Ragtime

[Jim Nollman]

Because ragtime tunes are often a little more intricate and "notey" than other music, there is attendancy for them to become show-off tunes, where the tune is played super fast.

For me this destroys the whole ragtime feeling. It can be an impressive demonstration of dexterity, but it loses musicality. .

Yes, totally agree with this. I produced a CD of ragtime music a few years back. The pianist had been playing the tunes all summer at a local resort, almost entirely at a fast speed. In prep for our sessions, he'd been listening to 6 or 8 other recordings of ragtime, and so he came into my studio believing that to join the ranks of these heroes, he needed to speed it up even more because, apparently that's what every other pianist did.

But from the start, my client struggled with the speed. So I suggested that he slow the whole thing down to ballad speed. I told him to go study the notorious Joshua Rivkin recording of Scott Joplin tunes, which is famously slow in a conscious effort to emphasize the melodies.

While the melodies are uniformly gorgeous, the modulating transitions between the parts are an expression of creative genius.

My client agreed to my suggestion. For then on, we focused on the metaphor of slowing it all down enough so both of us could plainly hear the individual notes piling on top of one another to form melodies.

The completed CD quickly sold out its first edition. I don't know if the pianist did a second edition. I just searched itunes for it, but was unable to find it.

One other thing worth mentioning. I recall a few years back, there was a long thread here, a discussion of how ragtime had been clearly influenced by hornpipe melodies. For just two examples, if you listen to Garfield's Hornpipe and Minny Foster's Hornpipe, you are going to hear lots of lines used 20 or 30 years later by Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake.

[Jim Garber]

A big thanks to you, Nick!! I am looking fwd to more of your music.

[Kevin Stevens]

Thanks for that Nick! I was looking at your last CD just the other day and just downloaded it, this prompted me to get it done!

[Matthew Keeler]

Here's a little shameless self-promotion, but you ragtime cats might like it: http://matthewkeeler.bandcamp.com/track/plow-boy-hop

[Matthew Keeler]

Here's another'n: http://matthewkeeler.bandcamp.com/tr...ll-morgans-gal

[stevejay]

I wish there were more ragtime tef files over at mandozine. The rags there are more "country" rags like Stone's Rag, but I'd like more Joplin and Joseph Lamb etc.
Ragtime and mandolin are like bacon & eggs, it's convincing and has a history.

[Jim Yates]

Our group, The Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band do a medley of Mandolin King Rag and Georgia Camp Meeting that's a lot of fun to play and lays out really well on the mandolin.

[nrobinso]

Jim, That Maple Leaf Champions medley sounds great... can you post a link to any recordings? -- Nick Robinson

[Jim Yates]

Sorry Nick, we've never recorded that. I think the only tunes we have on the internet are three that we recorded for a demo EP to get some gigs. They're on http://www.myspace.com/mapleleafchampionjugband, but I'm not sure if you have to be signed into myspace to listen to them. We have our first CD and the finished copies arrived just before Christmas.
I learned the Mandolin King Rag from a Humber River Valley Boys record and I think Ted learned Georgia Camp Meeting from an Eric Nagler record. We have been playing this medley for years...long before the Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band came into existence.

[Mike Bunting]

Mandolin King Rag is on an album by the Even Dozen Jug Band, featuring a young David Grisman and Maria Muldaur among others. There was a tab for it in an early issue of Mandolin World News.
http://prostopleer.com/tracks/50273319BbN

[nrobinso]

The "Jazz Lives" blog features an excellent post on the Ragtime Skedaddlers at

http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2013/...ine-july-2013/

The blog post includes embedded YouTube videos of five tunes performed by the Skedaddlers at the Cline Wine & Dixieland Jazz Festival on July 13, 2013. Enjoy!

[Jim Nollman]

Matthew, what is that instrument on the cover of your CD? Is it a hurdy-gurdy? Can you tell us a bit about its history. Do you have any recordings with it?

[shortymack]

Dont know any ragtime on mando but I do a few on the guitar.

[nrobinso]

Dear Appreciators of Ragtime Mandolin,

This is Nick Robinson for the Ragtime Skedaddlers.

We're getting ready to release our third CD, The Latest Popular Mandolin and Guitar Music.

I'm writing to invite you to help me produce this CD by contributing to our fundraising campaign through Indiegogo.

Here's where to go to learn more about our new recordings, how you can help, and what's in it for you!

http://igg.me/at/skedaddlers

Thank you very much for helping me to promote ragtime mandolin and guitar music.

[High Lonesome Valley]

I grew up at the top of the Delaware Bay, where, in my great grandfather's day, a ferry would bring up blacktop string bands who were performing rag time music, along with black spirituals. The ferrys would tour the coast of the Chesapeake up from Baltimore and then come over to the Delaware Bay on the C&D canal, stopping in Pennsville and Pennsgrove NJ, and then going on up the Delaware River to Camden NJ and Philadelphia PA.

I remember at the parties when I was a child, the old guys would tie one on, grab a broomstick as a microphone, and sing these great songs acapella, FIVE part harmonies, and it was such a wonderful musical start for me.