Scott Joplin and the Rag That Changed America

Scott Joplin invented a new American music called ragtime — and spent his whole life trying to prove it was real art. In 1899, a music publisher walked into a club in Sedalia, Missouri, heard Scott play, and took a chance on Maple Leaf Rag. It became the first piece of sheet music ever to sell over 75,000 copies. Scott also wrote a full opera, Treemonisha, that was rejected in his lifetime — but sixty years after his death, it won a special Pulitzer Prize. Along the way, the listener learns about regular beats, the surprise of syncopation, and the many rhythmic languages of Scott’s music.