Ragtime and the music industry, including sheet music publishing and new phonograph and player piano technologies, enjoyed a symbiotic relationship and rapid growth.įifty years before ragtime became a national sensation, touring minstrel troupes gave much of white America its first taste of a version of black music. While dancers and audiences, both black and white, embraced it, some scorned it as an African American cultural invasion. It burst onto the national stage during the Gilded Age in the 1890s, when sentimental love songs dominated popular music. Ragtime emerged from African American communities in the South after the Civil War.

The term “ragtime” likely derived from a contraction of “ragged-time,” indicating the highly-syncopated rhythm that characterizes the music. The suffix “-time,” as commonly applied in the late nineteenth century, referenced the rhythm of a musical composition: jig-time, waltz-time, march-time, etc. It results in more rhythmic diversity and excitement. Syncopation occurs when notes are stressed or accented between beats, interrupting the regular flow of rhythm and emphasizing the weaker beats. Rhythmic syncopation pre-dated this era and style, but ragtime gained notoriety for its pervasive use throughout a composition or improvisation. Ragtime derived its name from the insistent, highly-syncopated “ragged” rhythm that distinguished it from other contemporary styles.

Ragtime and blues, a related African American musical form that developed concurrently, are essential components in jazz music, which rose in popularity as interest in ragtime waned. The genre eventually took a variety of forms, including vocal and instrumental music, intended for a listening audience. Rooted in African American folk dance traditions, it evolved in the decades after emancipation, incorporating both African and European musical elements. Ragtime was one of the most popular forms of music in the United States between 18.

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