Product Description
Covers the whole spectrum of this exciting area of guitar playing. Careful grading enables the beginner to progress through this course and play well-known and enjoyable songs as well as learning the technical aspects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Lacking
I found this book lacking as far as an instructional aide.This is fine book, but it just lacked the presentation and flow that I expected.

Country Blues
Piano ragtime on the guitar evolved intocountry blues.These are all fun to play and great tunes.

Almost All Blues (despite the title)
I have no doubt this is a good book. But as a beginning guitarist if it were not for the fact that I've spent almost a year teaching myself how to play classical guitar this book would be even more frustrating than it currently is. It has many examples of songs by old blues masters - but that's not really the reason I bought it. I bought if for the word "Ragtime" in the title as I am a big ragtime fan. Have been since my childhood days of 7 years of piano lessons - many of which included ragtime tunes. Since picking up the guitar I've been very interested in learning how to translate some of the fun, snappy feel of piano rags to the guitar. In this, I was disappointed. While technically the title is correct there are actually only 2 ragtime pieces in the whole book - every other song is blues - something I just don't have as much interest in playing. For someone interested in blues then this could possibly be an interesting book. For learning ragtime it is lacking.

The instruction itself is solid, the strum patterns, notes, tablature and standard notation are clear. But it would help had there been an accompanying cd. A lot of the songs are from old blues guitarists - most of whom I've never heard their songs although their names are familiar. Intermediate guitarists wanting to learn blues will enjoy this book. But if you want to learn ragtime guitar keep looking. ... Read more

Product Description
Vernon and Irene Castle popularized ragtime dancing in the years just before World War I and made dancing a respectable pastime in America. The whisper-thin, elegant Castles were trendsetters in many ways: they traveled with a black orchestra, had an openly lesbian manager, and were animal-rights advocates decades before it became a public issue. Irene was also a fashion innovator, bobbing her hair ten years before the flapper look of the 1920s became popular.

From their marriage in 1911 until 1916, the Castles were the most famous and influential dance team in the world. Their dancing schools and nightclubs were packed with society figures and white-collar workers alike. After their peak of white-hot fame, Vernon enlisted in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps, served at the front lines, and was killed in a 1918 airplane crash. Irene became a movie star and appeared in more than a dozen films between 1917 and 1922.

The Castles were depicted in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), but the film omitted most of the interesting and controversial aspects of their lives. They were more complex than posterity would have it: Vernon was charming but irresponsible, Irene was strong-minded but self-centered, and the couple had filed for divorce before Vernon's death (information that has never before been made public). Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution is the fascinating story of a couple who reinvented dance and its place in twentieth-century culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Lost Worlds
As with Eve Golden's previous biographies, "The Castles" (to save space) combines extensive research with a very readable and entertaining style. What I like about her writing is that Ms.Golden evokes not just the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle, but the era from which they emerged and which they influenced. As with her previous books, especially those on Anna Held and Kay Kendall, she takes figures who have sadly slipped from the public consciousness and places them back into their social context and thus reinstates their importance. Anyone interested in Twentieth Century dance (and, in fact, the history of popular entertainment in the last century) will enjoy this book. One should not, however, expect a dry academic tome: she is much too smart a writer for that. Her sly (and dry) sense of humour makes for an easy and entertaining read. Highly recommended!

Before Fred and Ginger there was Vernon and Irene
I was so thrilled to find this book. As a longtime fan of classic movies I was familiar with the movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and I always wondered how much of the story was true since Hollywood biographical films are notorious for playing fast and loose with the facts. This is a well written and researched biography of the famous husband and wife dance team. I'm so glad that after the passage of so many years there was enough information still available for Ms. Golden to write this book, some have never been published before, like the fact that they planned to divorce after Vernon returned from the war. She was even able to interview Irene Castle's son by a later marriage and the daughter of the woman who might have become Vernon's second wife if he had not died so tragically during World War I. I highly recommend this book, along with Ms. Golden's previous biographies of Jean Harlow, Theda Bara, and Anna Held, to anyone interested in theatrical and movie history and to fans of the Astaire and Rogers movie who would like to know the true story. ... Read more

