Scott Joplin The Entertainer and Pine Apple Rag

Hi Michael,

Will Rogers surely had his tongue stuck far back in his cheek when he said he never met a man he didn't like. But I have never met a Joplin I didn't like, and I think I've met them all, from the earliest march and waltz through Tremonisha.

I think he is among the great melodists. My wife taught me that. When she was not playing the orchestra reduction of a Mozart flute concerto for me, or accompaniment to other things I enjoyed playing on the flute, she played Joplin. When my flute quit, she played Joplin almost exclusively, and I always thought I was hearing melody in her playing that wasn't so apparent in the same pieces on tapes and CDs I had. Once when I was playing "Weeping Willow," she asked, dryly, if that was Willow in a Wind Storm, or somesuch, that I was playing, and it became apparent. Joplin is often played way too fast, as you said and Joplin did, too.

I think it may be because there are some pieces, like "Maple Leaf Rag," that seem designed for speed. But if you slow something like "Weeping Willow" down, you begin to hear melody, which becomes more lyrical the more you slow it. I suppose the proper tempo is just above the point where it seems to drag rather than sing. I'm afraid, though, that I've been trained by so much listening to the usual tempi, that when it came to using rag-like sections in a piano concerto and a symphony, I reverted this-ought-to-be-pretty-fast mind set.

These are interesting arrangements. I wonder why the doubling of pianos, though I suppose it provides a fuller sound.

Enjoyed Lisa with all her fur. I think Beethoven would have, too. It is an especially well worked out piece.

all best,
mgj