We only provide a few links to other sites. These sites have excellent ragtime links and therefore we see no need to duplicate that effort here. The links that we recommend below can serve as your guide to ragtime on the internet:
West Coast Ragtime Society
If you wish to learn what is
available for ragtime on the internet, the West Coast Ragtime Society site
should be one of your first stops. In addition to providing information on the
annual West Coast Ragtime Festival, this site has extensive ragtime links for
ragtime performers, organizations, publications, vendors, midi files and MP3
files. In addition, the site has the most extensive calendar of ragtime
events on the internet. This includes festivals, concerts, regular gigs, and
radio/tv calendars.
The
Mother Lode Ragtime Society
meets on a bi-monthly basis in Sutter Creek, California and presents the annual Sutter
Creek Ragtime Festival the 2nd weekend of August (see below) plus special concerts throughout
the year. Jam sessions are generally held the third Saturday
of every odd month (Jan- Mar - May - July - Sept) from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the
Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium, 51 Main Street (Hwy 49), Sutter Creek, CA.
is sponsored by the Mother Lode Ragtime Society and is held the 2nd weekend
of August in Sutter Creek, California. Visit their website
for additional information.
The San Antonio Ragtime Society meets on a Saturday in even numbered month (i.e., Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct and Dec) in the recital hall at the Steinway Piano Gallery, 202 NE Loop 410, San Antonio, Texas. The exact meeting date is determined by the availability of the recital hall, so if you are interested in attending Society meetings, please sign up to be on their mailing list, or call Jimmy 210-520-4701, Anthony 210-432-4775 or Vicki 210-522-1265 for additional information.
The World Championship Old-Time Piano
Playing Contest This site is all about the Old-Time Piano Playing Contest.
Here you can find out all about this fun filled event that occurs each Memorial Day weekend in
Oxford, Mississippi. Check it out.
This
excellent site has a wealth of information by ragtime composer and performer
Bill Edwards. But this is not just a collection of MIDI files, which are,
incidentally, all live performances of Bill's interpretations of ragtime-era
music. The presentation of each page is designed to provide a taste of the era
for the site visitor, including restored sheet music covers for most of the
pieces, text for each piece that talks about the era, the composer or the
composition, and a vast array of resources to aid both amateurs and
professionals in expanding their knowledge of this century-old music genre.
The "Perfessor's" desire to make the music accessible becomes more evident when one explores his Resources section, which hosts many articles on ragtime music, creating MIDI music, ragtime composers, social and economic aspects of the music, and a number of current sources where both the music and books about it can be obtained. There is also a Nostalgia section with more snippets on people, places and things of the ragtime era, and of course you can browse through his CD Recordings if you wish to hear him play and sing live.
For the best possible experience during your visits (it will take several to get through it all), Bill recommends the highest possible color resolution, and either a 16-bit or better sound card with high-quality MIDI sounds built into it, or a good plug-in MIDI interpreter such as QuickTime or Real Player. The site is updated with new tunes and articles often, and the "Perfessor" is always available to answer mail on the topic at perfessorbill@hotmail.com. All of this music is part of a great American treasure, and it deserves to be heard by new generations as well as fondly remembered by older ones.
This
site is strictly ragtime, march, and waltz midi files. The site has over 400
midi files. All sequences have been edited by Greenfield Bowie and changes
made to the printed score have been cataloged. Site is well organized and easy
to follow. The files are listed both by composer and by title. Compositions by
Scott Joplin, James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Charles L. Johnson, Percy Wenrich, and
E. T. Paull are also listed separately on their own pages.
Ragtime Music Reviews by
Jack Rummel Visit
this site for reviews on ragtime recordings and folios by Jack
Rummel. Jack Rummel has been writing music reviews since
1978, most of which have appeared in The Rag Times until publication was
interrupted. He is a ragtime composer, author, performer and recording
artist. His weekly radio program, “Ragtime America,” has been
broadcast continuously in the Denver, Colorado area since 1980 and can be heard
on the Web at www.kgnu.org.
Sheet Music Collection Sites
Finally, we recommend the following two sites which have a wealth of public domain sheet music that you may freely download. Unfortunately, both sites do not have many compositions of classic ragtime. However, they do have enormous amounts of music. And yes, you can find ragtime on these sites!
Historic
American Music Collection At Duke University: The Rare Book,
Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University holds a
significant collection of 19th and early 20th century American sheet music. The
Historic American Sheet Music Project provides access to digital images of 3042
pieces from the collection, published in the United States between 1850 and
1920.
Lester S. Levy
Collection at Johns Hopkins University:
The Lester S. Levy
Collection of Sheet Music is part of Special Collections at the Milton S.
Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University. It contains over 30,000
pieces of music and focuses on popular American music spanning the period 1780
to 1960. All pieces of the collection are indexed on this site and a search will
retrieve a catalog description of the pieces. An image of the cover and each
page of music will also be retrieved if the music was published before 1923 and
is in the public domain. Although its strength lies in its thorough
documentation of nineteenth-century American life and culture through cover imagery
and song lyrics, certain themes figure prominently. Mr. Levy lovingly designated
thirty-eight categories of subject material, including costume; dance; drinking,
temperance and smoking; maritime; presidents; sports; and transportation. Music
spawned by military conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I figures
prominently, as does minstrel music.
