SCOTT JOPLIN ORIGINAL PIANO ROLLS

[elgoscoix]

This isn't fast. This is fast: youtube.com/watch?v=BoORU0GBGc­E This is what Joplin wanted to avoid. In general, march tempo (around 120 beats per minute) or slow march tempo (as Joplin himself often writes) is adequate for ragtime. These were lively dances, not funeral songs!

[0276boy]

I agree. This isn't that fast. Plus, rags were really marches and one was supposed to be able to dance to them. When Joplin indicated otherwise he stated it in the titles. A true American genius! And I thank you for posting it. No, probably not Joplin at the keyboard, but he'd be fine with the extra notes!

[44t56]

6 people must be Klansmen (if you don't get it, you're not racist)

[sugarcanegray]

the originator of all modern music. A genius :)

[RWBHere]

Joplin made those rolls in his last year of life, when he was in quite a bad state, physically and mentally. The rolls were heavily edited and corrected before being released for sale.

Nonetheless, we're lucky to have some record of how Joplin liked his music to be played.

Thank-you for posting this.

[RED1111111111]

WISH HE HADN'T DIED SO EARLY IN LIFE!!

[318thenewcomer]

5 people are nazi's that accidentally pressed dislike

[Lucius1958]

Actually, this is not a 'hand-played' roll. The liner notes of the Biograph record which includes this specifically state it was not. You can tell by the 'extra' notes in the arrangement.

[max777dog]

I do believe this is him, the sound is very old, and you can tell because that's the way Joplin played. It may sound fast to us, but to him thats probably normal speed for him. He creates the music, when you create your own music you know how it all works, just like with anything. Bravo to all your great fun works Joplin! =)

[monkeyhawk]

It sounds as if he had a few extra fingers.

This is complex as Bach.

[gabsylv]

@monkeyhawk no not by a long shot

[TedMichaelMorgan]

The discussion of tempo settings on piano rolls intrigues me. I am used to Josiah Rifkin's covers--this seems a bit fast but I have no knowledge. Wonderful to hear these rolls. Thank you for posting them.

[pig409]

this cannot be scott joplin himself playing. joplin would never play this fast according to his own beliefs regarding ragtime. sure you can play as fast as YOU want it, but Joplin never played any of his stuff this fast. you can also use the sustain pedal throughout if you want, too, as many pianist tend to, even though joplin never uses that except in his ragtime dance, i think.

[TheMcbro]

@pig409

Well actually the speed of a roll is determined by the settings on the piano itself. Yes, you can actually change the tempo of which songs are played on a player piano.

[beakt]

@pig409 Look at the metronome markings in the sheet music for Pineapple and Sugar Cane. He put 100 beats per quarter note. If you're used to playing ragtime like ballads because of the pervasive belief you're supposed to play it slow and boring, this seems ridiculously fast, but it's not. It's a slow march, as he always puts in his sheet music. A regular march is about 130 bpm. I think this video presents the music very authentically.

[elgoscoix]

@pig409 I believe ragtime must be played with the sustain pedal. There are pedal indications in several of Joplin's pieces, and when he writes it, it's always a very heavy pedal (it is often sustained for whole measures). This would contrast oddly with the rest of the piece where there is no written pedal, if it were played "dry". I think Joplin only wrote down pedal indications when it deviates from what one would usually do (that is, one pedal each half measure). I may be wrong, but...

[neworleansrandy]

Piano rolls have a tempo setting - one wonders if whoever is pumping the piano has it on the correct setting. This does not strike me as too fast - remember, Ragtime was dance music and turn of the century dances were not necessarily slow. A nice, danceable tempo is what Joplin had in mind. One can easily two-step to this.

[WaffleAbuser]

What is the first song?

[22483511]

@WaffleAbuser First one is Fig Leaf Rag The second one The Strenuous Life

[WaffleAbuser]

@22483511

Thanks. :)

[queensbridge97]

what is that ragtime music those vaudeville guys on Family Guy???????

[WhyAyeMann]

can I get an mp3 of the first song please by any chance?

[PowerfulMindsofWomen]

WOW!

[space9888]

ORIGINAL PIANO ROLLS, this is how rag time should be played.

[MsTWEEKIE]

Who the fuck was max? This is about Joplin you fucking asshole.

[RDJunc]

Probably the best contemporary player of ragtime was Max Morath. He was a stickler for not playing too fast. Rags played with a light touch and not too fast are a delight. This video is very enjoyable. Thanks for posting.

