Scott Joplin: Ragtime King

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Scott JoplinRagtime King
His Life
Teachers Page
Windows and Mirrors

• By Paul Provencio and Joy Agre

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Scott Joplin Teacher Page

• Read about Scott Joplins life together as a
  class. You may add other tidbits of information
  if you choose.
• Next have students do the Windows and Mirrors
  activity. You may choose to do this as a class
  and then have each student do it individually.
  Each child will need a separate sheet of paper.
  This activity can be used as an assessment also.

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Scott Joplin - His Life

• Scott Joplin was born on November 24, 1868 in
  Texarkana, Texas. Joplins father played the
  fiddle and his mother played the banjo as a
  hobby. His mother was sure her son was destined
  for a musical career even though no black man
  before had made a respectable living in music.
  His mother worked hard to pay for his piano
  lessons until music teachers started offering him
  lessons for free.

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Scott Joplin - His Life

• By age 14, Joplin entered school and had
  developed quite a reputation as a pianist. At
  17, he left home and began playing piano in bars.
  He settled in St. Louis in 1885 where he learned
  a lot about music of the day and began to compose
  his own music in a style that became known as
  RAGTIME.

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Scott Joplin - His Life

• In 1894 he moved to Sedalia, Missouri. It was
  there that he published his Original Rags and
  Maple Leaf Rag (which was named after a
  nightclub called the Maple Leaf where he had
  played) and opened a teaching studio. He moved
  to New York City in 1907.

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Scott Joplin - His Life

• In 1911, Joplin published an opera,
  Treemonisha, at his own expense. Staged in a
  concert version in 1915, the opera failed with
  the audience leaving the composers spirit
  permanently broken. It wasnt until a
  performance 57 years later that it was recognized
  as the first truly American opera.

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Scott Joplin - His Life

• On April 1, 1917, Scott Joplin died from advanced
  syphilis. Joplin never achieved the recognition
  in his lifetime that has since come his way. He
  was buried on Long Island, New York in an
  unmarked grave. However, after winning the
  Pulitzer Prize in music in 1976, his gravestone
  now reads Scott Joplin, American Composer.

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Scott Joplin Windows Mirrors

• Divide your paper into two sections.
• Label one half Windows and the other half
  Mirrors. List five things in each category.

Mirrors How are you the same as Joplin?
Windows How are you different from
Joplin?