Music
...the southern United States and was composed, played and sung in several forms. In African music, in both its original and its various Americanized forms, different beats are frequently superimposed, creating powerful polyrhythms that are perhaps the most striking and moving element of African music. Music was used as a way of expressing feelings and to get through the workday in the fields. When African Americans as slaves were not allowed to speak, they would say what they were feeling through a song. The music created and performed by black people was ragtime, jazz, and the blues.
Ragtime, a form of music that is played on the piano, emerged in the 1890's , with musical roots tied to plantation life. Ragtime pieces were not accompanied by lyrics and were not meant to be sung; it combined a sixteenth-note-based syncopated melody with the form and feel of a march. On the piano this was achieved by the left hand playing a steady "boom-chic" bass and chord pattern and the right hand playing the syncopated tune. Playing in this syncopated style was called "ragging", which is probably the origin of the term "ragtime". The ragtime era dominated the music scene of the first decade of the 20th century, featuring ragtime, blues, and stride piano, which was the foundation for novelty piano, modern jazz, and blues rock. Ragtime was the first music before jazz, which began as dance music in popular music settings before it was published as sheet music for the piano. Scott Joplin, the most famous ragtime composer, was the creative genius of this form of music. He learned to play on a piano purchased by his mother from her earnings as a maid; he also received free lessons from a local German piano teacher, which included elements of music theory. In 1899, Joplin's first rag was published, Original Rags'. Ragtime was one of the early musical styles that...
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