The evolution of Ragtime piano into Novelty, Stride and Jazz

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The evolution of Ragtime piano into Novelty,
Stride and Jazz

• Tom Cortese
• Composer, performer, and collector of rare and
  unusual piano music
• (Research Scientist)
• (Innovative Computing Lab)
• (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

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Outline

• Musical terminology (?)
• Some trends in piano music history (?)
• Ragtime (?)
• Novelty piano (?)
• A musical progression and examples (?)
• A few ragtime and novelty tunes

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Some musical terms

• Notes
• Scales and arpeggios
• Intervals
• Chords
• Tonality
• Melody / Accompaniment
• Improvisation

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A grab-bag of musical ideas

• Intervals and tunings
• Melody and accompaniment
• Dynamics
• Harmonic richness (unique notes)
• Syncopation and Polyrhythm
• Repetition, Call and Answer

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More on Intervals

• Unison (11)
• Octave (21)
• Fifth (32)
• Major Third (43)
• Minor Third (54)
• Sixth
• Fourth, Second
• Seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth

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Experiments by Classical Composers

• Paul Hindeminth (Ragtime, from 1922)
• Erwin Schulhoff (Toccata sur Kitten on the
  Keys, Charleston)
• Samuel Barber (Blues, from Excursions)
• Leopold Godowsky (A Little Tango Rag, from
  Triakontameron)
• Claude Debussy (Golliwogs Cakewalk, the
  Little Nigar, Etude pour les Quatres)
• Conlon Nancarrow (Boogie-Woogie Suite)
• Igor Stravinsky (Jazz anybody know more
  details?)

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A Birds-Eye View

• For centuries, classical music has become
  increasingly complex
• Gregorian Chants
• Baroque (e.g., Bach, Mozart)
• Romantic (e.g., Chopin, Brahms)
• Impressionistic (e.g., Debussy, Ravel)
• 20th-Century (e.g., Honneger, Dutilleux)

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View from a different birds eye

• Here is another example of musical development

March (e.g., Sousa)
Polka
Stride (e.g., Johnson, Waller)
Waltz
Jazz (e.g., Brubeck, Corea)
Blues
Boogie-Woogie (e.g., Ammons, Lewis)
Novelty Piano (e.g., Confrey, Mayerl)
Ragtime (e.g., Joplin, Lamb, Scott)
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Related Artistic Developments

• The development of instrumental music is
  intertwined with many aspects of popular culture
• Dance (e.g., ballet)
• Spiritual (e.g., dixieland funerals, camp
  meetings)
• Theater (e.g., Vaudeville, Broadway musicals)
• Home player pianos and piano rolls
• Cinema (e.g., silent movies, soundtracks)
• Radio / Television (e.g., commercials, MTV)
• PCs / Internet (e.g., home studios, Napster,
  iPod)
• Live vs. Recorded

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Narrowing the focus What is Ragtime?

• The first truly American form of music, with
  distinct styles from different regions
• The only kind of music allowed by law in any
  saloon in any Western movie
• An instrumental, syncopated march
• The music they used to play during silent
  movies
• A combination of African polyrhythms and
  European musical traditions
• That stuff you hear in Shakeys Pizza
• Oh, you mean The Sting?
• The soundtrack of brothels? Thats not real
  music
• (pulling iPod or cell-phone out of ear) huh?

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A recipe for Novelty Piano

• Start with ragtime
• Season the left hand octaves with tenths
• Relax the constraints of the traditional oom-pah
  left hand
• Add 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, and augmented chords
• Stir in some whole-tone and chromatic scales
• Stop for a break once in a while
• Add a pinch of two-hand rhythmic effects
• Consider using the piano to imitate other things

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An idealized musical progression

• March, Polka, Cake-walk
• Left octaves, mostly on beat, slow changes
• Right straight or dotted, no syncopation, no
  breaks, simpler harmony
• Ragtime
• Left octaves on beat, chords off beat (oom-pah),
  slow changes, usually not fast
• Right straight or dotted, syncopation, no
  breaks, simpler harmony
• AABACCDD structure is similar to classical Rondo
  format

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An idealized musical progression (cont.)

• Waltz (digression)
• Like Ragtime, except three beats per measure
• Hemiola effect used by classical composers
• Tango (digression)
• Left like Ragtime, but syncopated
• Right can be syncopated
• Boogie-Woogie (digression)
• Left Driving, repetitive, rhythmic, pulsing,
  usually fast
• Right Syncopated, improvised, polyrhythm

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An idealized musical progression (cont.)

• Blues (digression)
• Actually fairly similar to Boogie-Woogie with a
  different left hand, and often much slower
• Stride
• Left Oom-pah, faster changes, walking bass
• Right can be syncopated, more complex harmony
• Novelty Piano
• Complex harmony, fast tempo, syncopation,
  hemiola, chromatic runs, written breaks,
  polyrhythm, two-hand effects, impressions,

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An idealized musical progression (cont.)

