tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post809712977321861207..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: Musical Interlude: Ragtime PianoAlways On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-7422099031261735482016-07-26T08:24:56.734-05:002016-07-26T08:24:56.734-05:00Um, link between Ragtime and Boogie Woogie.Um, link between Ragtime and Boogie Woogie.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-47984344961896093832016-07-26T08:24:20.967-05:002016-07-26T08:24:20.967-05:00Jez,
Interesting!
It looks as if there is room fo...Jez,<br />Interesting!<br /><br />It looks as if there is room for debate as to the <i>link between Joplin and Tatum [jazz]</i>.<br /><br />I'm not a big fan of jazz, but tend to love Ragtime.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-56861576812580217172016-07-26T08:01:25.750-05:002016-07-26T08:01:25.750-05:00I dunno Tatum that well (I admire him, but I get m...I dunno Tatum that well (I admire him, but I get more pleasure from less ornamental playing), but I think the line back to Joplin can be drawn. Tatum definitely played rags (it was his "Tiger Rag" that inspired a young Oscar Peterson, whom I love, to redouble his efforts), and he was a notable practitioner of stride (which grew from rag). Of course there were many influences and mastered many styles, so there are many such lines which we could choose to emphasise, but I don't think you can credibly deny that this line exists.<br /><br />Here's a pleasing bit of stride which might serve as a missing link between Joplin and Tatum<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiWNBpnJfr8<br /><br />I've only been talking about technique, but the more interesting side of the question is, might Tatum have been more taken with Joplin's lyrical qualities than with his keyboard style?jeznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-92068575827043941742016-07-25T05:37:46.706-05:002016-07-25T05:37:46.706-05:00Duck,
I daresay that FT knows more about music and...Duck,<br />I daresay that FT knows more about music and musicology than you do.<br /><br />Besides, he's "Old School" by deliberate choice -- and extensive musical training.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-73942630370916960502016-07-24T20:29:56.198-05:002016-07-24T20:29:56.198-05:00Oh my, FreeThinke is on the warpath, look out he&#...Oh my, FreeThinke is on the warpath, look out he's going to blow.<br /><br />For some reason he doesn't think the Harlem stride style didn't influence Tatum and he had no contact with stride players like Fats Waller or Willie Smith and in turn that stride style was partially rooted in ragtime.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-9718130073106395852016-07-24T17:01:14.894-05:002016-07-24T17:01:14.894-05:00FreeThinke rag dolled that duck real good!FreeThinke rag dolled that duck real good!Fingers McGeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-21608614042247410362016-07-24T15:58:05.677-05:002016-07-24T15:58:05.677-05:00...cuz you ain't gotta thing if it don't h......cuz you ain't gotta thing if it don't have <a href="https://youtu.be/ipvEIZMMILA" rel="nofollow">that swing</a>!-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-51375269209925825962016-07-24T14:45:45.716-05:002016-07-24T14:45:45.716-05:00ZING! Way to singe that quacker's tail feathe...ZING! Way to singe that quacker's tail feathers!Fannie Finocchionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-37112929117486130402016-07-24T14:15:09.438-05:002016-07-24T14:15:09.438-05:00FT,
I agree with Rifkin that the music of Joplin i...FT,<br />I agree with Rifkin that the music of Joplin isn't like the flashy Ragtime that came later. Joplin cautioned against the allegro playing of his compositions. I suspect that he favored phrasing -- although probably not to the level of Arpin's renditions. <br /><br />But the rest of that Wiki entry? WHAT A LOAD!Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-25431545600123651242016-07-24T12:48:27.470-05:002016-07-24T12:48:27.470-05:00Joshua Rifkin, a leading Joplin recording artist, ...<b>Joshua Rifkin, a leading Joplin recording artist, wrote, <i>"A pervasive sense of lyricism infuses his work, and even at his most high-spirited, he cannot repress a hint of melancholy or adversity ... He had little in common with the fast and flashy school of ragtime that grew up after him."</i><br /><br />Joplin historian Bill Ryerson adds that, <i>"In the hands of authentic practitioners like Joplin, ragtime was a disciplined form capable of astonishing variety and subtlety ... Joplin did for the rag what Chopin did for the mazurka. His style ranged from tones of torment to stunning serenades that incorporated the bolero and the tango."</i> <br /><br />Biographer Susan Curtis wrote that Joplin's music had helped to <i>"...revolutionise American music and culture" by removing Victorian restraint."</i></b><br /><br />~ WIKI<br /><br />This in my estimation is pompous, fallacious balderdash dreamt up to aggrandize the reputations of those promoting a politically tendentious, hoked up view of reality.<br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-68150979802778978472016-07-24T12:31:35.957-05:002016-07-24T12:31:35.957-05:00FT,
