
Evans states that among the older black drum and fife musicians of northern Mississippi, making the drums "talk it"-that is, playing rhythm patterns that conform to proverbial phrases or the words of popular fife and drum tunes-"is considered the sign of a good drummer." Palmer observes: "The snare and bass drummers played syncopated cross-rhythms," and speculates-"this tradition must have dated back to the latter half of the nineteenth century, and it could have not have developed in the first place if there hadn't been a reservoir of polyrhythmic sophistication in the culture it nurtured." With this music genre, we see the emergence of a drumming tradition that is distinct from its Caribbean counterparts, expressing a sensibility that is uniquely African American. As a result, an original African American drum and fife music arose, featuring tresillo and related syncopated rhythmic figures. Two decades after drumming was banned in Congo Square, in the post-Civil War period (after 1865), African Americans were able to obtain surplus military bass drums, snare drums and fifes. "It always rouses my imagination," wrote Lydia Parrish of the Georgia Sea Islands in 1942, "to see the way in which the McIntosh County 'shouters' tap their heels on the resonant floor to imitate the beat of the drum their forebears were not allowed to have." leave little doubt that the dancing and stamping constituted a kind of drumming, especially when the worshippers had a wooden church floor to stamp on. Palmer describes the foot-generated music:Īccounts. There are examples of tresillo, or tresillo-like rhythms in a few surviving nineteenth-century African American folk musics, such as patting juba, and the clapping and foot stomping patterns in ring shout.

Anthropologist David Evans did extensive fieldwork in the hill country of northern Mississippi, and reports of black families playing polyrhythmic music in their homes on chairs, tin cans, and empty bottles. Robert Palmer states: " The patting, an ex-slave reported in 1853, 'is performed by striking the right shoulder with one hand, the left hand with the other-all while keeping time with the feet, and singing.'" African Americans also used everyday household items as percussion instruments. African-based rhythmic patterns were retained in the United States in large part, through "body rhythms" such as stomping, clapping, and patting juba. Therefore, unlike in Cuba, Haiti, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, African drumming traditions were not preserved in North America. The " Black Codes" outlawed drumming by slaves. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African syncopation and European classical music, especially the marches made popular by John Philip Sousa." By the start of the 20th century, it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. "Ragtime originated in African American music in the late 19th century, descending from the jigs and march music played by black bands. Pianistit (usein afrikanamerikkalaiset) esiintyivät baareissa, klubeissa ja bordelleissa ragtimen kehittyessä. minstrel show ja vaudeville -esityksissä, jolloin myös monet 'marssiyhtyeet' muodostuivat. Mustat muusikot saattoivat saada 'alemman kastin' keikkoja esim. Vaikka tiukat rotulait estivätkin monesti mustien työllistymisen, löysivät silti monet töitä viihdealalta. Orjuuden lopettaminen 1800-luvun puolivälissä antoi vapautetuille afrikanamerikkalaisille uusia mahdollisuuksia myös kouluttautumiseen. For at least 12 years after its publication, the "Maple Leaf Rag" heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, harmonic progressions or metric patterns. Ernest Hogan was an innovator and key pioneer who helped develop the musical genre, and is credited with coining the term ragtime. Ragtime was also a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music.The ragtime composer Scott Joplin became famous through the publication in 1899 of the " Maple Leaf Rag" and a string of ragtime hits such as " The Entertainer" that followed, although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s.


Louis and New Orleans years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of African American communities in St. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. Ragtime (alternatively spelled rag-time or rag time) is a musical genre that enjoyed its peak popularity between 18. Ragtime 'First musical genre born in America'
