Musician Highlight - Scott Joplin

Every month, I've decided, I'm going to put a shiny little spotlight on a specific musician, generally one who also composes (or composed, I've nothing against dead guys), give a brief description of them, and recommend a small sampling of their work for curious listeners to get started on.

This month, it's the father of ragtime, Scott Joplin.


Scott Joplin is widely considered to be one of the most important composers of ragtime, and, indeed, the innovator that basically created ragtime. Ragtime, in case you don't know, is generally piano-based music characterized by a playful use of syncopation, and, in the hands of a creative composer, can have pretty awesome applications in contemporary music.

There's really quite a lot of Joplin's work out there - you can even buy little books full of his sheet music so you can have the satisfaction of having the most fun with a piano since Beethoven got evicted from his apartment for rocking too hard.

If you want to get started, here's three pieces to look up:
-The Entertainer Yes, yes, I know. To those all too familiar with ice cream trucks, this song just sounds like diabetes. Gotta forget the ice-cream-truck connection and just listen to the song itself.
-Maple Leaf Rag This one's just cool.
-Gladiolas This is an awesome title, and a very good example of what ragtime should sound like.

Use those three as a jumping-off point for jamming with Scott Joplin, and tune in next month for another Musician Spotlight!