What is ragtime? -- A demonstration

I know many of you who are subscribing to my channel are experiencing ragtime for the first time and I I thought maybe that some of you may not quite understand what exactly ragtime is because I know when I was first shown a demonstration of syncopated rhythms on drums I didn't quite get it as a whole why what makes that syncopated and not the other one so I thought a visual example would would be much better and for someone to to notice exactly what makes ragtime now I'm going to use sheet music but you don't have to be able to read sheet music in order to follow this the main thing is to be seeing the order that the notes come in in relation to the high notes and versus the low notes and reading them from left to right so we're going to start with it we're going to do this with a tune that I'm sure you know which is a fragment from Johann taco bell's famous canon in d if you don't recognize that by name I'm sure y'all recognize it here one when you hear it you so I'm sure you know that tune now many people when they try to write a rag or when they try to write something in ragtime they actually don't get it right what they do is they'll do something like this but this is not ragtime them track you down on the screen this is not ragtime so now why isn't that rec time about all that is is a March and when what what I mean is if you listen if you look at the melody and you hum the melody all the notes that you accent are in line here with the downbeat to the upbeat tune pop pop of the bass duh duh duh duh duh duh so you know like duh that these notes are all lined up and that's the way all music was before ragtime came around pretty much ragtime introduced putting these accented notes between the down beats and the up beats which had never been heard before and that's that's hard for us to imagine because all popular music we hear today is a direct descendant of ragtime all talk about music today is has syncopated melodies and it's hard for us to imagine what it must have been like to hear ragtime for the first time so let's hear now this tune in ragtime another page over here so here it is in ragtime the same notes in the same order but they're just played with at different times so you see the normal originally was that that that does so there's no duh that used to scan start here is now starting here is you guys tied over the same thing here this note was coming a little bit earlier it's coming between the cord here and the bass note between the upbeat and the downbeat that is ragtime and it happens again over here instead of the note that was accented on the upbeat it's coming just before the da da dun dun so it's just before that is what makes ragtime basically a basic rag has a March baseline but of course not all marches are ragtime so it's that syncopated melody that had never been heard before it was it was so shocking I've read newspaper articles written in a day where doctors were concerned that ragtime was a public health hazard that it would cause heart palpitations these uneven rhythms it would mess with your brain and make you insane maybe it didn't pick make people insane and I had another question recently somebody to ask what a one step is basically ragtime is generally a two step it has s that has to do with dancing how many steps to do it or in a dance but you see it here you notice the flow of the melody is twice as fast as the flow of the bass notes this is all in sixteenth notes or semi quavers whereas the left-hand part is in eighth notes or quavers you know one step it's evened out the tempo is increased but the speed of the melody is slowed down and and the they'll both come out in in quavers or eighth notes as you'll see in this example I think I get the whole thing on the screen on the screen here but here's the same that same syncopated version of the melody now done on a one step you so so that's what constitutes a one-step there now you may also hear us mention sometimes cakewalk rhythm cakewalk was very early ragtime and cake wats generally had one type of syncopation and I have an example here of a cakewalk in on paper which is walking on the Rainbow Road and you notice that the accent of note is always this first one here it's always right after the first beat Tata Tata Tata Tata Tata Tata Tata Tata so that's accident note coming between these two notes cake was generally only have that type of syncopation they don't have the more advanced singer patience that you would get in in ragtime unfortunately most people's first experience with a music called cakewalk is this one so I've C cakewalk Scott chop on it Arthur Marshall which really isn't a cakewalk and that's what causes a lot of confusion it does start with cakewalk rhythm that that that that that that's that that that that that that I've done it that I've that whoops that's not cakewalk rhythm there got that data dad I thought I thought I thought I thought that that that so this has the sort of advanced syncopations that are associated with ragtime or a rag because cakewalk sir are generally considered a ragtime but a type of ragtime this is kind of this came out in 1900 the ragtime is a rag the term rag hadn't really caught on yet the cake walks are very popular

Channel: Keeper1st

Views: 440,085

Keywords: ragtime, syncopation, tutorial, demo, rag

Id: e8IM5-wUdng

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 20 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/-_K_]

The info that you give is good. Try condensing the video (short and sweet) and start with an example instead of an explanation to keep people hooked.

Otherwise thank you for sharing.

[u/cpizzy34]

I loved this! Thanks for sharing!