Here are some videos we watched and discussed, of pieces by Scott Joplin:
Scott Joplin himself, on piano roll. Piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with holes punched into it.
A piano animation of the "Maple Leaf Rag".
Students then learned about a famous ragtime dance step called the "Castle Walk". We emphasized standing on our tiptoes and swaying.
Here are some of our 5th graders trying out the dance!
I just checked out the Piano Animation (Maple Leaf Rag) YouTube video and was curious about the bouncing blue balls. I know they are supposed to coincide with what fingers play on the keys, but at one point I paused the video and counted 11 balls! That was just because of timing, I think. But it still seems like more than one person must be playing this (as in a duet), even though it is only one person. Lots of good information here!
ReplyDeleteYes it does seem like two people could be playing it since it's quite complicated and there is such a distinction between the left and right hand parts! It could be a duet even. I think the video is meant to be more visually stimulating for students even though it gets confusing if I focus on the bouncy balls too much and how long they're in the air, etc.!
Delete