It can be hard to look at a rag written out in a fiddle book and get a sense of what it’s really supposed to sound like. Generally, the tune will be written out with straight eighth notes, but if you play it that way, it doesn’t sound like a rag at all, and a lot of the musical phrases will sound really boring. “Why am I playing these same three notes over and over for two bars?” you may ask yourself. Put the right “swing” on the notes and it will start to make sense.
Here’s a collection of rags I found on YouTube to help you start to catch the “feel” I’m talking about:
Everyone knows this song, right? Scott Joplin is the textbook ragtime composer. I like this guy’s piano rendition of Joplin’s most famous tune, “The Entertainer.” (This pianist also does a nice “Maple Leaf Rag“, another famous Scott Joplin piece.)
OK, here’s another piano example. This one’s a 1967 recording of political satirist Tom Lehrer’s song, “The Vatican Rag”:
Pay special attention to the timing of the vocal melody. Can you sing or hum along? Do you feel how some notes are shorter than others? Look at his body–isn’t he swinging a bit? Don’t you kind of want to swing back and forth, too, when you hear this music? That’s probably why they call this a “swung” rhythm!
So, okay, enough of the piano. Here’s a fiddle version of Black & White Rag. It was originally written for piano–hence the title’s reference to piano keys–but it’s now commonly played on a lot of different instruments.
There are lots of fiddlers playing this tune on YouTube, but I like this guy’s lazy swingy feel, even at his fast tempo.
Here’s a great piano version of Black & White Rag, if you’re confused about how the piano and fiddle ragtime sounds relate to one another and want to compare: Winifred Atwell Plays “The Black & White Rag” (I recommend starting at the 0:37 mark.)
