Folk ragtime is a subgenre of
ragtimeRagtime is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged", rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being...
, a distinctly American music. It is thought to have originated with illiterate itinerant
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
piano players, who learned the syncopated music not formally, but through their peers. Folk Ragtime as a form stayed active until the early 1920's, when young America shifted its attention to early jazz. It was later revived, starting in 1947 with the 'rediscovery' of
Sanford Brunson CampbellBrun Campbell was an American composer and pianist. Born Sanford Brunson Campbell in Oberlin, Kansas, he ran away to Oklahoma City when he was fifteen and met Scott Joplin. For the next decade, he made his living as a traveling pianist in the Midwestern and Southern United States...
(March 20, 1884 - November 23, 1952) who was one of the most noted folk ragtimers as well as a student of
Scott JoplinScott Joplin was an African-American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his brief career, he wrote forty-four original ragtime pieces, one...
, and then in the early 1960s by the now foremost authority on Folk Ragtime, Trebor Jay Tichenor (1940- ).
The writers of folk ragtime often simply mixed together themes of theirs in a random fashion, in structure loosely resembling the typical Classic Rag structure (IntroAABBACCDD.) Good testimony of this are the legendary multiple takes of Folk Rags by Sanford Brunson Campbell, recorded on acetates in 1947.
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Folk ragtime is a subgenre of
ragtimeRagtime is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged", rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being...
, a distinctly American music. It is thought to have originated with illiterate itinerant
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
piano players, who learned the syncopated music not formally, but through their peers. Folk Ragtime as a form stayed active until the early 1920's, when young America shifted its attention to early jazz. It was later revived, starting in 1947 with the 'rediscovery' of
Sanford Brunson CampbellBrun Campbell was an American composer and pianist. Born Sanford Brunson Campbell in Oberlin, Kansas, he ran away to Oklahoma City when he was fifteen and met Scott Joplin. For the next decade, he made his living as a traveling pianist in the Midwestern and Southern United States...
(March 20, 1884 - November 23, 1952) who was one of the most noted folk ragtimers as well as a student of
Scott JoplinScott Joplin was an African-American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his brief career, he wrote forty-four original ragtime pieces, one...
, and then in the early 1960s by the now foremost authority on Folk Ragtime, Trebor Jay Tichenor (1940- ).
The writers of folk ragtime often simply mixed together themes of theirs in a random fashion, in structure loosely resembling the typical Classic Rag structure (IntroAABBACCDD.) Good testimony of this are the legendary multiple takes of Folk Rags by Sanford Brunson Campbell, recorded on acetates in 1947. They illustrate a performer who embellishes and improvises on basic themes, at times seeming as if he is making it all up as he goes along.
In terms of melodic and harmonic content, Folk Rags have a distinct
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
influence. In addition to themes based on 12-bar patterns, the non blues-structured themes almost incorporate flatted 'blue' notes. Many themes in Folk rags are based on tonic-dominant chord relations with forays into other simple chords. A typical chord progression in B major would go:
B|B|E|E|B|B|F7|F7|B|B|E|E|B|F7|B|B :||
I |I |IV|IV|I |I |V7|V7|I |I |IV|IV|I |V7|I |I :||
At the center of the revival of folk ragtime has been historian, collector, and composer/pianist Trebor Jay Tichenor. His modern interpretations of Folk Ragtime, as well as his original compositions in the style, have set the standard for all folk ragtimers today. Some of his noted works are: "Hickory Smoked Rag" (1974), "Days Beyond Recall" (circa. 1960), and "Pierce City Rag" (circa. 1961) among many others.