[SapphireM]

It was a test of nerve as to how slow you could go before you got caught and still have em dancing

[goshaun1]

OK, so I am new to playting rag. How fast are you suppose to play? This seem so fast. I think Fig Leaf is better slower. How accurate are the rolls? Is it accurate to the way Joplin played his piece?

[videogamerxx]

Joplin always said don't play too fast, just play it, and if you feel like its too fast then tone it down. It's music, play it how you want to hear it.

[cajundude09]

I think it's funny how Joplin says not to play it fast, but on the piano rolls, it's pedal to the medal!

[TheMcbro]

You mean "metal to the pedal".

[pig409]

@TheMcbro No. They were right. It's pedal to the metal (press the gas pedal down to the metal car frame) as confirmed/sung by greg lake of emerson lake and palmer ("touch and go"). "Put the pedal to the metal it's touch and go......."

[SapphireM]

as fast as you need to not to get caught was the general rule

[cajundude09]

ragtime is generally not fast. Even on the actual Joplin music, he states specifically not to play it fast, but there are a few of them that actually sound horrible when played slowly, for instance, Searchlight Rag and Maple Leaf should both be played much faster than the rest.

[BlueMotion94]

I'm sorry for the bad assessment It was an accident I really loved it

xxx

[CJohnston079]

I love this piece! I still haven't learned the second strain, though.

[gordonrhcp]

go on my videos and click my favourites... i have a whole vid describing the process to manufacturing a QRS piano roll.

[gbsk12]

How do they make the original rolls?

[fordtruxdad]

They were made on "recording pianos". You can find info on them on the net, much more than I can relate here.

[prudence999]

Over the top piano....sharp, structured, and utterly delightful.

[BrasilianMusician]

The best interpretation is the PIANO ROLL interpretation.

[unklwlly]

To a Great composer!!

[BrianGriffin66]

What's the first song called?

[Chnarles]

Fig Leaf Rag. The second is The Strenuous Life.

[KawhackitaRag]

That said, Joplin IS known to have made 7 hand-played piano rolls himself: 6 for the Connorized label (Maple Leaf Rag, Weeping Willow, Ole Miss Rag, Something Doing, Pleasant Moments, and Magnetic Rag), and 1 for Aeolian's Uni-Record label (a different version of "Maple Leaf Rag"). The latest consensus of roll experts is that the Connorized rolls may have been doctored, but the Uni-Record roll represents Joplin's playing the truest.

[RinceBox]

I bet those Joplin rolls are as rare as hen's teeth and must be worth a fortune to the owner. Love to hear any of those you mention.

[KawhackitaRag]

Yes, the originals are very rare. The roll of "Pleasant Moments" is so rare that only one original has ever been found and that was just last year, I believe! Recuts (that is, new rolls that are exact copies of the old ones) of all these rolls (except "Pleasant Moments") are available from BluesTone Music Rolls in Illinois (they have a web site). Recordings of most of them are available on a couple of CDs on the Biograph label.

[KawhackitaRag]

A recut of "Pleasant Moments" was offered just a couple months after it was found. There were two versions: one an exact duplicate of the roll (hole-for-hole), the other nearly so, but with the (few) wrong notes corrected. This would probably be an editing error rather than Joplin's fault. The production run of 50 duplicate rolls sold out very quickly. I am not sure when he will be doing more but you can hear a recording of this roll on the finder's website (w-- dawt pianola dawt co dawt nz)

[k6musicteacher]

Thank-you very much for the sharing the history/information about Scott joplin. I am a life-long fan of him and his music. I visited the "Joplin House" in St. Louis and was very impressed by the history/artifacts they were able to preserve, if not the neighborhood. I was wondering if you could speak to why, after all of his life-long success, the failure of his "operetta" seemed to hit him so hard and, if you know, how debilitating his syphilis was to him later in his life? Thanks again!

[KawhackitaRag]

A roll is only definitely hand-played by someone if the label specifically states "played by _____", or "pianist, ____". Even then it is a little confusing, since a few rolls were not actually played by the pianist listed, but were "ghosted" by staff arrangers with the permission of the pianist listed. Two good examples of this are all the Ampico rolls marked "assisted" (which basically means "ghosted"), and the 1930's QRS rolls of celebrity pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson.

[KawhackitaRag]

Nice quality recording, and nice roll arrangements! I should point out that neither of these were actually played by Joplin himself, but actually were arranged on a drafting board (using the published music) by staff arrangers at the respective piano roll companies. This was confusing to early jazz and ragtime record producers, who assumed that since the rolls listed the composer but not the arranger (who was usually anonymous), that the composer had played them themselves.