Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century and the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. And almost magically, the line between fantasy and historical fact, between real and imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J. P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Emiliano Zapata slip in and out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family and other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler and a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.

Definitive history traces the genre's growth and diversification from its 19th-century origins through its heyday and modern revival. Discusses 48 major composers and 800 rags. More than 100 photos.

A stunning, rhythmic picture book biography of African American composer Scott Joplin, whose ragtime music paved the way for jazz. There was something special about Scott Joplin… This quiet kid could make a piano laugh out loud. Scott, the son of a man who had been enslaved, became a king—the King of Ragtime. This celebration of Scott Joplin, whose ragtime compositions paved the way for jazz, will captivate audiences and put a beat in their step, and the kaleidoscope-like illustrations will draw young readers in again and again.

(Faber Piano Adventures ). 12 songs carefully graded for students to enjoy, including: Colors of the Wind * Eleanor Rigby * La Bamba * The Lion Sleeps Tonight * Pachelbel Canon * Star Wars * and more.

These rollicking, easy-to-play ragtime favorites include "Maple Leaf Rag," "The Entertainer," "Tiger Rag," and other melodies by such favorites as Scott Joplin, James Scott, Joseph Lamb, and Eubie Blake. All songs available as downloadable MP3s.

In 1974, the academy award-winning film The Sting brought back the music of Scott Joplin, a black ragtime composer who died in 1917. Led by The Entertainer, one of the most popular pieces of the mid-1970s, a revival of his music resulted in events unprecedented in American musical history. Never before had any composer's music been so acclaimed by both the popular and classical music worlds. While reaching a "Top Ten" position in the pop charts, Joplin's music was also being performed in classical recitals and setting new heights for sales of classical records. His opera Treemonisha was performed both in opera houses and on Broadway. Destined to be the definitive work on the man and his music, King of Ragtime is written by Edward A. Berlin. A renowned authority on Joplin and the author of the acclaimed and widely cited Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History, Berlin redefines the Scott Joplin biography. Using the tools of a trained musicologist, he has uncovered a vast amount of new information about Joplin. His biography truly documents the story of the composer, replacing the myths and unsupported anecdotes of previous histories. He shows how Joplin's opera Treemonisha was a tribute to the woman he loved, a woman other biographers never even mentioned. Berlin also reveals that Joplin was an associate of Irving Berlin, and that he accused Berlin of stealing his music to compose Alexander's Ragtime Band in 1911. Berlin paints a vivid picture of the ragtime years, placing Scott Joplin's story in its historical context. The composer emerges as a representative of the first post-Civil War generation of African Americans, of the men and women who found in the world of entertainment a way out of poverty and lowly social status. King of Ragtime recreates the excitement of these pioneers, who dreamed of greatness as they sought to expand the limits society placed upon their race.

In This Is Ragtime , Terry Waldo, musician and scholar, explores ragtime in detail, offering music lovers and social historians a unique view of the music from its inception through its colorful evolution. Waldo tells the story of Scott Joplin and his frustrating attempts to elevate his music to the status of the classics, from his first rags to the tragedy surrounding his operatic masterpiece Treemonisha. Waldo also depicts the exciting and often bawdy settings of the music: the earthly minstrel shows, the whorehouses, the cold and commercial publishers of Tin Pin Alley, the traditional jazz emporiums of Dixieland, and finally the prestigious concert halls of the world. Amplifying Waldo's accounts of how and why ragtime continues to fascinate the music world are pithy interviews with most of its enduring personalities: Eubie Blake, Max Morath, Turk Murphy, Lu Watters, Joe "Fingers" Carr, Johnny Maddox, Gunther Schuller, William Bolcom, and Joshua Rifkin. Illustrated with art work and artifacts, This Is Ragtime is an enduring classic for all ragtime and jazz enthusiasts.

(Faber Piano Adventures ). This book is a treasury of the most popular and most requested masterworks of Western music. The selections are taken from original non-keyboard sources and arranged to create a "big" sound while remaining within the intermediate level. Contents include: Arioso (from Cantata No. 156) by J.S. Bach * Canon in D by Pachelbel * Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens * The Great Gate of Kiev (from Pictures at an Exhibition ) by Mussorgsky * Habanera (from the opera Carmen ) by Bizet * Hornpipe (from Water Music ) by Handel * Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Brahms * Liebesfreud by Kreisler * Rondeau (from Suite de Symphonies No. 1 ) by Mouret * Russian Sailor's Dance (from the opera Sadko ) by Rimsky-Korsakov * Spring Song by Mendelssohn * Tales from the Vienna Woods (Opus 325) by J. Strauss, Jr. * Theme from Symphony No. 40 by Mozart.

The New Art of Ragtime Guitar features eight original compositions in the solo guitar ragtime style. The tunes are catchy and well thought out. The explanations of technique are clear and thorough. MP3 files of the compositions are freely available at www.acousticTruth.com. In addition, many performances of the compositions may be enjoyed on youtube. This second edition features a larger 8 1/2 by 11 format which makes for easier reading. Several errors in the previous version have been corrected.

Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography is the definitive reference work for this important popular form of music that flourished from the 1890s through the 1920s, and was one of the key predecessors of jazz. It collects for the first time entries on all the important composers and performers, and descriptions of their works; a complete listing of all known published ragtime compositions, even those self-published and known only in single copies; and a complete discography from the cylinder era to today. It also represents the culmination of a lifetime’s research for its author, considered to be the foremost scholar of ragtime and early twentiethh-century popular music. Rare photographs accompany most entries, taken from the original sheets, newspapers, and other archival sources.