Scott Joplin's Influence On American Music

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Scott Joplin is important to the culture, history, and legacy of African Americans because…he was a successful composer in his day, and even after his death his music was renowned for the complexity. Because he Changed Ragtime style music he is now known as an american icon. Born in eastern Texas, some 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of present-day Texarkana, to an ex-slave father and a freeborn mother, ragtime composer Joplin rose from humble circumstances to be widely regarded as the "King of Ragtime Composers. Scott Joplin had a fairly normal childhood for an african american of the time. Although he was unquestionably born with a musical gift, Joplin 's genius must be attributed at least partly to childhood influences from the region of his birth. Scott Joplin had a fairly normal childhood for an african american of the time. …show more content…

From Scotts personal life and his family history he had motivation and influences to be setup for greatness. Scott Joplin had a heavy influence on american music, especially ragtime. Scott wanted to prove that Ragtime music was more than just folk style music. So he ended up writing a full piece that he called ragtime dance With words, choreography, and music by Joplin, Treemonisha was not a ragtime opera, but instead a complex work Despite his material successes and the regal status bestowed on him by ragtime composers and aficionados, Joplin could not easily brush off the disparaging accent the white world gave the term "rag"; such condescension, according to Joplin, was a transparent means of discrediting the black music as an artless, folk entertainment. With words, choreography, and music by Joplin, Treemonisha was not a ragtime opera, but instead a complex

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