Friday is the anniversary of Scott Joplin’s death in 1917. The story of this Black master of the ragtime genre can seem like one that never got far beyond the starting gate and ended with a sad ...

Scott Joplin was once among America's most popular songwriters. The son of a former slave, the composer's Ragtime music swept the nation more than 100 years ago. Joplin's house in St. Louis is thought ...

TJ Muller takes care of Scott Joplin's piano at the Scott Joplin House, in St. Louis, Mo. The music known as ragtime first swept the nation more than 100 years ago. Missouri, known as the heartland of ...

In the post-Civil War era, the cruel breath of slavery and the aborted plan of Reconstruction still hung over the American South. But in the Joplin home, banjo and fiddle music filled the family’s ...

Were it not for ragtime composer Scott Joplin, Tom McDermott may not have evolved into one of New Orleans’ most respected pianists. Growing up in St. Louis, McDermott had, by age 14, spent seven years ...

Pianist William McNally plays the 'Maple Leaf Rag' for students at Skyline Elementary School in Sedalia, Mo. Ragtime is big with the kids in Sedalia. One day this spring, about 100 of them cheered for ...

As radical as rock & roll was when it first emerged in America, ragtime seemed childish to many at first, a fad that would fade quickly. Others found it threatening, and quirte possibly dangerous. To ...

Scott Joplin, 1869-1917, wrote “The Entertainer” a ragtime piece of music that gained fame on the soundtrack of the movie,” The Sting.” during the 1970s. Today it is one of the most popular pieces of ...

After a century of neglect, orchestral ragtime -- the missing link in American pop and jazz histories -- is gaining the attention it deserves. Early 20th century ragtime dance orchestras took their ...

It’s difficult for Jerry Rabushka to keep the grin from his face while pounding the ivory keys during a rendition of “Ballin’ the Jack” or “St. Louis Rag.” “I like to think of how these (ragtime and ...

A pulsating piano solo by a black composer published 125 years ago this fall became an unexpected bestseller, drew droves of young people to the piano, and became an enduring classic of American music ...