Sunflower Slow Drag (SCOTT JOPLIN, 1901) Ragtime Piano Roll Legend

[verdew8181]

Ragtime on YouTube, the poor person's Disneyland.

[jraider2]

I don't like to be vulgar - but Joplin was a f*cking genius!

[yadek8]

Why can´t you guys just listen the music ? We have two ears, and only one mouth...

[trensun]

@yadek8 we also have one ass but people won't stop using it

[yadek8]

@trensun good point man.... ahahahahaa... thanx for posting, greetings from chile (brazilian living in chile).

[TheAmazingUploader]

Lol, is it just me or does this sound a lot like The Entertainer?

[andatealamierda182]

@TheAmazingUploader

mmm they are both rags, and both writed by joplin but not, that is a really poor observation.

[Korban3]

Also, this is old enough to have joined the public archives. It is free. DAMN YOU AMAZON!!! This song was written long before 1924: It better be for $0 or I'm gonna get all legal on yo' arse, stinkin' shopping site.

[MrMARKOS13579]

Man,there will never be good composer as Scott Joplin again!

[mandrewsf]

Played this on the flute in 6th grade... good memories

[dragoons9009]

For the longest time and since hearing a friend play "Entertainer on the piano, I thought Scott Joplin was white! Boy was I wrong!!!

[serendipetey5]

This performance is WAY too fast....one of the most commons errors in playing rags. Take note of the title: "slow" and "drag" are used purposely by Joplin. Also, Ragtimes should almost always have some element of swing present, ultimately depending on the tempo giusto. Again, this tempo is way too fast to incorporate any kind of effective swing.

"Play slowly until you catch the swing..." - Scott Joplin

[Korban3]

@serendipetey5 Yeah, we're playing this right now, and we play it slower, and it feels much more fun at a lightly slower pace. Catch the swing is right.

[KawhackitaRag]

@serendipetey5 The "play slowly until you catch the swing" refers to: 1. PRACTICING the tune... he didn't expect you to play it slowly in performance!

2. The strong rhythmic pulse and snappiness, or SWING in early 1900s slang (NOT the "uneven-eighth-notes" definition of "swing" that we use today), which you can only get by playing it at a decent tempo, NOT too slow!

And, "slow drag" was a real dance step, but a misnomer. I've been unable to find any evidence it was actually danced slowly!

[KawhackitaRag]

@serendipetey5 However... I agree with you that the person who recorded this set the tempo lever on the player piano slightly fast... I think it should be a few beats per minute slower... maybe 10 or so, but certainly not slow. I have heard it played very slowly, and although it reveals the grace in the melody, in my opinion the rhythmic excitement of the piece is lost and it falls flat. To hear a good tempo and feel, check out Hamada Takasi's excellent guitar version on YT channel "ragtimecave"

[1123kuro]

I love this one!

[dannycaller]

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the two highest rating comments are stating complete opposite things? :P

[Qrayon]

@dannycaller It's par for the course.

[mavenstar99]

good tempo, lively, not too heavy, even playing. Joyous music, who is the pianist on this rendition?

[MsSoundguy]

What a joyous, gorgeous rag. Thank you!

[SeagullsDiarrhea]

this man was a beast on the piano!

[Surax]

Seems just a tad too fast.

[beakt]

@Surax It's a common misperception that Ragtime should be played as ballads, because Joplin wrote "not fast" on his pieces. These are dances, though, and he didn't want people to play them ridiculously fast to show off and ruin it. Look at the metronome markings he wrote, and it's about like this is being played, sometimes faster. This is a Slow Drag, which is a type of dance. Dance to this at 2/4 time, and you'll see how it's a slow march to a lively tune, just what Ragtime was intended to be.

[LeReporterProvencal]

I Like Scott Japlin !!!

Youtube and Facebook : " le reporter provencal "

[lilataubenei]

Juhuu! Good Timing!

@ tayloreh:

Hey, do you have own recordings of your music? you ar very right in what you have posted, now, i am interested in your music:-)

[lilataubenei]

Juhuu! Good Timing!

