Q 01/05

What musical term describes ragtime's 'ragged' rhythm, with accents falling between the beats?

A) Syncopation

B) Rubato

C) Polyphony

D) Tremolo

Answer · why

A) Syncopation

Joplin called the effect 'weird and intoxicating' and used the word 'swing' to describe how to play it, decades before swing became a jazz style.

Q 02/05

Which pre-ragtime dance form took its name from the prize at plantation dance contests?

A) Two-step

B) Cakewalk

C) Slow drag

D) Foxtrot

Answer · why

B) Cakewalk

It began as a processional partner dance performed with mock formality, and many early rags were written for it.

Q 03/05

Ragtime's steady left-hand bass was borrowed from the marches of which American bandleader?

A) Patrick Gilmore

B) Arthur Pryor

C) John Philip Sousa

D) James Reese Europe

Answer · why

C) John Philip Sousa

One critic called ragtime an Afro-American version of the polka or the Sousa-style march, with a syncopated melody laid over the top.

Q 04/05

Rags were usually written in 4/4 or which other time signature?

A) 3/4

B) 6/8

C) 5/4

D) 2/4

Answer · why

D) 2/4

Bass notes land on the strong beats and chords on the weak ones; a rag written in triple time is called a ragtime waltz.

Q 05/05

Which vaudeville musician first used the word 'ragtime' in 1896 and holds the earliest copyright on a published rag?

A) Ben Harney

B) Tom Turpin

C) Ernest Hogan

D) Irving Jones

Answer · why

A) Ben Harney

His 'You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke Down' was registered in Louisville in January 1895, and he later billed himself as ragtime's inve...