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Scott Joplin

Scott JoplinIt is thought that Scott Joplin did not attend a formal school until he was a teenager because there were few schools for African-American children in the mid 1800s. However, he did learn to love music from his family.

Sample the following internet sites and complete the activities for each one to learn more about the Father of Ragtime.

Scott Joplin
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/joplin.html

  1. Scott Joplin was called the king of what?
  2. In the 1800s, what were some of the claims that opponents of ragtime made about this kind of music?
  3. What did Scott Joplin compose besides ragtime?
  4. Where and when was Scott Joplin born?
  5. What had Scott's father been in the early 1800s?
  6. As a youth, how did Scott have access to a piano?
  7. What musical training did he have?
  8. Early in his career, before he began composing, what other musical jobs did he have?
  9. When did ragtime music emerge? How did ragtime become more widely known to the public?
  10. What was Scott's first ragtime publication? When was it published? What unfair thing happened to Joplin with this publication?
  11. What was the song that brought fame to Scott Joplin?
  12. What work did Scott and Louis Chauvin compose together?
  13. What incident did Joplin's first opera A Guest of Honor commemorate? What happened to this opera?
  14. How many times was Scott Joplin married?
  15. What did Scott Joplin claim that Irving Berlin did with one of his compositions?
  16. What was Joplin's opera, Treemonisha, about?
  17. When did Scott Joplin die? How old was he when he died?
  18. When Scott died, how well-known was he?
  19. About when did a revival of Scott Joplin's works begin?
  20. During what decade did Scott Joplin's work gain major recognition?

Scott Joplin
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2783/jopbio.htm

  1. What musical instrument did Scott Joplin's father play? What instrument did his mother play?
  2. How did Scott's mother earn money to raise her children?
  3. What college did Scott attend?

FindAGrave
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=556

  1. Where is Scott Joplin buried?

The Ragtime Story
http://www.wnur.org/jazz/styles/ragtime/ragtime-story.html

  1. According to this site, the musical roots of ragtime are tied to what?
  2. Go to World Book Encyclopedia Online and find 5 facts about ragtime.

Author: LINDA MOSBACKER - Email linda.mosbacker@slc.k12.ut.us