Scott Joplin - Magnetic Rag

Me playing Scott Joplin's Magnetic Rag on my parents' Knabe baby grand piano. This was his final published piece (in 1914), and while not as widely known as The Entertainer or Maple Leaf, it's my very favorite Joplin rag.

I'm a self-taught hobby ragtime player (and pretty camera-shy), so please excuse the mistakes (although I do get a rousing cheer from Mom, which you'll hear at the end). Thanks Mom!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Scott
• Joplin
• Magnetic
• Rag
• ragtime
• piano

[vladinho7]

Vey well played, you are a brilliant pianist. What is the difficulty of this rag?

[ouirv]

@vladinho7 — Thanks so much for your very kind comment. I have heard that Magnetic Rag is supposedly fairly difficult to play, but despite that fact that I am a terrible reader and take forever to learn new pieces, it was actually easier to learn that I expected. I feel that I'm able to play it better than anything else in my tiny repertoire.

[lisaviktorya]

You've got some kick in your playing, which I'd like to see more of! I adore this song and am in the middle of learning it.... good job! :)

[ouirv]

Thanks very much Lisa. I really do like playing this with some "bounce" in it - just sounds right to my ear. I hope you have a great time learning it, since it's so much fun to play.

[Pianoman1770]

very very impressive! i think this song was published in 1917 (plz correct me if im wrong!). I wish i could play that rag like that! keep it up!

[ouirv]

Thank you (and everyone else) for so many nice comments. Everything I can find about this piece indicates that it was published in 1914, so I'm pretty sure I got the year right.

Joplin died in April, 1917 at only 49 or 50, after a somewhat long illness. What a shame his career was cut short so soon after creating such great work like Magnetic. Makes me think of Mozart or the Beatles... we'll never know what fantastic work might have been created with just a few more years.

[PTR131]

I refuse to believe this music was only played in brothels, it is too good for that.

[PeteraBunny]

Awesome playing! :D You have inspired me to make this the 3rd ragtime song I will eventually play in my lifetime. I'm still working on my first favorite right now, yup, Entertainer: Then Ragtime Dance and then this (thanks to you)! Keep it up. :3

[PianoFreak1994]

Its so beautiful! But here in youtube theres nowhere a tutorial...:D

[sonomabob]

Nice left hand.

[voiceguy100]

Very nice!! I have played guitar for 25 years and now I want a piano!!

[Thunkful2]

@vladinho7

IMHO the difficulty w/ the rag is to play it w/ great sensitivity, use of rubato, & bringing out the underlying pathos which lies beneath a superficial smile on top.

[Somuchcooleronline1]

@Mauvegroove: Lucky you. I'm unfortunately(?) exactly the opposite.

[Mauvegroove]

i'm currently learning this, and your rendition has been invaluable to the process :D thanks very much! absolutely fabulous playing, by the way!

i see we share a similar playing style - not so hot on the sight reading, but can recite things from memory without breaking a sweat. i'm yet to decide whether this is a blessing or a curse! :P

[Kakabeblen]

Well done, and you managed to pull some nice sound out of a baby grand, which usualy sounds quite bad.

I'm learning that rag myself now =) Of all of Joplin's rags this is among the hardest ones.

I enjoyed listening!

[tacsandamps]

Well done Ouirv, you are as good as I knew you would be. Lol Daphne

[ninni660]

best part 0:55 - 1:42 :D... love it