Product Description
Ragtime was America's first truly national music, and in recent years it has undergone several revivals. Until now, however, there was no book that covered ragtime in its many manifestations - ragtime piano, songs, banjo, orchestra, piano rolls, and the social and cultural history of the music. With chapters by America's leading ragtime scholars - including Gunther Schuller, Max Morath, Edward Berlin, Trebor Jay Tichenor - Ragtime authoritatively explains ragtime music, examines the lives of its leading practitioners, looks at the vigorous debate that the music engendered, and probes the history of the genre. The book includes articles on the history of ragtime; analyses and biographies on leading composers; interviews with luminaries such as James P.Johnson and Rudi Blesh; an authoritative discography that lists and describes over 300 LPs; the most extensive listing ever published of ragtime folios for piano, organ, and other instruments; a thorough bibliography that includes more than 500 books and articles; and more than 30 photographs, some never before published. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Buy This Book, Read this book, know this book
Ragtime is the most underestimated music among those who claim to understand the history of musics in America. It had a dynamic impact that still lasts on popular music, it was a central component in the evolution of the Blues and Jazz was created from Ragtime.It and musics that tried to market themselves as Ragtime were the major musics from the 1890s until the 1920s.Not only did it power the commercial sheet music industry and the nascent recording industry, but it was and is a central component in old time string band music white and black, the blues, and almost every form of traditional folk music as well as folk related musics like Western Swing and Bluegrass.

This book is a good place to start, because it combines a set of chapters that had appeared either as separate articles or as chapters in previously-published books with chapters written for this book to fill in the gap. A broad view of Ragtime with different approaches is presented. So that even the definition of what Ragtime is is presented in several ways.

Even a person who has studied American musics, but not Ragtime, will learn so much here about the shaping of popular music, the spread of the piano, and all sorts of issues.

One thing about this book is that nothing is dumbed down.The articles present musical ideas and questions in standard music notation as well as words.

I want to call particular attention to the article "Ragtime and the Banjo"
by the late Lowell Shreyer. This article speaks not only to how the banjo helped give birth to Ragtime, but how Ragtime's disappearance tended to lead to the decline of the five string banjo and the rise of the tenor. There are other facts and ideas there that are rich and need to be understood by anyone concerned with the history of the banjo.

Buy This Book, Read this book, know this book ... Read more

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Ragtime Cowboy Joe Music by Maurice Abrahams and Lewis MuirCATEGORY: Piano Solo - Popular SheetFORMAT: Sheet ... Read more

Product Description
A lively cultural history of the music that captivated America. Beginning with Scott Joplin's million-selling hit, Maple Leaf Rag published in 1899, the authors take you on a tour of American ragtime composing and publishing. Along the way, you will read the story of hundreds of composers - men and women, black and white, young and old - who took that ragtime beat from small-town America to the stages of Broadway and Carnegie Hall - and beyond. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A stupendous history of a vast topic-with one curious lack
I do not believe you can find a more complete book on the subject of American ragtime than by David A. Jasen and Gene Jones (Schirmer Books, 2000). It tells in some 307 pages of text andanother 100 or so of lists and charts "the Story of Ragtime from Coastto Coast" in great detail, far too great for quick reading. Indeed, Iam going to use this tome as a reference book in the future as a source ofinformation for my articles and talks, with due acknowledgment ofcourse.

Starting with the seeding and growth of rag in the fertile soilof Missouri, this book traces the development of the form through thesections of our country, ending up with New York City. The material isfurther organized by composer and publishing house, so it is easy to locateany particular composer by using the table of contents rather than theindex. But again, I suggest you assimilate all this in small doses.

While I am giving this wonderful history a top rating, I must voice apersonal observation concerning what I think is a curious omission. Thereis much mention about this and that rag being a masterpiece or at leastimmensely popular or pioneering; but I fail to locate a single explanationof WHY the music was so important or different. Perhaps the authorspreferred to avoid musicology, but I still consider this a real lack in anotherwise excellent work.

