Ragtime en el ukelele

Mi sexto libro de composiciones originales para ukelele, Eight Rags a Week, incluye ocho nuevas piezas en estilo ragtime para ukelele en afinación reentrante.

Lo publica y distribuye internacionalmente The Ukulele Bookshop. Está disponible tanto en edición impresa como digital en PDF.

Esto es Saturday’s Rag, una de las piezas incluidas.

Pero, ¿qué es el ragtime?

El ragtime es un estilo musical desarrollado a finales del siglo XIX. Lo caracterizan sus melodías sincopadas sobre una base rítmica solida, a tierra. Viene a ser una combinación de los polirritmos africanos con la polca europea.

En esta nota te propongo una lista de reproducción en la que disfrutar de algunas interpretaciones de ragtime al ukelele. ¡Quizá descubras un nuevo artista favorito!

Parlour Music, de John Kavanagh, publicado en 2006, es uno de los primeros discos de ukelele que me encandilaron cuando empecé a tocar el uke. Se trata de una colección de «Ragtime & Classical Duets for Uke and Guitar» (duetos clásicos y ragtime para ukelele y guitarra) arreglada e interpretada por el propio Kavanagh.

He escogido Honolulu Cakewalk para nuestra lista. Esta pieza fue escrita por J. W. Lerman en 1899, y clasificada como ragtime march (marcha ragtime). La partitura original está disponible en línea Hope you’ll enjoy it!

By the way, John Kavanagh wrote Rag that Uke for the Ukulele Yes! blog. A recommendable read.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was an American composer an pianist, nicknamed “King of Ragtime”. He wrote a bunch of extraordinary ragtime pieces. Among his well know compositions, I bet you know The Entertainer or the Maple Leaf Rag. For today’s playlist, I’ve selected his Heliotrope Bouquet as performed by The Original Redcats, a trio of guitar, bass, and Ukulelezaza on ukulele, banjo or whatever.

12th Street Rag, published by Euday L. Bowman in 1914, is probably the most infamous rag in the ukulele world. Worldly known as the SpongeBob SquarePants closing theme, there are many amazing versions to choose from, such as the one by Roy Smeck where the steel guitar leads the tune. But for our ukulele ragtime show I’ve gone with Johnny Marvin and William Carola’s version on ukulele and guitar.

Forward a century: in 2020 Phil Doleman released an album of original ragtime music for solo ukulele. Rags, Cakewalks & Dances is available on Bandcamp as a set of audio recordings and a tablature ebook. It’s a fine collection that I enjoy performing and I fully endorse. For today’s selection, I chose The Breakfast Rag.

Listening to–and studying–Doleman’s pieces led me to consider my own collection of ukulele ragtimes. I had already included a couple of them in my first book, 50 Miniature Studies for Ukulele. Medium Rare Please among them.

In May the Low 4th I included The Balcony Rag, performed here by Tony Mizen.

And for the collection of Brevities for baritone ukulele I wrote this Brevity for Gwendolyn dedicated to the amazing Gwendolyn Fitz.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of ragtime music on the ukulele. I’ve set up a YouTube playlist with all these pieces you can save and revisit as you like.

Remember: if you’re in the mood to play some tricky original ragtimes, Eight Rags a Week may be the sheet music book you’re looking for.