Scott Joplin Research Paper

Scott Joplin Our nation is teeming with thousands of various music genres, each with their own unique flare. America also contains an ethnically diverse mixture of artists and composers that have all contributed to the history and patriotic culture of this country throughout time. Dwight Henry mentioned that “Music knits people together in some strange way,” and from the very beginning this has proved to be completely true, especially in the eyes of Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin was an African-American man living in the late 1890s and early 1900s. He was born on November 24th, 1868 in a community near the town of Linden, which is located in the northeastern region of Texas. He was raised with his five additional siblings by parents Giles and

While his father earned a living as a hard working railroad laborer, his mother was a laundress and housekeeper whose employer agreed to providing Scott with piano lessons, therefore becoming his first steps toward fame. A determined young Joplin spent every hour outside of school endlessly working on building new skills and improving current ones.

Convinced that Scott’s musical aptitude was far beyond his age, German professor of music Julius Weiss decided to increase the depth of his learning and mentor the talented eleven-year-old without charge. Here, he gained a greater knowledge of folk and opera music and their numerous elements. By the time he was a blossoming teenager, he had already mastered instruments such as the piano, violin, and cornet, all while singing and serving as a dance musician.

In his early years of adulthood, Scott’s father abandoned his wife and children, leaving him to assume the role as head income provider. Joplin soon realized that a career in music was his true calling, so he, too, left and traveled around the Midwestern United States, playing the piano at local bars and saloons. After itinerantly working for a short period of time, Scott finally landed in St. Louis, Missouri in the year of