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RagtimePiano.Net
Presents
The Great American
Ragtime Revival
Album Notes
Ragtime, which stands for "Ragged" time,
is an American syncopated style of piano music that was played predominantly between
1880 and 1920. Ragtime contains elements of Classical, Blues, Dixieland, Gospel, and Jazz
music. Some of its major proponents (e.g. Scott Joplin) were in fact classically trained
musicians. Ragtime underwent a large resurgence of popularity during the 1970's when
'The Entertainer' by Scott Joplin was featured in the movie The Sting. While Joplin was
the most prolific of the Ragtime Writers and is generally recognized as the King of Ragtime,
there are other equally inspired Ragtime Composers such as James Scott, Tom Turpin and
Joseph Lamb whose works are also featured on this CD. Sound effects have been added both
within and between pieces in order to make the listening experience more entertaining. The
effects used generally relate to the title of the song. For example, Victory Rag, which was
composed by James Scott to celebrate the end of World War I, contains cheering crowds,
marching men, mechanized vehicles, jet fighters, and a twenty one gun salute, all of which
are implied in the music. Aside from enjoying Ragtime, this CD provides a great background
atmosphere for parties, movies, PBS specials, and most other occasions. Creating a CD of
this nature is a partnership between technology, performing artist, and engineer. To this end I
would like to thank Brian Harding for doing an outstanding job of engineering and critiquing
this project. Also thanks to Richie Cannata for coordinating our efforts, and to the other folks
at Cove City Studios who made the production of this CD a truly enjoyable Ragtime experience.
Ralph Press,
RagtimePiano.net
©2010 RagtimePiano.net
