Joplin Rags

You can also find us here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283461 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=665347 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=845040 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=284537 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=889172 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=832748 http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=901487 If you have ever wanted to play the music of Scott Joplin, this is the book for you. Here you will find eight superb selections of ragtime music by Scott Joplin. These pieces are also well suited to the guitar. They are great for concerts, gigs or just for your own pleasure. These eight concert rags are not the most famous, but they are absolutely beautiful. From the Silver Swan Rag which has hints of "Tchaikovsky," to the well-known "Easy Winners," you will find this collection invaluable. These pieces are optimistic and elegant, syncopated and lyrical. I believe they will become a permanent part of your repertoire. The CD which is included, has all the rags in order in which they appear in the book. The music is presented in notation only. Scott Joplin (circa 1868 - 1917) Simply put, Scott Joplin was a genius. One only has to listen to his compositions to hear the rich harmonies, the sophisticated modulations and the sparking syncopation. When I hear his music the first thoughts that come to me are stunning and original. His music is not predictable, which is something that you cannot say about much of the other ragtime music. When I started arranging rags, I looked to other composers also, but I could not find any that I liked anywhere near as much as I liked Scott Joplin. There are many of his rags that I love that are not in this collection, and for a very good reason. They are either impossible or extremely difficult to play on the guitar. Part of making a good arrangement of a piece is making an arrangement that is playable, one that will flow. So although I love "Maple Leaf Rag," the range is just too great for the guitar, and that is the same problem with "Gladiolus Rag." I love Bethena and Magnetic Rag and I arranged both of them for guitar, but I did not include them in this collection because I can't play them. Although the pieces in this collection are challenging, they are playable. They will take work, but with time you will be able to play them. They are great exercise for octaves, thirds and chords. Scott Joplin's rags are also a musical adventure. I chose these pieces because of their beauty and their playability. The challenge in arranging them of course is to keep as much of the original sound as one can, while still making them accessible on the instrument. The piano is always playing chords or octaves in the bass which wouldn't work well on the guitar because it would sound very heavy. It would also be very awkward even if you did want to play it, so we use single basses in most cases. When choosing the basses, there is of course a certain amount of flexibility. In Felicity Rag (the third page, second line, last measure) the choice of bass notes lead to a very nice imitation of the melody which I admit was not there originally, but which works extremely well. The Ragtime Era was from about 1895 to 1920. Scott Joplin was there to usher it in, and also to see it to its end. We all have a debt to him for the beautiful music that he has created. I hope these arrangements will make his music available to more musicians. If you want to know more about Scott Joplin, I suggest you visit www.scottjoplin.org. If you are a fan of ragtime and would like to hear some modern examples, be sure to listen to William Bolcolm's music, especially "The Graceful Ghost." This book is dedicated to my lovely wife Aleksandra, who dances to the music, encourages me and is the light of my life. She is the best. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. We are a great team and work well together. Aleksandra plays mandolin, writes and is a wonderful artist. She has created the lovely drawing of Scott Joplin on the cover. Special thanks to Steve Bonczkowski who was the catalyst for me to do this project, and to Andrew Gordon and Ron Ray who keep us going and enthusiastically support our creative endeavors. Allan Alexander

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