The name ragtime refers to the "ragged", or off-the-beat, syncopated rhythms of ragtime. To rag a piece of music is to play with its rhythms, to make them jazzier. This is one of the most important characteristics of ragtime.

In classic ragtime, in order to give the ragged rhythms something to play off of, the beat is strongly established. Usually this is done with a strong march-like "boom-chick-boom-chick" or "oom-pah-oom-pah" rhythm in the accompaniment. Ragtime was originally considered a dance music, so the strong, steady beat was important.

Figure 1: Listen to this steady march-like accompaniment, with the bass on every beat and chord on every upbeat. This type of accompaniment is often described as "boom-chick" or "oom-pah".

Against this strong, steady rhythm, the melody gives its ragged, syncopated rhythms.

Figure 2: Here is the melody along with the accompaniment. Notes that are off the beat (in this case, not lined up with a bass note) that are also higher or longer than surrounding notes are in red. Notice that most of the high notes and long notes in the phrase are not on the beat; this is the essence of syncopation. Listen to just the melody or to both.

The texture of ragtime is normally strongly homophonic. There is a single obvious melody with a strongly chord-based accompaniment. The accompaniment usually includes mostly parallel harmonies or chords that support the melody and have the same rhythm, and the independent rhythmic accompaniment described above in rhythm.

Scott Joplin and most of the other great classic ragtime composers were also performers who made a living playing piano. Some (including Joplin) also played in and directed bands. Most classic rags were written for piano. Many have been transcribed for band. The original piano compositions are easiest to find, but some of the lively band transcriptions (particularly those for a dixieland-style combo) are also popular.

Ragtime music is strongly tonal. The chordal accompaniment not only establishes a very strong beat; it also very strongly establishes the key. Most sections of the music end very strongly on the tonic chord and never stray far from the key. But look again at the example above from Scott Joplin's "Easy Winners". In spite of its strong tonality, ragtime has plenty of accidentals. Just as the syncopations (the notes that aren't on the beat) play with the strong beat and keeps it from getting boring, the accidentals (the notes that aren't in the tonality) play with the strong tonality and keep it from getting boring.

The accidentals that show up often in ragtime are related to the "blue" notes in blues and jazz. In some rags, for example Joplin's "Solace", the general effect of these chromaticisms is wistful and blue rather than cheerfully playful. European traditions favored strongly tonal music and simple rhythms. Like the syncopations, rag's departures from tonality are part of the heritage of the African-American music tradition.

The rhythms and pitches of ragtime were strongly influenced by African-American traditions, but the overall form of classic ragtimes was borrowed from European-American traditions.

Many classic rags have a short (not repeated) introduction, followed by several longer repeated sections. The key often changes for the last section or two, usually by adding a flat or subtracting a sharp

Figure 3: This is an outline of a very typical rag. The structure is very similar to a Sousa march as well as many European dances. A classic rag may leave out the intro or the key change, or shorten or leave out the return of the first strain.

A Typical Rag Form

This pattern will be very familiar to anyone who has played a lot of traditional European or American marches or dances. In fact, the section at the key change in a rag is sometimes marked as the "trio", just as it is in marches and many other European forms. Traditional dances and patriotic marches were an integral part of American life at that time, and ragtime composers would have been as familiar with these Western European-American forms as they were with African-American music styles.