What Is Ragtime? 

Scott Joplin is an unsung legend. Growing up in St. Louis we would all go to his house when we had field trips in grade school.

Some of these comments are so butt-sore. Waldo is a master of traditional jazz and ragtime. He is 73 and share his wisdom with us for free. Aaaaand whatever some people may think, Ragtime is not the same as "classical music". There is room for mistakes and some improvisation and Mr Waldo swings his ass off every time he plays. True master and a great guy!

Rag always brings me back to a time where I’d sit at the piano and just watch my grandpa play. It seemed so impossibly fast and difficult and larger than life. I don’t think I could ever get tired of listening to some good ragtime ❤️

Dude, this man's music teacher was Eubie Blake! Whaaaat?!! No wonder he plays like that. I was absolutely enthralled by the richness of his playing and stories. Gotta say, thank you Mr. Waldo.

Starting to learn Pian at 50, in a country (India) which has its own deep and profound musical tradition and repertoire, it is very difficult even to dream to play somwhat at 1/4th the competency of this man in my lifetime. But dream I will, so that I can play like this, in my next life. :-)

I have yet to hear someone make musical history as fresh and accessible as this presentation does. I feel like I could reach out and touch what Ragtime is, and something essential about American music and musical history.

He's an amazing pianist. Scott Joplin originally played it much slower. But some people prefer it fast, and that's okay.

I came here for one of my school assignments, but I thoroughly enjoyed this video and Mr. Waldo is a gifted storyteller. Thank you for such an enjoyable video.

Thank you so much for the history lesson. I now have a greater fascination for Ragtime. I'm never too old to learn something new and fabulous. You are a wonderful teacher. I wish I had you for a music history prof. in university. I would have attended every single class! What a performance! Second to none.

Wow, what a brilliant man! I could listen to him talk/play for hours.

I've seen Terry perform at the J.W. "Blind Boone ragtime and early Jazz festival" he is absolutely awesome.

writing a paper for my final in my college class, this episode helped a lot, great video!

TERRY - YOU ARE THE GREATEST. I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN COLUMBUS THIS YEAR. NANCY CLAGETT AND I ARE SO PLEASED TO HAVE MET YOU 15 YEARS AGO. YOU ARE A GREAT GUY, WHO IS THE BEST RAGTIME ENTHUSIAST IN THE WORLD.

heard him live at Newport. wonderful, wonderful, and oh yeah, wonderful

to put it in the simplest terms, rag time essentially was taking the idea of classical invention and placing the melodic structure to place emphasis on either the up beat of a quarter or on beats 3 and 4, depending on tempo; though this usually means the up beat (i.e. the speed of an eighth note) due to the general speed of a rag. This is contrasted to the speed of a military march which usually has the heavy feel of quarter notes regardless of the speed its preformed, as after the tempo is accelerated bast a certain threshold, it will assume the feel of cut time as opposed to the time of 4/4 or 2/4 which is requisite of a rag.

Thanks for the music pal, As a bad piano player, it fascinates me to see/hear all this. I wish I could play like this. Loved the history of it all too. just to say... Thank You sir.

I am so impressed, I want to play the piano so bad. Ragtime is so beautiful and fun!

love this ragtime piece's resolution everytime

Beautiful display of ragtime and historical facts ...I interested in learning about Ragtime music..

Thank you Sir. I loved your explanation. A very good one at that.

Nice ending. And thank you for all the fantastic knowledge. WOW!

Great playin', I love this, and the explanations are very educative. Thanks.

What is ragtime? The music that is being played all day in Main Street at Disneyland.

Me, a German with some rhythmic feeling, I am so pleased with your lecture.

Love and play it often!

Thank you for downloading. I really enjoyed learning about ragtime.

Thanks for this tutorial! When I play the ragtime music I feel like that i'm in early 1900's :)

HI TERRY - I HOPE TO BE ABLE TO SEE AND HEAR YOU ON NOV. 25TH IN COLUMBUS. YOU TUBE BRINGS BACK MEMORIES AS WELL AS EDUCATE ME AND OTHERS ON THE HISTORY OF RAG TIME. NANCY AND I FEEL HONORED AND BLESSED THAT WE MET YOU AS A PERSON. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE FOR RAGTIME. THE JESUS RAG IS WAITING TO BE COMPOSED BY YOU FOR ME IN HEAVEN OR WHEREEVER. NANCY CLAGETT AND I THANK YOU.

Your possible explanation of Rag makes sense. That would be similar to Reggae. The guitar is “second fiddle” to the drums and bass.The guitar typically only plays the “skank” on the AND between the beats. It gives Reggae that distinctive sound. My point: guitarists get bored and play slurs (fills) on the skank. It seems that musicians are constantly playing with space: skank, fills, syncopation, swing, et al.

Thanks dude! Made me smile tonight.

I once called it Tom and Jerry music

Wow I’m frugal af and I feel like I should have paid to watch this. What an amazing/entertaining lesson!

Bravo! After listening to Scott Joplin masterpieces I developed a new conception of music: on one side is the music in general, on the other side is Scott Joplin's music!

Amazing. I have never actually seen anyone play Ragtime before. It's very fast. I can't imagine how much practice it must take.

So much fun; thank you!

I could watch this everyday.

Great introduction to Ragtime, also a great pianist.

