Troubadour Rag

At a glance

• What it isa ragtime piece for solo piano.
• Who and whenpublished in 1919 by James Scott, a composer from Missouri.
• What to listen forthe even beat in the left hand and the syncopation bouncing above it in the right.

Listen for

• The left hand's walklow notes and chords alternate to keep the beat. This floor has to stay steady for the rhythm above it to come alive.
• Right-hand syncopationlisten for accents placed off the strong beats, a rhythm that slides just across the pulse. This is where ragtime's lilt comes from.
• Several sectionsa classic rag usually strings together a few sections of around sixteen bars, each repeated. Try to catch the moment a new tune appears.

When it was written

Ragtime is piano music that arose among African American musicians in the late nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century its sheet music sold widely, and people played rags at pianos in homes everywhere.

James Scott was born in Missouri around 1885. As a young man he worked at a music store in Carthage, Missouri, and began publishing his own rags. Today he is counted, with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb, among the big three of classic ragtime.

This piece appeared in 1919, two years after Joplin's death. Scott moved to Kansas City, where he taught music and accompanied silent films in theaters. In the 1920s ragtime's popularity gave way to jazz, and Scott died in Kansas City in 1938.