Red Pepper: A Spicy Rag played by Tom Brier

A request from LudwigVonKoopa64, here is Tom playing this Henry Lodge number from 1910.

It took a while for him to remember how it goes, but I knew he had played it with the Raspberry Jam Band, so thought he'd remember it eventually, which he did. I can't edit video from my new camera, so you have to suffer through the brainstorming bits at the beginning.

You can download the sheet music here:
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/sheetmusic.pl?RagRedPepper&Rag&a...

This was at the Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium at the end of the July 2010 meeting of the Mother Lode Ragtime Society.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ragtime
• piano
• pianist
• two-step
• witmark

[stuartsa]

What is more amazing to me than Tom's hands is the fact that he did not need any more memory-jogging than that about the first strain and introduction.

[Keeper1st]

@stuartsa I've witnessed this phenomenon with a few pianists. As soon as they remember how a piece starts, the rest just comes flowing out!

[Henry1993bc]

@Keeper1st its very peculiar, especially with songs ive memorised, you get to the point where you can instantly play it with both hands, but when you try to play the same song with only one hand it is almost impossible to instinctively play it

[Keeper1st]

@Henry1993bc Yeah, it's like how I can play the Maple Leaf Rag, but when I was asked to play only the bass parts with two hands, I couldn't. Because I have not memorized it musically -- only from memory of hand positions, I couldn't translate the chords into my right hand when I'm used to playing them with the left.

[KawhackitaRag]

Watch his hands near the very end... it looks sped-up, but it's not!!!!

8^O

[Keeper1st]

@KawhackitaRag Andrew, did you see "More of the Amazing Hands of Tom Brier" that I made a few years ago? I took a clip of the end of "Redneck Rag" and played it half speed. It looks normal! Then I play it at regular speed and it totally looks like fast-forward. It's bizarre!

[Pianoflage]

This video inspired me to learn this rag. I try play it in a style similar to Tom, but I can't match the blistering speed and bravado that he plays with in the final strain. Wonderful rag!

[dunnsrestoration]

tom plays this just as well as my player piano does.. very cool indeed!!

[KawhackitaRag]

Wow, Tom's adding a lot to this rag, and he makes it sound great!!!

This is the way ragtime SHOULD be played!!!!

[Keeper1st]

@fr3d420 I shot over 50 videos this weekend at the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, including a fair number of Tom on Yamaha and Steinway grand pianos. The hard part is going to be deciding which should be posted first...