Ragtime update!

Since picking up ragtime piano music, and attempting to learn to play it, at the beginning of 2014; it has developed into a pretty major hobby.  I have discovered a wealth of music that I never knew existed, and that is a lot of fun to learn about and play.

Since I am still quite active in this hobby, I'm going to attempt to share some of my favorite piano rags here on the blog in the form of a more or less twice monthly update--on about the 5th and 20th, say--showing what ragtime performances are new and interesting on YouTube.  I might also post something old now and again just because it's worth a look.

As far as my personal progress goes, there are now a couple of easier piano rags I can play fairly well.  (I even put a video of myself playing 'On Easy Street' by J. Reginald MacEachron on Facebook last summer.)  I'm sure I could learn to play quite a few more of these well, but I have a tendency to spend most of my time working on pieces that are more difficult than what I can really master at the time.  Partly this is because I prefer to challenge myself, but also because I find pieces that aren't as simplistic to be more rewarding, and often more fun to play even when I can't play them well.  Go figure.  Just don't ask me to perform them, not yet anyway.

I am usually practicing several pieces at once.  At this time I have been working on James Scott's 'New Era Rag' for a few months and nearly have it memorized, though it's quite sloppy throughout.  I am in the middle of learning 'Grace and Beauty', also by Scott, 'Ethiopia Rag' by Joseph Lamb, and 'Ragging the Scale' by Ed Claypoole.  That last piece is really a lot of fun, and way catchier and more musically interesting than I expected it to be from looking at the cover.  On Bill Edwards' excellent webpage for all things ragtime, I read in his biography of Claypoole that he got his first big break in 1903 when he decided to get a real job as a court clerk.  That gave me a good laugh--how true it is, as musicians well know.  Anyway, if I can manage to learn this, I'll post it online somewhere.

So those seem to be the main four right now, although there are some other things I started working on and then just dropped them for a while since I don't have a whole lot of time to practice in the spring.  I am very busy with work and I basically only play when baby girl is sitting in her high chair eating.  If I wanted to mention a fifth piece, I am kinda working on 'Canadian Capers' and haven't exactly given it up, though it's not getting as much practice time as the others.  I found sheet music for it at a local thrift store so that was exciting.

I still haven't started a YouTube channel, and will probably opt to wait another year or two before doing so.  For one thing I still want my proficiency to improve a bit more, rather than make ragtime sound bad on the internet.  So I just have to give that some time.  It will also sound better if I get myself a new camera and a "new" (used) piano, which are also both on my list of things to get within that time frame.

So on to what's new.  Here's a contemporary piece by Tom Brier (still my favorite living ragtime composer, BTW) that I have had the sheet music for since purchasing his first folio, and now I finally know what it's supposed to sound like.  That second strain is a bit challenging.



And here's something you don't see every day: a minor key version of Scott Joplin's 'The Entertainer'--hey, why not?



I suppose I'll allow myself to go back a bit further and pick up some loose ends on weeks (such as this one) when the usual suspects aren't posting much new content.  Here's a fun performance by Tom Brier at the 1st ever Santa Cruz ragtime festival back in February.  This piece is catchy and doesn't sound too difficult to learn, but I don't have the sheet music for it.



And finally, let's go way back and listen to this fine performance of 'Grace and Beauty' (mentioned above) by Stephanie Trick.  Hmm, this performance was nine years ago, and seven years before I discovered ragtime--who knew what I was missing?  I'd be really happy if I can play it anywhere near this well when I'm done working on it (if I ever am!).