The Sycamore

At a glance

• What it isa ragtime piece for solo piano, in G major.
• Who and whenwritten by Scott Joplin (1868–1917) and published as sheet music in 1904.
• What to listen forthe oom-pah walk of the left hand, the right hand nudging just off the beat above it, and the moments when a new section begins.

Listen for

• The left hand's walkin a classic rag the left hand usually alternates a low bass note with a chord in the middle of the keyboard. That even, pendulum-like step is the floor a rag stands on.
• Right-hand syncopationsyncopation means pushing a strong beat a little early or leaving its place empty, so the rhythm seems to pull forward. Listen for where the right hand slips out of step with the left and then locks back in.
• When the sections change: rags are usually built like marches, with several sections following one another. When a new section arrives, listen for whether the melody climbs higher and whether the mood brightens or settles.

When it was written

Ragtime is piano music that grew up among African American musicians in the late nineteenth century. With no radio, people bought sheet music and tried new pieces at the piano at home, and rag scores sold widely that way.

Joplin grew up in Texas and as a young man travelled the Midwest playing piano. He made his name in 1899 with the Maple Leaf Rag, and in 1902 he published The Entertainer. The Sycamore came out two years later.

Joplin thought of ragtime as music to be played with care. In 1908 he published an instruction book, School of Ragtime, explaining how to play it, and he urged players not to play rags fast. He died in New York in 1917. His music was forgotten for a while, drew new attention in the 1970s, and reached a wide audience through the 1973 film The Sting.