Scott Joplin said: “Boy, when I’m dead 25 years, people are going to begin to recognize me.” With this quote, Scott Joplin seemed to predict the impact that his music and life would have on generations to come. Indeed, as time moved on Scott Joplin’s prediction became true. Best-known as a ragtime musician and composer, Scott Joplin set the standard for many other musicians that followed in his footsteps. Scott Joplin was an important figure in American History because he is considered the “King of Ragtime Writers.” Ragtime is music played in “ragged” or off-the-beat time. Scott Joplin was born around 1868 near Linden, Texas. His parents were Florence Givins and Giles Joplin. In the 1870s, Joplin’s parents moved the family to Texarkana, Texas.
In 1894, Joplin joined the Queen City Cornet Band and performed at local clubs. Using Sedalia as a home base, he continued to travel around the country with various musical groups. In 1896 he enrolled at the George R. Smith College to study music seriously and to develop the skill of transferring musical sounds into notes recorded on a page that other musicians could then play. Scott quickly learned how to write down the vibrant melodies and complex rhythms he and his fellow musicians had been developing. Joplin published several original compositions and also started co-writing songs with Sedalia musicians Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. In 1899, a local music store owner and music publisher named John Stark printed Joplin’s song “Maple Leaf Rag.” Immediately popular, this song featured a pleasing melody and a catchy beat. It became a classic model of ragtime music and thrust Joplin into the national spotlight. In 1901, Joplin and several of his friends moved to St. Louis hoping to become successful performers and composers in this urban center. With their presence, Sr. Louis became a focal point for this special kind of music. Joplin’s ragtime compositions gained the attention of classically trained musicians and critics. By late 1907, Joplin had left St. Louis and moved to New York City, offering new experiences. In New York City, Joplin performed in vaudeville shows and
He was praised but not fully included in white society. Though Joplin’s popular rags were published, he had trouble raising money to produce the works that he cared most deeply about—his longer and more complicated compositions. Scott Joplin’s private live also became troubled. He suffered the loss of an infant child, his first marriage ended, and his second wife, Freddie Alexander, died shortly after they were married in 1904. Near the end of his life, Joplin was sick, discouraged and poor. As his career developed and for many years following his death, Scott Joplin earned the title “King of Ragtime Writers’. Alfred Ernst, conductor of the St. Louis Choral Symphony Society, described Joplin as “an extraordinary genius.” He played an essential role in the development of ragtime music. His work also laid the groundwork for jazz, another distinctly American musical form. Joplin gave the world a unique form of music and he opened the door for other black musicians and artists to succeed in a racially segregated
Joplin headed for New York in 1907 where he continued composing music and began instructing others in music. He son so...
Ragtime takes place in New York City, during the 1900’s. This time period is referred to as the Progressive Era. This era was true to its name because many insightful people endeavoured to make the society of the ...
John found the love of his life in 1879. Jane van Middleworth Bellis became Mrs. John Philip Sousa that year. Together they travelled to Europe four times. On one voyage back, John was inspired to write the "Stars and Stripes Forever". Three of their trips to Europe were for performances, another trip was as a vacation. While they were on vacation Sousa's promoter, David Blakely died.
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.
One man made his impression on the music world soon after he arrived to America. His
Robert Johnson is more than just another Blues man with a sad story. To sing the blues with as much soul as Robert Johnson did, you know his life was rough. The life of Robert Johnson was memorable but short. Robert Johnson was born on May 8, 1911. Robert was a product of an extramarital affair. He lived with many different father figures before moving 40 miles south of Memphis to Robinsonville, Mississippi, where he would live till his early adulthood.
Berlin, Edward A., A Biography of Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation, 1998. Web. 28 Nov. 2010
Winfield Scott was born on June 13, 1876, near Petersburg, Virginia. Being very ambitious, Scott went to the William and Mary College to study law. When he joined the United States Army in 1808, Scott's ambition to become a lawyer subsided and subsequently, he began to focus on mi...
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
He was known as the Father of Jazz. He was most notable as an entertainer, however, he was a soloist that provided improvisations in regards to tunes. Louis Armstrong's “What a Wonderful World” is the first song that comes to many minds when discussing jazz. He is also well known for his scat singing, However, he also had a political side. In his song “What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue,” Armstrong talks about the color of his skin as a bad thing and how blacks were treated. In World War II he fulfilled by performing for the soldiers during a recording
By the end of World War I, Black Americans were facing their lowest point in history since slavery. Most of the blacks migrated to the northern states such as New York and Chicago. It was in New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. This movement with jazz was used to rid of the restraints held against African Americans. One of the main reasons that jazz was so popular was that it allowed the performer to create the rhythm. With This in Mind performers realized that there could no...
Scott Joplin was know as the kings of ragtime. I will explain also explain how he grew up and what type of music he played. I will also write about why I believe he deserves the title that he has been bestowed upon him.
Jazz music prospered in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Jazz was created by African Americans to represent pain and suffering and also represented the adversity that racial tension brought. (Scholastic) African American performers like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie “Bird” Parker came to be recognized for their ability to overcome “race relati...
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues