Maple Leaf Rag (Blair)

From Wind Repertory Project
Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin (arr. Andrew Blair)


General Info

Year: 1899 / 2022
Duration: c. 4:05
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Solo piano
Publisher: Murphy Music Press
Cost': Score and Parts (print) - $125.00   |   Score Only (print) - $25.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Vibraphone
  • Wood Block


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The Maple Leaf Rag (copyright registered on September 18, 1899) is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. As a result, Joplin became dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries.

The Maple Leaf Rag is associated with the city of Sedalia, Missouri, although there is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence there before 1904. Joplin arrived in Sedalia in 1894 as a touring musician and played as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia, among them the Maple Leaf Club. It is possible that the rag was named after the Maple Leaf Club, although there is no direct evidence to prove the link, and there were probably many other possible sources for the name in and around Sedalia at the time.

Despite ragtime's decline after Joplin's death in 1917, the Maple Leaf Rag continued to be recorded by many well-known artists. The ragtime revival of the 1970s brought it back to mainstream public notice once again.

- Program Note adapted from Wikipedia


The Maple Leaf Rag, originally published for solo piano in 1899, is perhaps the most popular example of ragtime music, earning Scott Joplin worldwide fame while propelling the musical and stylistic shifts which would eventually lead to Dixieland and Jazz in the 20th century.

Noted American musicologist H. Wiley Hitchcock opined that the Joplin piano rags are “the precise American equivalent, in terms of a native style of dance music, of minuets by Mozart, mazurkas by Chopin, or waltzes by Brahms.” Hitchcock also describes the Joplin rags as “elegant, varied, often subtle, and as sharply incised as a cameo.” They are, he concludes, “lovely and powerful, infectious and moving.”

Jazz historian and author Rudi Blesh wrote that Joplin’s dream, “was to carve out of sound a truly American and truly classic music, respectful of but not subservient to European music, a racially balanced music truthfully reporting American life, its tempo, and its temper.”

This arrangement of the Maple Leaf Rag attempts to capture the energy and essence of Joplin’s music through the lens of the 21st century wind band and is dedicated to Dr. Jaclyn Hartenberger and the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble, who performed the premiere.

- Program Note by Andrew Blair


For Dr. Jaclyn Hartenberger and the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble.

- Program Note from score


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Georgia (Athens) Wind Ensemble (Jaclyn Hartenberger, conductor) - 13 September 2022 *Arrangement Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by this Composer


Resources