Oh so long ago, I had a cousin who won piano c...FT,<br />Oh so long ago, I had a cousin who won piano contest after piano contest in boogie woogie. Benny Goodman offered her a job, but she turned him down because she had found the love of her life and decided not to pursue a career in music. She settled down and reared their children. No regrets, either.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-88372675656154276952016-07-24T12:24:28.930-05:002016-07-24T12:24:28.930-05:00Well, I was impressed by the piano player, Ethan L...Well, I was impressed by the piano player, Ethan Leinwand, playing in a Brooklyn piano bar. Had never heard of him before. And he doesn't have a lot of views on YouTube either. Waylonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533895509055020394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-19007297034492003682016-07-24T12:21:13.040-05:002016-07-24T12:21:13.040-05:00FT,
I don't recall Joplin's story having b...FT,<br />I don't recall Joplin's story having been used during the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps it <b>was</b>, and I don't recall. <br /><br />Has anyone attempted <i>to elevate his achievements to those of "America's Answer to Franz Schubert"</i>? If so, I missed that.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-55999725329873703972016-07-24T12:18:52.286-05:002016-07-24T12:18:52.286-05:00It's all in the tempo... ;)It's <a href="https://youtu.be/4OFqzQ6oJbk" rel="nofollow">all in the tempo</a>... ;)Joe Cameltoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18189167962738394522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-14327915540801771262016-07-24T11:19:41.086-05:002016-07-24T11:19:41.086-05:00FT,
If I'm not mistaken, Joplin died of syphil...FT,<br />If I'm not mistaken, Joplin died of syphilitic dementia. He did have a nervous breakdown, which might have been caused by rhe syphilis (not congenital syphilis). Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-17523285421417826322016-07-24T11:05:13.348-05:002016-07-24T11:05:13.348-05:00YES! And Arpin plays the phrases AS phrases, in ot...YES! And Arpin plays the phrases AS phrases, in other words he BREATHES with the music, and adds graceful nuances unlike most of the other Ragtime pianists who play on a mono-dynamic level with a relentless, mechanical, unvarying, machinelike, almost robotic approach.<br /><br />In short Arpin plays MUSICALLY.<br /><br />It's a shame his life was cut tragically short by cancer. But then Scott Joplin's life was cut short too –– probably by heartbreak at being forced to life in the dismal, septic environment he inhabited. FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-2249800113814088482016-07-24T09:51:28.207-05:002016-07-24T09:51:28.207-05:00That's BOOGIE-WOOGIE, Waylon. More related to ...That's BOOGIE-WOOGIE, Waylon. More related to JAZZ than RAGTIME. Boogie was all the rage when I was a little boy. I couldn't wait to learn something called BUMBLE BOOGIE, a flamboyant example of the genre very popular at the time. It was very challenging from the standpoint of piano technique. <br /><br />Definitely not for amateurs, though many tried it.<br /><br />FUN STUFF!FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-11614912276145131072016-07-24T09:43:57.813-05:002016-07-24T09:43:57.813-05:00Your superficial bandying about of bits and pieces...Your superficial bandying about of bits and pieces of acquired knowledge in an attempt to sound "erudite" is absolutely absurd, Canardo. <br /><br />The most irritating thing about you is not your incessant sneering or perverse, highly destructive, anti-American politics, rather it's the way you brazenly POSE as a person with superior knowledge and refined sensibilities when in fact you often don't have the faintest idea what you are taking about.