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Around the 1890's, Ragtime was formed as a unique style of music. It
was created as a blend of many different styles of music brought to the
United States from immigrants of cultures from around the world.
However, one of the largest influences on Ragtime would have to be African
rhythms and harmonies.
Ragtime often contains the piano as its main instrument and sounds like a lively dance. But there are examples of ragtime that feature other instruments or have slower tempos. Another feature of ragtime is that it has syncopated (seen - co - pay - ted) rhythms which have been taken from complex African rhythms. Syncopated rhythms often accent beats 2 & 4 instead of 1 & 3 to give the music a swing feel. These rhythms have been carried along and have had a great effect on the rhythms of most jazz that evolved from ragtime. |
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| Scott Joplin (1867-1917) | ||
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Scott Joplin was born into a family where his
father was an ex-slave and his mother worked cleaning houses. Many people
believe that he taught himself how to play piano on a piano owned by one
of his mother's clients. Later, he started taking lessons and
playing in the Maple Leaf Club where he started to gain fame.
Scott Joplin is often referred to as the "King of Ragtime" and is one of the best known ragtime composers. To learn more, click on his name to go to the Scott Joplin Organization or go to the Scott Joplin page in the composer section of Mrs. Patrick's Music Room by clicking here. |
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Maple Leaf Rag|
Like ragtime, dixieland music is a combination of other styles of music.
In the 1920's, the styles of country blues, ragtime, and brass bands came
together to form what is now known as dixieland music. The name "dixieland"
was most likely formed because of the band known as "The Original
Dixieland Jazz Band." They made their first record in 1917 and made
the style of music an immediate success.
Dixieland bands usually have brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, banjos, pianos, and a saxophone or clarinet. Original dixieland music also rarely has singers in the recordings. Instead, the musicians played well-known melodies and improvised on them just like in the blues style. Like in ragtime, beats 2 & 4 are often accented by the banjo and/or piano to give the music a swing feel. |
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| Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) | |||
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Louis "Satchmo"
Armstrong was born into a poor family in 1901. He started his
musical career as a singer in a trio on a corner. He made money
doing work for a Russian family and used the money to buy his first cornet
(a brass instrument similar to a trumpet).
Louis started taking lessons and then moved on to play in King Oliver's Creole Band, which played dixieland jazz. He gained fame in this band and moved to New York City and then traveled around the world spreading jazz around the globe. The nickname "Satchmo" is a shortened version of the nickname "satchelmouth" given to him because of his large lips that can be seen when he sings and plays on his cornet. The nickname was expanded to "Ambassador Satchmo" because he was an ambassador of jazz throughout the world. He is also credited with creating "scat" singing, which is a form of improvised singing using nonsense syllables. He invented it when his music fell of his stand in a recording session and so he started making up words instead of stopping the song. His voice can be recognized by its deep, gravelly tone. Louis Armstrong is widely respected as one of the greatest jazz artists of all time. The link on his name and picture will take you to the Satchmo Homepage where you can learn more about his life and music. |
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