Brian Holland playing Ragtime Dance

[ayaka0kawaii0girl]

いい！

[danere1]

I keep coming back to this video as it inspires me every time I'm about to sit down at the piano. Such a wonderful interpretation!

[MrGunterguerrero]

Ragtime makes me happy. Good work, Brian !

[modo501]

its not a honky tonky piano as its supposed to be for this type of music

[STEVEPRATT123]

@modo501

theres no such thing as a 'honky tonk' piano. Honky tonk is just a term used for a piano that is slightly detuned and makes a specific sound used for this kind of music :\

[amazing763]

@modo501

Ragtime is, according to some, America's own classical music. Its supposed origins in midwestern brothels on out-of-tune pianos is but a tiny portion of the flavor. The composer, Scott Joplin, had classical training, as do many practitioners of ragtime today. The late Winifred Atwell usually played ragtime on her "other" piano. Check out her Black & White Rag, and compare to other performers, other pianos. I like them all!

[allendale1962]

Brian, I have never heard of Ragtime Dance before this performance, and you did a fabulous job with it! Sincerely,Allen Dale.

[pal98111]

Fantastic. This music is so hard and he makes very smooth. Wonderful.

[WYXLR8]

Excellent, very entertaining as it was meant to be!

[cassudubelin]

That is a great playing, but it is not the original Ragtime Dance, but very nice !

[gordonrhcp]

the beginning part was ommitted in the republished version of ragtime dance. It was originally released with the beginning 2 song parts, but because this rag sold poorly, john stark (the publisher of joplin's works) decided to rearrange it and remove certain parts, in an attempt to make the piece more mainstream and marketable. The version played here, is what joplin himself played, completely unchanged by stark

[WYXLR8]

Hahaha I remember that piece. What a lot of fun it portrays.

[TheFransais]

The best version of "Ragtime dance" what I've ever heard

[gordonrhcp]

proffessional

[cichy1970]

GREAT ! GREAT ! BRAVO !!!

[snipperbes]

^^ One of my favorite Joplin pieces.

[BiohazardRus2]

whoa!

[Teigen64]

Nicely done. Thanks.

[lopytube]

the crowd is like.

Motherfu&*$# stop confusing us

1-2-3clap clap half clap.lol

[destroyblade]

I'm learning it.......very hard x') good work

[Spanovich008]

ok never mind what I said, I was wrong. That part he is playing is part of the sheet music, but the guy in the video is changing things up a lot.

[Spanovich008]

This guy is freakin amazing. I have a Scott Joplin book of rags, and when I tried playing this I was shocked at how hard it is. I can finally play it now, but this guy plays it about 1000x better

@pal0palo

That part he played in the beginning is not in the original sheet music by Scott Joplin. It is probably something that this guy made up. If you listen to it enough times, you can pick the notes and rhythms he is playing but actually learning to play that part can take some practice

[KingRat355]

Great player on Scott Joplin. Love it!

The interaction makes it so much more live.

[Eichetheking]

One of the best versions on youtube... amazing!

[lauraneville]

fabulous! Not much to say beyond that..

Thanks from kansas

[yankeewriter]

pal0palo: That intro. is most definitely part of the original rag by Scott Joplin, though it is not in "The Sting" soundtrack version that everybody's heard. If you get a copy of the Scott Joplin Piano Rags collection, you will see it as part of the original sheet music. Amazing video. I will have to find some more of this guy's recordings or just watch him if I ever go to Sedalia for the Ragtime Festival.

[pal0palo]

wat is that he is playing in the beginning? did he make that part up? bcuz i havent heard it before in the ragtime dance before....and if it is part of the song, where did he get this version? bcuz i like that beginning part....

[rtpress]

I tracked down a copy of the original sheet music from the 1902 song version of this piece and posted a link in the description area.

Howard

[KARTOFFELSALATATATAT]

@pal0palo It's the song version of the rag. The intro is meant to have a singer singing something about the dance.

[anderspil1]

"Naked man mine! rawr!"

-Ann

[TheBestRichy]

Most excellent, I should get my red book out and practice. After I listen to this (and others) I resent that I've sat on my fingers so-to-speak and let my skills wane - I want to do a complete Joplin rendition for charity (being English an American Sujourn is out of the question), I'm not practiced enough. I should use you for inspiration

[hmmmeh]

I can only envy the smoothness and clarity xD Just fantastic!

[pianopooley]

I'm still getting the hang of ragtime, I can only play 3 joplin pieces atm and I'm learning this one, and this is an inspiring performance for me, Brian is my hero *tears*. Thanks for posting!

[allendale1962]

Brian, I only WISH I could play as clean and concise as you do! But 2 strokes prevent me from 100 percent right now! I miss not being at the ragtime fests with you. Your fan, Allen Dale.

[kunus1821]

What he say?

[AurignyATR72]

He says "I'm trying to cue!".

[roflwatanoob]

time to drink :D

[panjyaA]

ジャックポット!!

[h2opolodan11]

I love this piece, hope to learn it myself sometime!

[QQWEERTTYUUI]

3:29  !!!! he's brilliant!

[adlerschatzi]

GREAT it´s so nice you´ve got great fingers

[OnlineSpellChecker]

I tried using that as a pick up line to a female pianist once......I got slapped.

[silkysausage]

Wow.

Fabulous phrasing!

Terrific stuff. The feel is tremendous.

wonderful stuff

[jechristensen]

Brian Holland is probably one of the best ragtimeplayers I have heard

Sincerely, Jesper

[giovannibattistalupi]

fantastic and clean..very rare

Bravo

[Alpenguy]

Can anyone point to a source for the introduction and original version? This one's my favorite to play and I too had no idea there was more than the standard 1906 version.

Oh yeah, and amazing performance. :)

[ragtimebuddy]

This is the 1902 song arrangement. The 1906 version was released later as a piano rag. The one performed here has lyrics. "I attended a ball last Thursday night..." begins the first strain after the vamp.

[truefaith55]

Absolutely Fantastic!

[silverdalesapphires]

Yeah the octaves in the first passage make fingering a complete bitch! Why isn't the introduction included in most copies of the RD? It keeps you waiting for the driving refrain very nicely.......

[Keeper1st]

The tune was published twice. The first publication, in 1902 I think, was the song version with those first two strains (which are not ragtime, you'll notice). The second publication, in 1906 I think, was strictly the ragtime bits without any of the lyrics printed. That version was more successful, and thus remains more prevalent to this day.

[cdexter1899]

Thanks for the information on this tune. I have always wondered why the introduction was excluded in my copy of this, my favourite Joplin tune. Do you know why the second version was more successful? I prefer the first version, myself.

[Keeper1st]

Maybe because the lyrics are nothing special, and it was perceived as a set dance piece (after the introduction, the lyrics are pretty much just dance instructions, e.g., first strain: "Let me see / You do the Rag-Time Dance / Turn left / And do the Cake-Walk Prance / Turn the other way and do the Slow Drag / Now take your lady to the World's Fair / And do the Rag-Time Dance") -- not something your average home pianist would be purchasing. The music has instructions for the dancers too.

[quodlibette]

Another one where there's a whole section I didn't know about! Loved the interaction with the audience. Some of us (it isn't just me, is it? Please?) have to weigh taking repeats against our dwindling hand strength and softening tendons or by the end of the piece we're just flailing away at clusters of notes.

But he had strength to spare.

[Lukeman247]

i really liked the into. awesome performance. i wish that i could play like that.

[samuso86]

well played! first of many i am about to watch!

[clemspaw]

Excellent!