"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination, and life to everything."
AUTHOR: Plato
“Music can highlight everything you do in life.”
COMPOSER
JOPLIN
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
Piano Tutor
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
Instrumental Arrangement
New England Conservatory
New England Conservatory
Ragtime Ensemble
Sunflower Slow Drag (1901) was a musical
collaboration between Scott Joplin and
the composer Scott Hayden
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| Scott Hayden |
(Joplin was courting Hayden's widowed
sister-in-law Belle who became his first
wife). John Stillwell Stark, the publisher,
because the music was nearly as
popular when it first appeared.
Hayden, besides being a composer, was
known to be as capable a player as his
contemporary James Scott,
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| James Scott |
while Joplin preferred composing and
teaching over performing. They were also
to later collaborate on another piece called
The Felicity Rag.
FELICITY RAG
Scott Joplin and
Scott Hayden, Composers
Cory Hall, Pianist
A "Slow Drag" was a type of popular dance
of the period, which was danced to
ragtime music, in the format:
Intro AABBA Trio Intro CCDD.
It is thought that Hayden composed the
particularly difficult A and D sections while
Joplin contributed the pleasantly subdued
contrasting trio (and a few other
thematic touches).
The trio is distinguished by its softer dynamics,
pentatonic emphasis, and broader note range
while still managing to tie in some of the
patterns from the previous passages. At the
end of the piece the final D section is
intentionally slowed as it was traditional to
do so for the finale of many cakewalks or
pentatonic emphasis, and broader note range
while still managing to tie in some of the
patterns from the previous passages. At the
end of the piece the final D section is
intentionally slowed as it was traditional to
do so for the finale of many cakewalks or
drags of the time. The closing portion is
remarkably close to that in the famous one
from The Entertainer (1902).
In fact, the structures of the two pieces
are also similar; both with big, rhythmic
celebratory chords leading off the
second subject in both works.
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"This piece came to light during the high temperature of Scott Joplin's
courtship, and while he was touching the ground only in the highest
places, his geese were all swans, and Mississippi water tasted like honey-
dew...If there ever was a song without words this is that article; hold
your ear to the ground while someone plays it and you can hear
Scott Joplin's heart beat."
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SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
Piano Duet Arrangement
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
Color Animation Score
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| Gustave Caillebotte: Sunflowers on the Banks of the Seine |
SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG
Tuba Duet
Opaskar, Peter. Arranger
From the Collection "Rags for Tuba Duet Vol.1 (Advanced)
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| Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers |
WHAT IS RAGTIME?
Excerpt from the Ken Burns
Excerpt from the Ken Burns
Documentary "Jazz"
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| Gustav Klimt: The Sunflower, 1906 |
GRANADA ADV. STRINGS
1. ELEANOR RIGBY
INTRO. TO INSTRUMENTSa. ODE TO JOY (CONTINUED)
(using right and left hands together)
GRANADA BEG. STRINGS
1. MAY/TWINKLE
2. CIELITO LINDO
3. CHARIOTS OF FIRE
2. CIELITO LINDO
3. CHARIOTS OF FIRE
HILLVIEW ORCHESTRA
1. LAS MANANITAS I+II
2. BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
3. 21 GUNS
1. LAS MANANITAS I+II
2. BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
3. 21 GUNS