’t have anything to do with such foolishness. When a bunch of boys got together one night and asked Scott to go with them, he said ‘No sir. A family friend recalled: “Scott was earnest. ![]() As a boy, he spent the money he earned doing errands and odd jobs on popular sheet music. His parents didn’t get along, and his father left the family when Scott was 12. ![]() He had perfect pitch and his talent was noticed by some of the local music teachers, who gave him lessons for little or no pay. However, the Joplin children received private tutoring, paid for with food.īy age 7 Scott Joplin became proficient on the banjo and began accompanying his mother to the home of a white family, where she did domestic work, and where he was allowed to play their piano. It was considered the lowest position for a white person to be a teacher of Blacks. ![]() The few that existed were frequently attacked and burned. Therefore there was tremendous opposition to schools for African Americans. His mother was a maid, played the banjo and sang.Īfter the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, African Americans were blamed for what their former slave owners lost economically. His father an ex-slave worked as a laborer for the railroad and played violin. Scott Joplin was born in Northeast Texas in 1868 and grew up in Texarkana.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |