Scott Joplin by Nancy J. Farrier

Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin

Who doesn’t find their toe tapping to the lively rhythm of ragtime music? The beat inspires joy and lifts the spirits. This month, I want to take a look at Scott Joplin, the leading composer of ragtime music.

Scott Joplin, born in Texarkana, Texas in 1868, grew up in a family of music lovers. His father, a farm laborer, played the violin. His mother, a house cleaner and laundress, played the banjo and sang. Joplin learned to play piano on the instrument owned by his parent’s employer. He also took music lessons.

Scott began performing as a teenager. Besides playing piano, he played the violin and cornet. He also had a nice singing voice and often sang as part of his performance. In the 1880’s he began to travel, spending time in several places, one of them being Sedalia, Missouri, which would become his home later in his life. Joplin played with different forms of music such as marches and waltz’s, adding in some African American rhythms and melodies to change them. In 1893, he traveled Chicago and played outside the World’s Fair. There, he met musician, Otis Saunders, who encouraged him to write down the music he wrote.

After moving to Sedalia, MO, Joplin enrolled in the George R. Smith College to study music. He wanted to learn how to transfer the songs in his head to musical notation on paper so other musicians would be able to play his works. He caught on to the concept very quickly and published several original compositions, in addition to some co-written with fellow musicians. 

His popularity grew and in 1899, a local music store owner and publisher, printed Joplin’s, “Maple Leaf Rag.” The catchy song earned him the title of “King of Ragtime Writers.” Encouraged by the success, Joplin moved to St. Louis with his new bride, Belle, and friends who wrote music with him. His ragtime gained recognition. The conductor of the St. Louis Choral Symphony Society referred to Joplin as “an extraordinary genius.” Because of his music, Joplin was allowed access to places others of his race could not go, but only because he performed in those places.

Joplin’s private life was fraught with troubles. He and his first wife lost their infant child, and then the marriage ended. His second wife died shortly after they married in 1904. Joplin moved to New York, hoping for a fresh start and new opportunities. He struggled finanacially, not finding the backing he needed for his music. He married a third time, and his new wife, Lottie, supported his work and encouraged him.

Throughout his life, Scott Joplin wrote 44 songs—ragtime pieces—two operas, and one ragtime ballet. He also composed seven ragtime piano compositions with other composers. In 1916, he experienced debilitating physical and mental effects from an ongoing disease. In 1917, he required hospitalization and then was put in a mental institution. He died April 1, 1917.

After Joplin’s death, ragtime music fell from popularity with listeners. In the 1940’s jazz music caused a small revival of ragtime, but the real boost came in the 1970’s. Joplin’s, “The Entertainer,” received notoriety in the movie, The Sting. This brought about an increased interest in Joplin’s music. In 1976, the Pulitzer Committee issued a posthumous award to Scott Joplin for his contribution to American music.  He was truly the “King of Ragtime Music.”

Have you ever played Scott Joplin's ragtime music? Have you heard Maple Leaf Rag or The Entertainer? (You can click on the song titles to listen to them being played.) If you are familiar with his ragtime music, what song is your favorite? I would love to hear from you.

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

Newspapers

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

My grandfather worked as a typesetter for a Dallas newspaper for many years. Because of my interest in writing and taking journalism in high school and college, we shared time talking about newspapers and how they were published. One of his first jobs as a young boy was delivering newspapers in Victoria, Texas where his father was a doctor. In writing a novel loosely based on his life, I did research about newspapers which I found to be interesting.

 Even though daily newspapers are dwindling today, they were once the main source of news for those who were literate and could afford the price. Printing in colonial America was expensive with small circulations. No editor could afford to put more than one or two issues a week. Because of the expense of printing and distributing the paper, many of the common folks in town were excluded. Even though Americans tended to be literate, they simply didn’t have the money to buy newspapers. Thus, the circulation remained small.

One of the early "newspaper" sheets circa 1690.

In spite of the expense, early newspapers had a profound influence on the early years of our federal government. Articles, essays, and editorials were in abundance and the organs for political faction. Many politicians became connected to specific newspapers.

Noah Webster, before publishing the first American dictionary, started the first daily newspaper in 1783 in New York City named the American Minerva. Essentially, it was an organ of the Federalist Party. Although in operation for only a few years, it influenced and inspired the establishment of later newspapers.

Eight years later, Alexander Hamilton founded the Post, and it also had some political affiliation. At the time, the newspaper became the means for politicians to communicate with their constituents. The papers carried accounts of newsworthy events as well as letters from the people who voiced their opinions concerning political matters.

John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson all had political campaigns which played out on the pages of newspapers. This type of political action continued well into the 1820’s.

As newspapers began a transformation in the 1830’s, they turned to publishing news of current events, local happenings, and non-partisan editorials and essays. The price also went down which allowed for the working class and even new immigrants to buy them. Now everyone could afford the paper and reading the news every morning became a routine in many households across the country.

Some of the great names in the industry as it grew included Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune and James Gordon Bennett, pictured above, of the New York Herald. They both possessed strong personalities and controversial opinions as expressed in their respective newspapers.

Another editor, William Cullen Bryant, edited the New York Evening Post even though people knew him better as a poet. The New York Times began publishing in 1851 with Henry J. Raymond at the helm. Raymond worked under Greeley, and the newspaper was considered an upstart without any strong political connection.

Newspaper Press Circa 1865

As the nation grew, underwent wars, and invented new technologies, the newspapers grew as well. With the invention of the linotype by Ottmar Mergenthaler, the papers could publish larger editions with more pages and more news of interest to more people such as news about sporting events.

In the late 1880s Joseph Pulitzer, a successful publisher from St. Louis, bought a paper in New York City. Pulitzer transformed the business of print news by focusing on events that would appeal to common people. He focused on crime stories and other sensational subjects in New York World. The vivid headlines, produced by a staff of specialized editors, pulled in readers.

Pulitzer met with great success in New York, but in the mid 1890’s, a competitor came into the picture. William Randolph Hearst, already the publisher of a San Francisco newspaper, moved to New York City and purchased the New York Journal.

From the competition between the two men came a circulation war, the likes of which had not been seen before. There had been competitive publishers before, of course, but nothing like this. The sensationalism of the competition became known as Yellow Journalism.

In the 19^th and early to late 20^th Century, our nation witnessed a rise in newspaper circulation. Newspapers were delivered to the home, sold at newsstands or hawked by newsboys on city streets. 

Now, in the 21^st century, we see its decline. People now depend on electronic media to give them up-to-date news about events around the world. With the news flashes available on cell phones and computers, even the news on TV may seem old.

Most Americans today are in a rush for everything, and getting the news as soon as it happens is more appealing than reading through various sections in a daily newspaper. With rising costs and smaller editions, the newspapers of today are becoming less and less a necessity of our daily lives.

How much of a part does a newspaper play in your daily life? Do you prefer a printed version or electronic?

It's getting to be rodeo time here in Houston, and my newest release features a barrel-racing heroine. 

Kylee is the youngest of the Danner clan and drops out of college to barrel race full-time and spend more time with her rodeo sweetheart, Jesse Martin. Connor Morris, known as Jesse Martin on the rodeo circuit, is in love with Kylee, but he is keeping his true identity from her for now. When her brothers discover Jesse Martin is an ex-con on parole, they jump in and decide Kylee must break off the relationship. Kylee can’t believe Jesse is what they say, but when he doesn’t show up at the rodeo where they’re both competing, she grows suspicious. When the truth of his identity as Connor Morris is revealed in a news item on television, it is even more shocking to Kylee. His retired movie queen mother has had a heart attack and is at a hospital in Denver. He is shown there with a woman claiming to be his fiancée, and she calls him Connor Morris, son of Hal Morris, who was running for U.S. Senator from Colorado. Jesse must now not only gain back Kylee’s love and trust, he must also convince her father and brothers that he loves Kylee and the TV story was a big mix-up. 

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to four, soon to be five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com, Twitter:  @martharogers2                Facebook: Martha Rogers Author