<br /><br />You may take my word as a qualified expert with three degrees in the field that ART TATUM, one of the greatest piano virtuosi who ever lived –– whose pianistic facility has been considered by many noted classical pianists superior to that of Vladimir Horowitz –– drew little or no inspiration from Scott Joplin. <br /><br />Tatum was a JAZZ artist of great renown. His achievements were so remarkable they actually bridged the gap between "Classical Music" and Jazz. For extreme cleverness and sheer brilliance of execution Art Tatum had no equal.<br /><br />I have tremendous respect for Jazz –– a great, uniquely-American art form which –– unlike Ragtime, which is rhythmically square, painfully limited harmonically, and typically played at one dynamic level with rigid rhythmic inflexibility, little or no modulation, and without nuance or melodic inflection –– Jazz provides virtually unlimited possibilities for development, growth and expansion that emerged almost entirely from the American Black community. Debussy, Ravel, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein were heavily indebted to it, and openly grateful for it.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-57556454438357514362016-07-24T09:15:18.342-05:002016-07-24T09:15:18.342-05:00Oh yes, I knew about "Treemonisha." It ...Oh yes, I knew about "Treemonisha." It didn't succeed at first, because as an opera it just wan't much good. Its value lies in being a Musicological Curiosity to music historians and American History buffs in general. <br /><br />The Sting was THE main reason the American Public ever became aware of Scott Joplin and –– fleetingly –– interested in Ragtime music. The publication of E. L. Doctorow's depressing novel <i>called</i> Ragtime was another.<br /><br />In my highly-educated opinion the Liberal Media establishment PUSHED Scott Joplin primarily because he was a NEGRO. Treemonisha very likely would never have seen the light of day again after its initial failure , if Scott Joplin's story had not been politically useful to the Civil Rights Movement.<br /><br />I don't dislike piano rags, BUT –– based on objective, purely <i>musical</i> criteria the attempt to equate the phenomenon with High Art is ludicrous.<br /><br />Joplin was an unusually gifted man, who might have achieved a great deal more than he did, if he had not been held captive to racism and a painfully limited cultural background.<br /><br />The attempt to elevate his achievements to those of "America's Answer to Franz Schubert," etc. is politically motivated poppycock at best. It's NONSENSE.<br /><br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-13612195885671406932016-07-24T07:00:04.462-05:002016-07-24T07:00:04.462-05:00Great choice. Haven't heard a good piece of ra...Great choice. Haven't heard a good piece of rag in years.Bunkervillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14427978686579892380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-34280042619380920672016-07-24T04:09:55.945-05:002016-07-24T04:09:55.945-05:00FT,
Excellent!
Unlike so many pianists, Arpin doe...FT,<br />Excellent!<br /><br />Unlike so many pianists, Arpin doesn't rush the tempo.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-64429181443484829962016-07-24T02:39:38.300-05:002016-07-24T02:39:38.300-05:00I highly recommend this performance of Easy Winner...I highly recommend this performance of Easy Winners by Canadian Ragtime pianist John Arpin. <br /><br />https://youtu.be/ikA5ciTwT3sFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-24792928403066621742016-07-23T21:21:18.805-05:002016-07-23T21:21:18.805-05:00Who says an education in a whorehouse is of little...Who says an education in a whorehouse is of little value?<br />:)Ed Bonderenkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03724552853113809036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-75788451423822737052016-07-23T16:03:28.914-05:002016-07-23T16:03:28.914-05:00FT,
Did you know that Joplin wrote an opera named ...FT,<br />Did you know that Joplin wrote an opera named <i>Treemonisha</i>? It didn't success in NYC during Joplin's life but was apparently quite the rage after the film <i>The Sting</i>, which revived Joplin's music in the latter part of the 20th Century.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-39734315879697717062016-07-23T16:01:21.669-05:002016-07-23T16:01:21.669-05:00Joplin was the maestro of Ragtime music. I find h...Joplin was the maestro of Ragtime music. I find his Rags much more difficult to play than the other Rags I've attempted. I'm particularly fond of Joplin's "Elite Syncopations" and "Swipsey."Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.com