8/4/2023 0 Comments Ragtime artists and songsThat’s where Edwards manages a mind-boggling data-rich website – – that constitutes a lifetime of research, collections, indexes, images and recordings related to ragtime music. THE “PERFESSOR”Īny online search on ragtime history, artists, composers or recordings eventually follows a digital trail to Edward’s townhome in the Courts and Ridges development in Ashburn. It’s a career he navigates in tandem with his full-time day job as a software developer for a local government contractor.Įdwards also happens to be one of the nation’s leading sources of encyclopedic information for all things ragtime. Today, he is an award-winning pianist who specializes in ragtime music. “If you could play a movie song, people thought that was a big deal,” Edwards said.īy 14, Edwards had learned half of Joplin’s catalog, along with most of the songs by contemporary artists Elton John and Billy Joel.įast forward a few years, and Edwards’ childhood dream of becoming a professional piano player had come true. Playing on a piano his grandfather bought for him, Edwards began wowing friends and family with tunes such as the classic 1925 hit “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.” By his early teens, in the 1970s, he discovered that playing songs like the BJ Thomas hit, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” gave him a needed social boost at school. “It was like rock-and-roll 120 years ago – the stuff that parents hated, but young people loved.” “By 1900, everything in America was ragtime,” Edwards said. It originated in African-American communities in the southern and midwestern states and some of its most celebrated composers and performers were African-Americans, including Scott Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime.” Ragtime, which today many associate only with silent films, old cartoons or maybe a Woody Allen movie, is a genuinely American genre of syncopated music that swept the country from the late 1890s into the early 1900s. It was an unusual choice of music for a boy growing up in the era of the Beatles. By the time I was 7, I decided I was going to be a piano player – that would be my thing.” THE PRODIGY “Sometimes I would put on a Disney record or something, but I always went back to those great ragtime albums. When you listen to those tracks, it’s impossible to not be happy,” he said. “To escape the chaos around me, I would go to my room and bury myself in that music. The old records – including tunes from legendary musicians such as Frankie Carle, Joe “Fingers” Carr and Paul Lingle – brought joy and comfort to young Edwards as he adjusted to family changes. “I discovered ragtime music when I was just 5 and have not been able to leave it alone since,” said Edwards. Artists include Dizzee Rascall, Wiley and Stormzy.Ashburn musician Bill Edwards was a child living in California’s San Fernando Valley in 1964 when he discovered his life’s calling in an unlikely way – listening to a stack of worn 10-inch vinyl records his father left behind when his parents divorced. Pirate radio stations were important in the early days of grime as they were the only places it could be heard until it became mainstream. Rap is an important element of the genre. The musical style bears influences of drum and bass, dancehall, ragga and hip hop and is defined by the beats per minute which are generally around 135/145. The name comes from journalists who referred to the heavy sub-bass as ‘grimy’. It typically has syncopated breakbeats and an electronic/jagged sound. Grime is a genre of electronic music that emerged in London around the millennium. The musical style, a forerunner to jazz, was popular from around 1899 to 1917 and it took its influences from minstrel-show songs, African American banjo styles and the dance rhythms of the cakewalk.įamous composers of the time included Scott Joplin, James Scott and Joseph Lamb. Ragtime is an African American musical invention – a genre of musical composition for the piano containing a highly syncopated or ‘ragged’ treble lead over a rhythmical steady bass. And who knows….perhaps you’ll be inspired to delve further into these interesting musical genres to find pieces, composers, singers and rappers you love! If you have seen our show Ragtime to Grime – Bring It Home Tour, (or are planning to come to see it) you may be interested in finding out more about the origins of Ragtime and Grime music to help put the piece in context.
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