Scott Joplin's Solace

November 24, 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Scott Joplin, the famed performer and composer who became known as the "King of Ragtime." (Note that while this is generally accepted as his date of birth, there isn't any physical evidence to prove that. It is widely accepted that he was born sometime in 1867 or 1868.) In his very short lifetime, Joplin wrote dozens of songs and rags including, "The Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer," and even composed a ballet and two operas. Much of his music and history had been lost and forgotten until the 1970s, when Marvin Hamlisch used his music for the Academy Award®- winning score to the film The Sting. In 1976, Scott Joplin was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to American music.

To honor this great American composer, we bring you "Scott Joplin's Solace." This arrangement begins with the familiar opening line from "The Entertainer." From there, it goes to a section from his well-known piece called "Solace." The piano part we are providing is very close to the original.

While the song's tempo does ebb and flow quite a bit, your singers should be able to follow along if they listen for the piano cues – after each pause in the song, there is either an eighth note or sixteenth note that leads into the next part of the song. Once you and your choir have heard it a few times, it will become very familiar. The recorded accompaniment features piano, strings, and solo clarinet. You can use track 28 on the recording for this issue, or, if you have a pianist who is able to play the accompaniment, it would make for a very moving live performance.

You may be interested in our other composer features. They include "The Chopin Etude" (Music K-8, Vol. 20, No. 4), "Mr. Debussy" (Music K-8, Vol. 23, No. 1), "The Liszt Rhapsody" (Music K-8, Vol. 22, No. 1), and "A Lullaby For Brahms" (Music K-8, Vol. 27, No. 4).