Scot Joplin

Scot was born in texas in 1868,in to a poor but musical black family.his father, who was a freed slave,played the violin & his mother played the banjo & sang.scott played the violin & bugle but his favourite instrument was his neighbour's piano.his father worked extra hours to buy him a battered old grand piano & soon scott was playing by ear negro tunes,bluse & spirituals.music flowed naturally from his fingers,&he quickly become the talk of the town.

                      scott didn't learn to read music untill he was 11,when an old germen music teacher spotted his talent & gave him free,formel piano lessons.he learned to play the works of such composers as bach,beethoven & mozart as well as his improved music.thus when he stated to write music,his tunes were a maxture of classical euorpean & african beat.this unique style was known as ragtime & was played everywhere in  USA in the early 1900s by both black & white musicians.

                       In 1882 when scott was 14, his mother died & he left home to seek his fortune in st.louis.in the 1880s,st.louis was bustling with life.the waterfront of the mississippi river was full of grangsters,gamblers &sailors.the sound of music was everywhere-black &white mixed.the hot steamy nights were filled with bluse,songs,banjos &pianos.scott was soon playing regtime piano in cheap bars on the waterfront.this was a rough,tough area of the city where arguments over money were settled with fits &guns.scott grew up very fast & his musical talent continued to develop.scott joplin died in 1917.