Classic Ragtime

Classic ragtime is the composed school of American ragtime centred on *Scott Joplin*, *Joseph Lamb* and *James Scott* between roughly 1897 and 1917. Unlike improvised folk rag, the classic rag is a fully notated piano work in the multi-strain form of the march, its right hand weaving steady syncopation against a regular oom-pah left hand, published as sheet music for the home parlor rather than improvised in the saloon. Published chiefly from Sedalia and St. Louis by *John Stark*, the repertory aspired to art-music status, extending to Joplin's ragtime opera and ballet, and was revived in the 1970s as a cornerstone of American classical music.