There will be a ragtime concert at First Congregational Church UCC, in Harwich Center. Musicians will include the Harwich Brass Quintet, directed by Bob Whitehead, organist Marcia Hempel, and clarinet player Lisa Bosley. The concert will include Scott Joplin, and also Fats Waller and George L. Cobb, and will include some of Joplin’s best known pieces, including “Maple Leaf Rag”, “The Entertainer” and the beautiful waltz, “Bethena”. 

Scott Joplin’s rags were among the most well-composed, sophisticated rags ever written. His “Maple Leaf Rag” was published in 1899. Joplin said the term ragtime means it has a “ragged movement”. He wrote vocal music, including the opera “Treemonisha”, but it was his piano pieces that became the most popular. One influence was the combining of ragtime rhythms with march rhythms, which led to the dance called the “Two Step”. Even John Philip Sousa wrote a “two-step”: The Washington Post March.

The Harwich Brass Quintet is Mark Paradis, trumpet; Bob Whitehead, trumpet; Susan Abbott, french horn; Chuck Katuska, trombone, and Bruce Stott, tuba. The concert on April 20 at 3:00 is free of charge.