Ragtime music became widely popular in the United States around 1890’s through the 1900’s and was a precursor to Jazz. Ragtime is a musical genre that is composed for the piano typically in a duple meter. It contained a syncopated lead, which is played with the right hand, played over a rhythmically steady bass. The composition of Ragtime usually consists of three or four contrasting sections and each of these sections are either in 16 or 32 measures in length (History of Ragtime). Syncopation is the upsetting of beat by changing the accent to either a weak beat or an offbeat. Syncopation occurs by moving the beat ahead or behind where it is expects it to be. This loosens up the music and gives the …show more content…
Louis, Missouri, along with his two students, Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden, as well as his publisher John Stark (Trout). While in St. Louis, Joplin composes several musical pieces, such as “Cleopha” in 1902, which is a march and two step, Ragtime musical piece “Elite Syncopations” in 1902, and the well-known piece called “The Entertainer,” a Ragtime and two step form, which he composed in 1902. Through these compositions, Joplin gains popularity, praise and respect, however he was not fully recognized by the white society. His time in St. Louis was successful, however the same could not be said about his private life. During his time in St. Louis, Joplin’s wife, Bella Jones, gave birth to a child who shortly later passed away which assisted in the divorce of the two in 1903