Thank you, Jazz At Lincoln Center and Terry Waldo for bringing authentic ragtime to our ears!

Superb explanation and playing

I love it!

Bruh he just when ham on the piano and then said "That's Ragtime." Video could've ended right there.

Brilliant, fascinating.

Here 's this guy of whom I never heard before, but than again I'm not from the USA, who is playing his butt off, playing an unbelievable, incredible Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake, like superhuman and all you commentators here can come up with is: too fast??? You must be kiddin'! What we say than in our tiny country is: "nee, jij trekt volle zalen!" Which means something like: "no, you attract big audiences!" I bet you secretly all dream you had one finger like mr. Waldo!

Thanks and Blessings that was great!

I enjoyed this thanks!!

I'm starting to understand the history of music in America, it really makes me feel patriotic, and I'm not a person who would describe myself as patriotic

thanks Terry

Thank you!

Not exactly the sheet music, but it's an example of Maple Leaf. I'm biased perhaps but I prefer it neat and clean. Great historical presentation and information for people not familiar with the story of this music. Ragging "my gal Sal" as a demo is brilliant. Love that! You get why the Rag has so much energy.

I love Scott Joplin n love Maple Leaf Rag ( I dont play it as fast as you). Wow you surely play so fantastically your a bloody genius I hv to say and wow to hv learnt from th great Eubie Blake wow what a privilege, I love your singing as well, I rather enjoyed that 🎶😍

I recently bought a book of old rags and almost every one had "not fast" at the start. The exception said "Don't fake it."

I remember when Johnny Carson had Eubie Blake on The Tonight Show. That was special!

Love hat performance of Maple Leaf Rag! I just wish he played it on an upright from the 1920's.

It's weird to watch someone I don't know play the piano for two and a half minutes, and then when he finally opens his mouth, discover that he doesn't have the British accent I somehow assumed he'd have.

Beautiful! So jealous I can't play like this 😭😭😭

White font on a white background for the thumbnail was a wild choice

melhor musica. Meu pai sempre falava q na espoca dele era muito famosa.

oh my.. The opening song is on cooking mama game!xD means I've been hearing ragtime this whole time

It cracks me up that people make such big deals about inventing “new genres” an then it’s something like glitch-pop or or some other variation of the main genre that’s very similar. Blues Jazz Ragtime, were revolutionary. Common chord progressions, and even the bouncy syncopation can be found as far as in indie rock now. I really wish people looked past the 1960s….

So I'm on a kick now of wanting to learn more about American music history and evolution.

Great!

Thank you ❤😊

A delight

God I love terry Waldo, if there’s anyway I could talk to you, please let me know! You’re inspiring and talented and I just want to ask you so many questions about rag and jazz

Simply put, ragtime is rhythmic tension between whatever serves as the kick and whatever serves as the snare. Usually, tension is derived from the juxtaposition of straight and swung rhythms. It's a pianistic form that draws from the NOLA tradition of small brass bands and 'second line' parades. Fess had tension betwixt his left and right hands; John Lee Hooker had tension between his right and left feet. Weirdly, it's kinda like Travis-picking on guitar, where you can quickly turn any simple melody into a polka.

Magnificent

Wunderbar

it confounds me why would anyone dislike a video like this

I only know ragtime from when I was a kid you would put this on the roller coaster tycoon rides game to match the themes

Easy: Scott Joplin.

Brilliant. Tom Briars is the best ragtime pianist I've seen.

Thanks to growing up on Looney Tunes, Ragtime is imprinted in my brain.

Goddamn, the tension building in this video every time this guy put's his hand on the piano in the playing position and then doesn't play anything! Had me on the edge of my stool.

Is ragtime usually in Common time or cut time ?

how the hell did he do that without sight reading it?! i cant even remember 4 chord songs on my guitar. im so jealous of real musicians

めっちゃいい😭

ชอบครับ.

The Eubie Blake starts on a minor key but never seems to end.

I love the Maple Leaf Rag much more than The Entertainer.

What is the name of the score used in this tutorial ?

Great video, thank you! Was Ragtime influenced by Vaudeville music?

Eubie Blake was his piano teacher? How old is this man??

Thank you. 🎹👍🏼

Don't forget that syncopation was used at least by Mozart way back in the classical era.

WOW😍

I think i hear a very strong Jelly Roll influence :)

I hear Thomas the Tank Engine c:

you seem cool af

I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED THAT I COULDN'T ATTEND TERRY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY LAST NIGHT IN COLUMBUS. NOV.27,2015

I'm imagining myself in a saloon in the wild west

This guy sounds a lot like Tom Hanks

Why so fast? Is that right> Not for me it isn't. You throw away so much that way

Soooo... what you're saying is: my 5th gr music teacher (USA) was right & Joplin basically was the fore-grand-father to (the generic term we now call) rock & roll? Cool. 😎👍

I was really looking forward to this, but the beginning was really disappointing. Joplin repeatedly insisted that ragtime should never be played fast. This recording felt like a speedrun. And then the "one million copies" story at 3:00 is just not true.

i didnt like alot of the comments in this video

When I see you, I see Mr Joplin.

I watched/listened to the Maple Leaf Rag. I don't know Mr. Waldo. Is this an act or is he really that bad?

Who the hell is Jackie Gleason?! ;)

Tom Brier is the god of ragtime

damn he really attacked the piano!