Styles of Ragtime

Thursday, June 15, 2006

There are many styles of piano that came during the Ragtime era. A lot of the styles are fairly blurred as there are different takes on each style.

• Cakewalk: This is pre-ragtime from about 1904. The meaning is from an African American dance which the winner received a cake.


• Characteristic Match: A pre-ragtime dance from around 1908. It is a march incorporating idiomatic syncopation. This is the style of many of the early rags.


• Two-Step: A popular dance of around 1911 which is pre-ragtime. Two-step is the style of a large number of rags during the Ragtime period.


• Slow Drag: Another dance style associated with Early Ragtime. First preformed in New Orleans in the 1890’s.


• Coon Song: A popular vocal form from around 1901. This was associated with ragtime in its day and gave ragtime a bad name. They were songs with racist lyrics that were typically sung by white performers in blackface.


• Ragtime Songs: The vocal form that was popular in Ragtime. The topics of the songs were more generic than Coon Songs.


• Folk Rag: Often composed by composers with non-standard training. Originated from small towns, or made to sound like they originated from small towns.


• Classic Rag: The type of Missouri ragtime that Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin popularized.


• Fox-Trot: A dance fad from 1913 which contained a dotted-note rhythm that was different from ragtime, but incorporated into many of the late rags.


• Novelty Piano: A form of ragtime that developed after World War 1. These were piano compositions that focused on speed and complexity.


• Stride Piano: Another type of piano composition dominated by African American East coast pianists. This is often not considered ragtime, but the successor to it.