The Maple Leaf Rag - Scott Joplin QRS-Connorized Roll Lauter-Humana Player Piano

Here is the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin(1868?-1917) on a guaranteed Hand Played QRS-Connorized Record Roll, played on a Lauter-Humana Player Piano. The player piano's heyday lasted from 1900 to the Depression in the1930's. Affordable radios started becoming commonplace in 1927. In 1932, not a single player piano was shipped from the factories. Player pianos sounded much better than radio or the Edison mechanical phonographs of that era. Player pianos were expensive but families who had them enjoyed the musical talents of the best pianists of the day. The poverty of the Great Depression effectively ended player piano production. Uncounted thousands of these instruments were chopped up and used for fuel.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lauter
• Humana
• Scott
• Joplin
• Maple
• Leaf
• Rag
• Player
• Piano
• Ragtime

[Eddy2730]

You've got one thing right. Scott Joplin was born in 1868.

[victrolaman]

@Eddy2730 That's wonderful. Glad you could confirm the Birthdate !! Thanks for watching and critiquing the description.

Victrolaman

[CandleFlameFilms]

Is there any way I can get a proper recording of this song? You say that it was recorded but Joplin himself, and since he died in 1917, that means that this recording is public domain, since it predates 1922. Is there any way I can get a recording from you of this particular "scroll"? I could definitely use it for a movie I'm working on!

[muzzlefartface]

nice piano victrolaman.

[TheMmesser]

Interesting! There a re also some wonderful piano rolls cut by the great composer/pianist Rachminoff in the 1920's/ It is eerie to here the composer actually playing the music

[KawhackitaRag]

@KawhackitaRag PLAYER PIANOS (the regular, foot-pumped variety) are great not only for singing along, excercise, power outages (no electricity needed) and learning tunes (by slowing the roll down and following the keys), but they also teach you about expression and dynamics if you have a well-restored player and some classical rolls. You can listen to classical recordings and then try to duplicate the dynamics, rubato, etc. on the player, and it will teach you a lot about music in general.

[KawhackitaRag]

P.S. this is a good roll, but I agree with Lucius, the arrangement was altered in the 1950s or 1960s and an inappropriate swing feel was added which is totally absent from the original Connorized roll (although I do believe there are Connorized rolls contemporary with the Joplin rolls, but played by others, that DO have a sort of swing feel).

If you want the best copy possible of the rare original Connorized roll, try Rob DeLand's recut on the BluesTone Music Rolls label.

[KawhackitaRag]

You should mention that people are still chopping up and junking old player pianos today, even in good condition, and that anyone who wants one will find PLENTY to be had for the GIVING AWAY! That doesn't mean your piano is worthless (or that the other ones are, either), it just means that people don't appreciate what they have. A player piano is also a REAL PIANO that can be PLAYED BY HAND just like a regular piano, and so one can get one and (as long as it's restored) not need two pianos.

[Lucius1958]

Unfortunately, this roll is not exactly a faithful reproduction of Joplin's playing.

I've heard the original Connorized roll on the Biograph label discs, and Joplin actually played it more 'straight'; apparently when QRS re-issued it, they altered the tempo to make it more 'jazzy' - hence those unequal notes.

[Eddy2730]

@victrolaman *Chuckles* Fancy an Englishman (me) knowing something like that from the top of his head! (No offence intended, though).