[Cleanairisgreat]

@Kaioken1987 someone else. quality is too good to be 109 years old.

[alancorday]

maple leaf rag and this one are the best rags by Joplin

[Voodoo8648]

I love his music

[Turnipthatistasty]

I remember listening to this when I was five years old...my parents love that kind of stuff.

[chkjns]

Mercì Dorian! Premiere entry for 1901 in my playlists for every year back to 1901.

My playlists + your mouse = a trip back in time to almost any past year . . . . . .

[747RocksJax]

Has similarities to the Entertainer. This was year before the Entertainer tough wasn't it...?

[AfroHorseProductions]

Yea one year

[Pentagonshark666]

Great,great,great - Scott Joplin

the greatest american composer

ever.

[tayloreh]

@Pentagonshark666 No American composer is the greatest American composer. I think thats a more productive answer. Songwriters shouldn't write to be great, they should write to write, so to put that way does us all a favor.

But yeah, Scott Joplins a real joy, no doubt about it.

[DracoFamiliar]

@tayloreh But writing to writing is writing to be great.....



[tayloreh]

@DracoFamiliar Not necessarily. I can be writing to writing just to be writing, to improve my writing for myself and not for a public title, or to make some cash. I'm sure someone won't deny it if they're called great, they would probably appreciate it, but just like all other forms of classification, it causes a lot of social problems. It can alienate the one receiving it, as we see with this strange thing called fame, it can make someone devalue themselves for something out of their control.

[DracoFamiliar]

@tayloreh Greatness comes whether or not one writes for others, and if you write to become better, you by definition are writing to become great at writing.......though now I think I realize that we are talking about two different types of greatness...glory in the eyes of others and true perfection in the actual work. I apologize for the confusion.

[freddieandme]

@tayloreh Pentagonshark666 made the comment out of his own jubilence at hearing a song well written and well played. There's no need to be a prick & burst his bubble.

[tayloreh]

@freddieandme So every time someone enjoys something they have to call it 'the greatest'? It puts everything off kilter all the time and makes everything a contest, which is not what its all about.

[freddieandme]

@tayloreh You miss the point entirely. The chap above was overwhelmed with Scott Joplin's music. To him, Scott Joplin is the greatest composer ever. But to say that just because someone enjoys something that they must call it 'the greatest' is ridiculous. I'm curious to know why you would feel that this would make 'everything' a contest. I never thought it was one.

[tayloreh]

@freddieandme There's a tendency when someone loves something to call it the greatest - and I think there's healthy quantities of that, but it usually makes me, and others sick. I assume you're a big Queen fan - me too. But whenever I tried to force Freddie on people in the past and call him the greatest, it creates a war where someone defends Led Zeppelin or The Smiths or Rheostatics viciously, and then nobody feels good anymore. Class systems, though tempting, are not what real love is about.

[freddieandme]

@tayloreh I get what you're saying. I just looked at it from the poster's point of view (for a change). Yes, I'm a huge Queen fan. To me, Freddie had the most beautiful voice. I think Freddie was (and still is) the greatest yet others think (egad) Michael Jackson is. Now that's enough to make me throw up a little in my mouth.

[Jumpinjahosafa]

@freddieandme I'm amazed that you would like freddie mercury, yet gag at michael jackson, when they were pretty good friends and borrowed eachothers styles...

[freddieandme]

@Jumpinjahosafa I simply dislike Michael Jackson's song voice and his music choice. I thought he (MJ) was a good singer (really good singer) when he was a young teen but as an adult, I disliked his voice and choice in music. His music and Freddie's music are completely different. As far as I know they weren't good friends. They only respected each other and wanted to get together one day to record some songs. I have heard MJ sing Freddie's songs. It was enough to make me wish I were deaf.

[antimarxism]

@tayloreh "songwriters shouldn't"

And that was not the reality of many of the artists of that time, including Joplin.

[Gianluke01]

Mi piace molto questa!