That "Hand-Played" Rag, played by Tom Brier

This unusual rag dates from 1914, composed and published by David H. Silverman and Arthur R. Ward. Unfortunately I cannot find any online archive that has a free copy of it despite it being in the public domain. It can be found in the books "Ragtime Rarities" and "All-American Ragtime vol. 3". Maybe I'll scan it and put it online. It's very interesting to look at!

Here it is played by Tom Brier at the 2011 West Coast Ragtime Festival, during a set in which everything he played had a title beginning with the word "That".

The term "Hand-Played" was used on player-piano rolls to refer to arrangements that started out by a pianist playing on a "marking piano" which drew lines on a scrolling sheet of paper as the pianist played. Then, in many cases, an editor would add octaves or other additional notes in some cases to help flesh out the piece and make it sound more interesting on the final cut roll -- particularly on standard "88-note" rolls for instruments that could not reproduce the dynamics in a performance (i.e. whether notes were soft or loud).

Today, I use the term "hand-played" to refer to MIDI files which were created by live-sequencing a performance on a MIDI keyboard, as opposed to MIDI files which were programmed.

Visit the West Coast Ragtime Festival site: http://www.westcoastragtime.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ragtime
• piano
• rag
• pianist
• Yamaha
• grand
• 1914
• Silverman & Ward
• Missouri Rag

[Keeper1st]

@pianolaunderground Yeah, I've always figured that those runs that go from 32nds to 16th-triplets were meant to be slowed down gradually, and likewise the 16ths to 32nd-quintuplets were meant to be sped up gradually -- all as a way of doing something that they couldn't possibly do on a piano roll at the time.

[Keeper1st]

@WormyLeWorm (Reply isn't working tonight.) It's unusual in many ways, which are more evident when looking at the music. There's a run of notes with several held until a chord is played (not quite an arpeggio as there's a lot of unheld passing tones). The second strain doesn't have a march rhythm. A lot of slowly sped-up or slowed-down runs, written using triplets and quintuplets. There are those 32nd-note descending runs. The third strain has a very striking, strange chord sequence.

[75egcg]

Tom Brier cured my heart disease.

[bitchslapper12]

@steinwaygrande1 If you tie his hand he would use his other hand.

[pianolaunderground]

Nobody, absolutely ZERO nobody ever gets the musical joke in this rag at all. The rag is written in the first years of hand-played standard rolls commenced in 1912. The problems were quantization errors giving jerky rhythm. To smooth errors they were clueless & many companies slowed the music and elongated all notes turning snappy hand-playing into salonesque fare. The writers are taking the piss out of hand-played ballad, accompaniment, and also dance rolls. In 2012 the joke is totally lost...

[WormyLeWorm]

Could you explain what's specifically unusual about it? I'm sure I could notice some things if I listened in more detail, but I'm certain you have more knowledge of the style.

[steinwaygrande1]

I reckon if you blindfolded Tom, tied his hand behind his back, he could play this with his toes.:-)))) Is there anyitng he cant play outside of a piano. Great stuff Tom

[Xyteran]

Great performance, as usual. Thanks for sharing!

[DarkDemonWolf76]

hey...I figured out where all the hair on his head went! HIS AWESOME BEARD...thing •-•