The Joplin family was very musical. Florence sang and played banjo, while Jiles played the violin, and Scott played the piano, violin and sang.

While in Texarkana, Scott’s talents were noticed by a local music teacher, Julius Weiss. Weiss educated him further, with emphasis on European art forms and opera. It is believed that this education was his basis for his composing form.

The 1880s found Joplin in Lincoln High School, located in the black district of Sedalia, Missouri. Records show many black families with the “Joplin” name in Sedalia at that time. It is thought that he could have been related

In 1899 Joplin and music sore owner John Stark published the greatest and most famous piano rag, The Maple Leaf Rag. Sales the first year were about 400, but as the piece became known sales increased. By 1909 sales had reached a half-million copies and would increase for the next twenty or so years.

to and staying with a number of them.

Shortly after The Maple Leaf Rag Joplin completed a piece called The Ragtime Dance, although not released until 1902 it was preformed in the Woods Opera House in Sedalia on November 24, 1899.

In 1910 Joplin completed Treemonisha, his second opera. The opera failed miserably, it had no spoken dialogue and what was spoken was hard to understand. The opera insisted that the blacks needed education to survive, which they did not want to hear at the time.

Some topics in this essay:
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