Many musicians take pride in knowing their favorite genres. I thought I knew the original style of Ragtime music. Nope.
It’s amazing how one little piece of information can get your attention. It can make you see a topic in an entirely different light, especially if you thought you already knew all about said topic.
Some facts surprise us, others don’t. This realization struck me in a “I’ve known this stuff since childhood, so—oh, crap! For real?” kind of way. Especially after a friend sent me a website detailing this new (to me), undeniable data.
When I saw it, a tiny mushroom cloud exploded from the top of my head, threatening to engulf the ceiling, and my blindsided ego spent a few moments curled up in the corner. But my mind soon returned to normal and I was whole once more.
Here’s what happened.
Epiphany
We were on a social Zoom chat one evening. Just a bunch of musician friends gabbing and trying to decide what internet game to play in place of our band’s “on hiatus” weekly rehearsal. An average pandemic Monday night.
One person shared a recorded video of her talented 8th grader playing a well-known Scott Joplin tune on piano. He’d given a solid performance and we were all impressed, but something struck me – he was swinging the notes instead of playing them straight (using a laid-back jazz feel instead of a driving classical feel). I complimented his playing and asked why he chose to swing. After all, Ragtime started out straight, and years later people began swinging it.
Or so I thought.
Another friend in our Zoom group—music teacher Elle (not her real name)—politely corrected me. She then sent a link to a blog that claimed Ragtime started out swung. Say what? No!
After years of reading Scott Joplin biographies and listening to rags played by all sorts of musicians? I’ve seen The Sting a gazillion times! I’ve seen the Ragtime musical! How did I miss this important detail?
Obviously, my personal experience wasn’t enough.
Research
I booted my ego to the curb when I realized my decades-long assumption. Like Quantum Leap’s Dr. Sam Beckett, it was time to put right what once went wrong.
The blog pushed me to research more. The Library of Congress corroborates Elle’s point in a History of Ragtime article that includes a description of musical syncopation in the late 1800s:
The excitement came from syncopation–the displacing of the beat from its regular and assumed course of meter. Syncopation caused an individual to feel a propulsion, swing, and if played correctly, a musical looseness generally unknown to the public at large.
New player pianos were becoming all the rage, but their piano rolls had limitations. The previously mentioned blog expounds on this (lightly edited for readability):
Unfortunately, the technology used to punch the holes in these piano rolls was not accurate enough to represent the long, short notes performed by the Ragtime piano players, and their owners learned incorrectly to play rags with even note values.
So – it was true. Ragtime pianists swung when the style was born, but because of limited hardware they learned the crutch of playing straight, and it stuck.
In the grand music timeline, Ragtime’s exciting, loose style introduced syncopation. It came after classical and before jazz, kind of a transition between the two, and Joplin is known to many as the Father of Ragtime.
In my humble life timeline, Ragtime’s exciting, loose style (among others) inspired me as a kid, and I locked those recordings in my head for many years. Those childhood albums had me believing the style was always to be played straight.
History was never my forte, but I can overcome that with responsible research. So can you.
Lesson
For many, it’s tough to admit when we’re wrong. We humans are fallible, imperfect beings, and in certain situations, that can be a jagged little pill to swallow (sorry, Alanis).
I hope my little tale was not only amusing, but a reminder.
No matter what you know, you’re probably not as smart as you think—even on a favorite topic. If you realize you got an important fact wrong a while ago and need to admit that to yourself, do it, then correct the mistake. Better late than never.
Please keep an open mind and continue learning. The world is already too complex and life is way too short to let your ego get in the way.
Thanks for reading!
This blog was first published on Medium.com.