A "must read" for all ragtime music fans and scholars.
This story of ragtime explores the evolution of the ragtime style of music, from its Scott Joplin roots to the launching of a ragtime era in the country. Unlike competing titles, That American Rag provides a geographicfocus on the topic which reveals the evolution of ragtime in differentparts of the country, making for an involving focus on regional influenceson the overall style. ... Read more

Product Description
A great compendium of the best ragtime tunes compiled and edited by Ann Charters. Includes songs of the ragtime era by Scott Joplin, Hughie Cannon, Ben Harney, Will Marion Cook, Alex Rogers and others, with words, music, piano accompaniment, and guitar chords. Also features historical notes concerning the songs and times with a broad selection of complimentary photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

EXCELLENT REMASTERING
ORIGINAL RECORDINGS OF RAGTIME MUSIC BY JAMES P. jOHNSON, EUBIE BLAKE, MAX MORATH, JELLY ROLL MORTON, AND OTHERS.SOME OF THE RECORDINGS ARE FROM THE ORIGINAL 78 RECORDS, AND OTHERS WERE REMASTERED FROM ACTUAL PIANO ROLLS FROM THOSE AUTOMATED PLAYER PIANOS, AND THE REMASTERING ON THOSE PARTICULAR SONGS MAKE THEM SOUND AS IF THEY WERE RECORDED YESTERDAY. IF YOU WANT TO HEAR SOME RAGTIME MUSIC, THIS IS A GREAT CD. ... Read more

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Easy Note Style Sheet MusicCustom Made Quality Arrangements Printed on Beautiful Colored Backgrounds ... Read more

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Easy Note Style Sheet MusicLetter Names of Notes embedded in each Note head!Custom Made Quality Arrangements Printed on Beautiful Colored Backgrounds ... Read more

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Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

They All Played Ragtime
Fabulous book!Couldn't put it down.A must for any lover of ragtime music and wants to know the history.

Requirements
This title, along w/Father of the Blues: An Autobiography of W.C. Handy(William Christopher Handy); Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography of Sidney Bechet (Sidney Bechet); Mister Jelly Roll: The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton et al (Ferdinand Lamonthe and Alan Lomax); Music is My Mistress: The Autobiography of Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington); Satchmo: The Autobiography of Louis Armstrong (Louis Armstrong); Eubie Blake (James Hubert Blake and Alan Rose); and Danny Barker's writings are essential towards the understanding of American music...and history.

Let's Get the Names Right
It's difficult to understand how a publisher cannot get the authors' names correct.The authors are Rudi (not "Ridi") Blesh AND Harriet Janis; Blesh was always insistent that Janis receive equal credit.
The book, itself, is of major importance to our understanding of ragtime history.It was published in 1950 and its story has, in many respects, been supplanted by more recent research and writings.But it was an inspiration for ragtime fans from 1950 on, and remains an irreplaceable source for information about many of the original ragtimers interviewed by Blesh and Janis.Our knowledge of ragtime, its culture, and the history of that time, would be greatly lessened without this book.
Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History
King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era ... Read more

Product Description
A unique collection of early 20th century rags arranged for xylophone solo with piano accompaniment. The solos range from easy to difficult and include chord symbols for improvisation. ... Read more

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Detroit has always been at the forefront of American popular music development, and the ragtime years and jazz age are no exception. The cityÂ’s long history of diversity has served the region well, providing a fertile environment for creating and nurturing some of AmericaÂ’s most distinctly indigenous music. With a focus on the people and places that made Detroit a major contributor to AmericaÂ’s rich musical heritage, Detroit: Ragtime and the Jazz Age provides a unique photo journal of a period stretching from the Civil War to the diminishing years of the big bands in the early 1940s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book! Quick read....lots interesting info and pictures.
A well researched and documented account of Ragtime and Jazz in Detroit, roughly covering the 1870s - the early 1940s.Great photos and lots of unique facts...i.e. Tommy Dorsey's first recording session was at the Detroit Athletic Club. ... Read more

Product Description
Rear cover notes: "THEY ALL PLAYED RAGTIME is a lively and fascinating book about a lively and fascinating American music that flowered with the dawn of this century, faded with World War I, and today is staging an unprecedented nationwide revival. Here - in an updated, expanded new edition - is the whole true story of ragtime, from its Gay 90's origins in the bordellos of Sedalia and St. Louis, to its sweeping successes in America and Europe. Here are the lives of the colorful men who created the intoxicating ragtime syncopations - authentic, homespun geniuses like Scott Joplin, James, Scott, Joe Lamb, and many more - once forgotten but now being affectionately and respectfully remembered. For general readers there are nostalgia and romance in these pages. For serious students there are exhaustive lists of composers, compositions, piano rolls, and sound recordings. For performers there are the complete piano scores of 16 rags, from yesterday to today, most of them previously unpublished and available only here." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

