![]() ![]() There are many modern composers of ragtime, he told me, particularly since the release of the 1973 movie The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. But more than that, like most artists, he wants to show people the depth of the style and he makes a good case that despite its reputation, ragtime is still a living art form. I can’t help but think that he has the wind at his back in such an enterprise because I don’t I know anyone who doesn’t like ragtime to some degree. My friend is dedicated to bringing the art form alive for people today. It’s unmistakably ragtime, but there’s a melancholy that lurks around the edges of the sort you don’t hear in the genre very much. Joplin wrote it in 1914 and it was the last rag he published in his lifetime. ![]() Among his favorite Scott Joplin compositions is “Magnetic Rag,” one I’d never heard of until he told me about it. He attends ragtime festivals (or he did before COVID put things like that on hold), and loves to share his affection for it. I have a friend named Monty who’s an avid ragtime pianist and who knows more about it as a genre than anyone I know. While his musical style instantly takes you back to the turn of the 20th century, it still remains popular and even vibrant today, certainly among its devotees. Last week I talked about ragtime music and the great composer Scott Joplin who, for a while, seemed like the living embodiment of what America sounded like. Art forms never simply disappear as long as there are people dedicated to keeping them alive. ![]()
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