rhythm in which the accompaniment is strict two-four time and the melody, with improvised embellishments, is in steady syncopation.
a style of American music having this rhythm, popular from about 1890 to 1915.
Scott Joplin was a famous composer and performer of ragtime.
Ragtime is a genre of music that was very popular in the early 20th century. The bouncing, energetic rhythms of ragtime were ideal dance music. Ragtime is credited with being the first African-American musical form; jazz, which was strongly influenced by ragtime, followed soon afterward. While distinctions between the two genres vary, ragtime is generally described as piano-based and in duple meter, with two main beats per measure. The syncopated ragtime sound became enormously popular after the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Today, Scott Joplin is probably the most well-known ragtime composer. Ragtime comes from the American dialect word rag, "dance ball."
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"Ragtime" star Joshua Henry didn't just attend the red carpet.
From BBC • May 4, 2026
His original compositions were recorded by the pianist and composer Aaron Robinson and released in 2015 as “Max Morath: The Complete Ragtime Works for Piano.”
From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2023
‘Nosferatu’ with Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra Elsewhere, Murnau’s classic screens with the orchestra performing the film’s original score live to picture.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 18, 2022
A role in the original Broadway cast of "Ragtime" soon followed.
From Salon • Sep. 8, 2022
He can play Alexander’s Ragtime Band without notes.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
