The record changer (Jan-Dec 1944)

^mi ROY CAREW PVT. DON E. FOWLER the method of playing "Joplin ragtime" so as to produce the proper effect and to get the benefit of his harmonizing, as well as to give the rags the "weird and intoxicating effect" intended by the composer. First published by Joplin himself, these exercises were later published by Stark Music Publishing and Printing Company. Joseph F. Lamb, composer of Sensation, has several high class rags to his credit, all published by the Stark firm. He lived in New York, and this number was the first to appear in the Stark catalog. Incidentally, Lamb's Sensation is not to be confused with Sensation by Edwards, recorded by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and other groups, which number originated around NewOrleans in the old days. The year 1909 was another prolific year for Joplin, six ragtime numbers being published in that year by the Seminary Music Company, the New York firm which published most of his compositions in the East. The 1909 compositions are Paragon Rag, Jl 'all Street Rag, Country Club, Pleasant Moments, Solace and Euphonic Sounds, all good numbers and extremely varied in style. Paragon is a very good rag which, while not in any way an imitation, is reminiscent of two of Joplin's earlier rags ; with the exception of a measure or two, the bass of the first part of Paragon can be switched with that of Weeping Willozv, a 1903 rag published by Val A. Reis Music Company, while in the second part of Paragon Joplin uses a figure which appears in a slightly different form in his Palm Leaf Rag published in Chicago in 1903. Wall Street Rag was inspired by the financial center of the country, and each part of the piece is labelled with a descriptive title, depicting a financial cycle from a melancholy opening with brokers depressed due to a panic, through improving times into good times, with the brokers finally forgetting their troubles while listening to the strains of "genuine negro ragtime." And indeed, the last part should make anyone forget his cares, since it is a real jazz part. Country Club, a ragtime two step, cannot be classed with Joplin's best, being more simple with no outstanding features. Pleasant Moments, a ragtime waltz, was Joplin's second composition in that style, the first being Bcthcna, A Concert Waltz, published in 1905 in St. Louis. Ragtime waltzes didn't seem to "catch on," and we do not recall any such numbers that ever got popular, although there were some good ragtime waltzes written. Solace, A Mexican Serenade, is a very fine number with a Maxican bass movement and syncopated treble ; each part of the composition is excellent, and it demonstrates that Joplin was also master of the Mexican or Spanish movement. However, this fact would lend no weight to the old theory that ragtime was derived from Spanish beginnings, for Solace was preceded by about fifty other compositions by Joplin that had no such movement. Euphonic Sounds, A Syncopated Novelty, is indeed just that. It is a little on the difficult side, and the ordinary player would need some time to get it properly ; the Starks would probably have described it as "Joplinese throughout," and we suspect that Joplin himself thought considerable of it, for it carries his photograph on the title page. In 1910 were published the Pine Apple Rag song, and Stop-time Rag, a very characteristic number well described by the name. Stoptimc is a worthy successor to the stoptime parts of The Ragtime Dance, published some years earlier byJohn Stark & Son. However, Stoptime Rag is entirely instrumental, with only one part in stoptime. It is probable that these stoptime numbers were inspired originally by the old buck and wing dances that were so popular on the stage about half a century ago. In 1911 only one rag was published, Felicity Rag, written in collaboration with Scott Hayden, and about all that need be said about it is that it is a good rag, but not up to the Sunflower Slow Rag by the same writers. It was in 1911 that Trcemonisha, a ragtime opera in three acts, was published. Treemonisha was Joplin's most ambitious undertaking, and was really a pretentious effort. We do not know if he tried to get any of the large companies (Continued on page 48)