My own "Morgan Hill Rag" as played by me (sort of)

I hand-played each part until I got it right, then quantized and pasted the good bits together, and copied bits for repeated motifs and strains. So that's why it's "sort of" hand-played. I don't have the skill to play anything flawlessly in one shot.

So anyway, here is my "sort of hand-played" performance of Morgan Hill Rag, which I composed in 2007. This is one of the few rags of mine that was written without a title in mind ahead of time. Two weeks after composing this, I remembered that I had wanted to write a rag for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the town of Morgan Hill, California, where I had been living. But that was in 2006, so I was a year late. Nevertheless, I thought the folksy feel of this rag made it suitable to be named after the town. The town itself was named after a man whose ranch happened to be near where the Union Pacific train station was built in the late 19th century -- thus people referred to it as Morgan Hill's station, since that was less of a mouthful than the area's official name at the time: Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche.

Thanks to Chip Lusby for allowing me to hear my MIDI file on his PianoDisc-equipped piano.

You can also watch a video of Tom Brier playing this rag here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y5x3dJjyn0

You can download the sheet music here: http://www.keeper1st.com/mhillrag.pdf

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ragtime
• piano
• rag
• folk rag
• morgan hill
• california
• 2007
• pianodisc

[amazing763]

Nice rag, but Tom's rendition is superior, of course.

[Keeper1st]

@amazing763 Definitely!

[HotRagEmma]

Really nice tune! Thank you for sharing the sheet music. I like the sadness in it (if that's the correct word - maybe it is the same as "cotton field rag flavor" Ragmate wrote about).

[Keeper1st]

@HotRagEmma I think she was referring to Cottonfield Capers by Wm. Christopher O'Hare. It has the same melancholy feel to it, which is the very folk-rag sound I was going for with this one.

[Quartrez]

Your piano is possessed D:

[HotRagEmma]

@Keeper1st Ok. It was the melancholy feel/folk-rag sound I meant :) But I have a lack in my English vocabulary :D Lovely rag anyway! You succeeded with getting the sound you were going for.

[Ragmate]

Great one, Ron. It has the flavor of Cotton Field Rag..I can hear banjo strumming in the A section.

[AceWissle]

Love it! <3

This is my favorite rag of yours ^^

[HjalmarGuitarMaster]

cool!!!