THE Book on Ragtime
Ragtime music is arguably the first distinctively \American\ music to achieve both commercial success and international acceptance, preceeding jazz by (at least) a full generation.Moreover, it was the first American music in which the prowess of both black and white musicians as composers and performers was routinely acknowledged by the general public.Considering that as late as 1960 white DJ's were still catching flack for playing too much "black music", this interracial recognition as far back as the 1890s was truly phenominal.No other book I've read on this period captures the flavor and uniqueness of the ragtime era as well as "They All Played Ragtime."

Any serious ragtime afficianado should enjoy this book.Indeed, it is essential; the "bible of ragtime" as another reviewer has called it.Researched and written during what has been termed "the first ragtime revival" (late 1940s - early 1950s), this book is refered to by pretty much every other well-received ragtime title written since.

It is true that Blesh and Janis weren't opperating under the same standards for research and investigative journalism that we've come to expect by the 21st century, and the book does contain some inaccuracies.These flaws, however, are more than made up for by the fact that the authors essentially based this book on interviews with people who actualy lived through the original ragtime era, including some of the people responsible for it's music.

By the time of the next big ragtime resurgance in the mid-1970s most of these folks had long since passed on.Consequently, to get the first-hand /human/ element of the ragtime story, "They All Played Ragtime" has become pretty much the source from which most, if not all waters flow.You can get more detailed and precise information about ragtime \music\ from the books by Berlin, Jasen, and Tichenor, but to get a "feel" for the \era\ itself, nothing I've read elsewhere beats this book.

The first edition, published in 1950 went out of print for a number of years.The book was re-released in 1974 during the second big ragtime revival.Unfortunately, it once again seems to be out of print.But given the high contemporary interest in ragtime, perhaps if enough people go looking for it, we might see a new printing.If not, there are still plenty of used copies around, and obtaining a copy for a reasonable price (especially of the 1974 reprint) is not that difficult, and well worth the cost and effort.

If you like ragtime, that is.But if you -didn't- like ragtime, would you even be reading this review?:-)

Beautifully, felicitously, and movingly written
Jazz historian Edward A. Berlin has written (somewhat resentfully, for he feels that its very excellence has been a barrier to further, and sometimes more accurate studies of the subject):

"This remarkable book, often called 'the bible of ragtime,' has enthralled, enlightened, and inspired' generations of ragtime enthusiasts. The authors had the foresight to locate and capture the words and stories of surviving ragtimers and cast them in a beguiling form that, more than a half-century later, continues to work its magic on new readers. Though a few, isolated articles on ragtime had preceded publication of this book, They All Played Ragtime, at least figuratively, is where ragtime research begins.
The book also has undoubted flaws. It expresses attitudes that clearly reveal leftist political ideology of the 1930s . . . too sharply drawing and exaggerating class distinctions between the purity of 'folk' inspiration against the commercialism of 'Tin Pan Alley' craft. ..and some quotations are even taken out of context. .. Still, the power of the book and its tale remains. Most successive writers merely restate what they read in They All Played Ragtime."

I have just read this book in an old edition and have also fallen under its spell and that of the African American geniuses who created this subtle, supremely musical art. What a shame this book is not now more widely available. In my reading I have often stopped to put it down to marvel a bit over a turn of phrase or moving portrait, such as those of Scott Joplin and his idealistic white patron, the unsung hero, John Stark. ... Read more

Product Description
Five original solos with piano accompaniment by a multi-faceted composer/performer and historically significant mallet soloist. This set includes program notes and a composer biography. These five pieces - Mallets Ala Zurke * Rag Doll Rag * Temptation Revamp * Waltz in Ragtime * and Joplin on Wood - are fun to play, fun to listen to, and will surely add to any concert or recital program, as well as repertoire for solo performances of any nature. Includes a CD recording of Harry Breuer playing each piece with piano accompaniment. ... Read more