Pineapple Rag

Description

Pineapple Rag

The “Pineapple Rag”  is a ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin’s works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. As a result Joplin was called the “King of Ragtime”. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.

Ragtime is a musical genre that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1918. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated, or “ragged”, rhythm. The genre has its origins in African-American communities like St. Louisyears before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Ernest Hogan (1865–1909) was a pioneer of ragtime music and was the first to compose ragtime into sheet music. The composition was called “LA Pas Ma LA” and it was released in 1895. Hogan has also been credited for coining the term ragtime. The term is actually derived from his hometown “Shake Rag” in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ben Harney, who is also a Kentucky native has often been credited for introducing the music to the mainstream public. His first ragtime composition “You’ve been a good old wagon but you done broke” helped popularize the musical genre. The composition was published in 1895 but released in 1896. Ragtime was also a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. Ragtime composer Scott Joplin (ca. 1868–1917) became famous through the publication of the “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) and a string of ragtime hits such as “The Entertainer” (1902), although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s. For at least 12 years after its publication, “Maple Leaf Rag” heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, harmonic progressions or metric patterns.

PARTS

Pineapple Rag – Clarinet in Bb I
Pineapple Rag – Clarinet in Bb II
Pineapple Rag – Clarinet in Bb III
Pineapple Rag – Bass Clarinet