• Walking Bass
• Like Stride, without the chords (opposite ends of
  a continuum)
• Can be fully improvised, within the rather loose
  constraints of original song structure
• Is conceptually very similar to the baroque
  two-part invention!
• Modern Jazz
• Can be fully improvised, within the rather loose
  constraints of original song structure
• IntroSolosOutro format is conceptually very
  similar to the theme and variations format

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Novelty piano characteristics

• Trains (rhythm, whistle)
• Reality impressions (chimes, music box, etc)
• Unusual harmony (whole tone, chromatic, parallel
  7ths, 9ths, 11ths, etc)
• Instrument impressions (banjo, bagpipe, etc)
• Unusual rhythm (swing feel, or steady beat with
  accents in unexpected places)
• Fast breaks (Liszt)
• Often fast tempo

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Some Novelty Piano Composers

• Leroy Anderson
• Roy Bargy
• Rube Bloom
• Hans Bund
• Zez Confrey
• Raie da Costa
• Kurt Engel
• Ernst Fischer
• Gerd Giese
• Jaroslav Jezek

• Werner Klein
• Billy Mayerl
• Fred Peltzer
• Lothar Perl
• Eric Plessow
• Ethel Ponce
• Lee Sims
• Otto Stolzenwald
• Dana Suesse
• R. Wismar

(Highlighted in red)
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Grace and Beauty (1909)by James Scott
I A A B B A C C D D

• Intro Singing notes
• A Modified oom-pah left
• B Call and answer, tremelos
• C Call and answer
• D Call and answer, fast chord changes near end

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Original Rags (1899)picked by Scott Joplin
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Gladiolus Rag (1907)by Scott Joplin
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Maple Leaf Rag (1899)by Scott Joplin

• Make-believe Rag by Janis Joplin

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Virtuoso Ragby Johnny Guarnieri
A A B B A C C D D E D ? A A O

• A Even eighths right, stride left, rapid chord
  changes
• B Like A, with tenths on repeat
• C Unusual key change, breaks
• D Main section
• E Temporary reprieve from fast tempo
• ? Short bridge
• O Extended coda ending with octave scales left

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Sonniger Morgen (1934)by Ernst Fischer
I A A B B A C C A A B B A O

• Intro Fourths, harmony
• A Fourths, call and answer, pah-oom
• B Richer harmony, pah-oom
• C Parallel descending tenths, technically
  challenging
• Outro Like a coda in classical music

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Alerta!by Ernesto Nazareth
I A A B B I A C C I A

• Intro Novelty-style break
• A Basically ragtime, with slightly modified
  oom-pah left
• B Lots of syncopation right, modified oom-pah
  left
• C Trio section syncopation, use of high register

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Mittsommerzeit (Midsummer Time)by Ernst Fischer
I A A B B A C C I A A

• A Fourths right, Tenths left, lilting rhythm
• B Relatively slight meandering from A
• C Unusual key change, rich harmony, descending
  9ths
• Intro Dramatic change back to intro with no
  bridge between sections

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Sweet William (1938)by Billy Mayerl
I A A B B A O

• Intro Ninth chords
• A Two voices right, large strides, pah-oom left
• B Scales and thirds right, subdued oom-pah left
• Outro Short coda

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Kitten on the Keys (1921)by Zez Confrey
I A A B B I A C C

• Intro Parallel fourths, swing feel, odd leaps
• A Fourths!! Modified oom-pah left
• B Unusual key change. Similar to classic
  ragtime, except for fourths
• C Scherzo, fourths, syncopation, kitten on keys
  impression

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Bugatti Step (1931)by Jaroslav Jezek
I A A ? B B ? A O

• Intro Fourths, two-hand effect, rhythm games,
  chromatic, parallel seventh chords
• A Rich harmony, large strides, break with
  hemiola, chromatic, accents
• B Parallel fourths, oom-pah left hand, tenths on
  repeat
• Outro Hemiola
• ? Short bridges between sections

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Ragtime Nightingale (1915)by Joseph Lamb
I A A B B A C C ? B

• A Based on Chopins Revolutionary Etude (minor
  key is somewhat unusual in classic ragtime)
• B Subdued oom-pah
• C Lighter, trio
• ? Short bridge connecting two sections

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Baltimore Todoloby Eubie Blake
A A B B A ? C C A O

• A Rapid chord changes, singing notes right,
  tenths left
• B Singing notes right, oom-pah left
• ? Short bridge between sections
• C Singing notes right, oom-pah left
• O Short coda ending

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Thank you for attending!
Questions? Discussion? Wanna hear Tom play a
few ragtime and novelty piano tunes?
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Extra ideas

• Popular / Classical (Gershwin, Gottschalk)
• International (Nazareth, Fischer, Jezek,
  Gottschalk)
• Jelly Roll Morton
• Alberti bass and ragtime Oom-pah
• Blues harmonic structure and baroque music
• Trills (harpsichord) and shakes