Ragtime Music Denounced at Convention

Here's an old article on ragtime music from The Sunday Telegraph dated June 2, 1901. Notice the irony of the caption how "long haired individuals" says the music is "rot trash" and "distinctively vulgar"?  Pretty much the same reaction when Rock -n- Roll came onto the scene with The Beatles, Elvis and others. 

Read more on this article.

K.K. Ragtime

K.K. Ragtime this is a song that came from a Nintendo video game called "Animal Crossing." K.K. Slider is the name of the dog character seen in this video. Kazumi Totaka is the original composer of the song in the video but this K.K. Ragtime piano piece was arranged by Ron O'Dell. This is no old-timey ragtime song but it is certainly a modern ragtime piece that Tom Brier exclaimed after playing it for the first time, "Oh, that's cute!"

I love playing this piece. It is indeed fun to play it on my piano, especially my antique player piano.

Hope you like Tom Brier's video!

Ragtime Era Clothes

One good way to research ragtime era clothing (between 1890 and 1929) is to examine the cover sheets of old ragtime scores. This can be done by browsing at digital libraries such as the University of Colorado Digital Sheet Music Collection or any number of sources seen in the link on the right side column of my blog (scroll down some) under "Free Ragtime Sheets." In there you will find cover sheets that depict people or couples wearing clothes at the time of publication. A fairly accurate way to ensure that the clothes you see is indeed ragtime era clothing between 1890 and 1929 (which is the end period prior to the terrible stock market crash in 1929). Good times before everything went south. This will help gain a better understanding on the types of clothing to wear if you decide to dress correctly for that era such wearing costumes for ragtime festivals, ragtime society groups, or compete in World Championship Old Time Piano Playing contests when the rules call for clothes as an authentic period dress, preferably so between 1890 and 1929.

Enjoy!

A deaf pianist?

A  deaf pianist??  Is there such a thing? Certainly. I am one of them. Specifically, a deaf ragtime pianist. I am also hard of hearing if that helps since I do have useable hearing in my right ear I take advantage of with my hearing aid. My left ear is no good.

Playing the piano is something I love to do and it is no mystery to me that deaf people can be pianists, enjoy playing it and be good at it. When I get the chance to sit down at the piano it becomes a relaxing affair even when I'm practicing a new ragtime piece. I'm no beginner here. I began playing the piano since I was 7 years old. That was over 40 years ago. Discovered ragtime in my early teens.   I continue to play and practice new ragtime songs on my 1920 Thompson player piano as well as my Kohler & Campbell piano. I play pieces like Kitten on the Keys by Zez Confrey, Black and White by George Botsford, Bag of Rags by WR McKanlass, Scott Joplin pieces, K.K. Ragtime by Kazumi Totaka, Apple Sass by Harry Belding, American Beauty by Joseph Lamb and many, many more.  The links are pages to free music sheets download.

Not all pianists born with a hearing loss have the same amount or type of frequency hearing loss. Some are born with mild hearing loss others have severe to profound hearing loss. I wear a hearing aid in my right ear while my left is no good. I can hear all of the 88-key notes. Some deaf pianists are unable to hear the higher notes or the lower notes even with the help of a  hearing aid. Some pianists wear cochlear implants.  Each of us has a preference to a particular type of piano pieces we like to play whether it'd be classical, country, jazz, ragtime, rock, or boogie woogie. For me, I am simply fascinated with the ragtime and novelty pieces. So I prefer to spend my time playing those pieces than classical scores.

What do you prefer to play?

Revival

It's been awhile since my last post. Things have been busy distracting me from my blogging.  I also had to stop playing the piano for several months to allow my upper back to heal. I could not sit for more than 10 minutes on my piano bench without getting some serious aches and pain between my shoulder blades. Results of sleeping on a bed that did my back no favor. Switched to a different bedding and can see the improvements. I now can sit on the bench an hour or so at time and not feel the effects. Plus, my left hand has been experiencing trigger finger type condition. I just do too much with my hands working the yard, chopping woods, hammering, working on the computer laptop, piano playing and any gripping motion. So, I'm trying to limit my playing time on the piano but I have recently been practicing and playing more over the last month playing the piano about 2 times a week. I'd like to do it everyday but that may have to wait. 

I plan on doing more ragtime piano blogging. Being a (the only) deaf pianists, that I know of ,who enjoy playing ragtime. It is not often I come across a deaf or hard of hearing pianist. But, ah, so many things to do right now.

Making Music with a Hearing Loss: Strategies and Stories

That book is now available in Amazon. I'll be getting a free copy of it since I'm one of the several deaf/hh musicians who were interviewed for that book. My narrative can be found in the final chapter of that book.

There are many texts on music and hearing loss, but what makes this volume unique is that it does not require the reader to have any previous background in hearing science. It is written in non-technical language for the layman, and begins by explaining how the human ear hears sound. It covers the interplay between music, speech and hearing devices and discusses hearing conservation for musicians. The final chapter contains inspiring narratives from eleven deaf or hard of hearing musicians belonging to the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss. These eleven stories describe using a variety of strategies to integrate hearing loss and music making. Musicians new to hearing loss, hearing-impaired adults wanting to learn a musical instrument, audiologists, music educators, and music researchers will also find this book a valuable addition to their library collection.

I'll be waiting with great anticipation for my free copy. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and enjoy music, this will be a great book to have. If you have a hearing loss and is considering on wanting to play a musical instrument, don't let your hearing loss stop you. And if you do play a musical instrument....don't stop! Keep practicing and find other like minded people who enjoy playing music with their musical instruments.

Sky Mundell wins Vancouver Island's Got Talent!

I covered him briefly before of him playing on his piano in a YouTube clip. His name is Sky Mundel. But the amazing thing is that not only is he blind and deaf but he has cerbral palsy and is autistic. He won the coveted Vancouver Island's Got Talent contest that took place this year on January 20th.

The 19-year-old pianist wowed the judges and audience alike at the finale for Vancouver Island's Got Talent Jan. 21, as he had throughout the competition, with two pieces dedicated to his mother and sister.

"It was a pleasure playing in this competition and I certainly will have a lot of fun performing in Las Vegas," he said upon taking to the stage after event host Maria Manna announced him as the winner.

Mundell, whose goal is to pursue a career in the music industry, will get a head start on that dream thanks to his win.

He will travel to Vegas to sign a contract with the Nevada Talent Agency, will perform at Planet Hollywood there as part of V: The Ultimate Variety Show, will receive image consulting and a professional marketing package.

He also won recording time for a three-song demo CD, a professional photo shoot and help setting up a web and social media presence.

This is an incredible young man, 19 years old, to win this competition. Below are the videos of the Vancouver Island's Got Talent with him in it.


Final round and announcement of Sky Mundell as the winner out of 84 contestants.


2nd round in VIGT competition in November 2010.


1st round in October 2010

Someday soon I would like to meet him personally since Vancouver Island (Canada) is about a 6 hours drive from where I live. I am fascinated by pianists who are blind and a savant but Sky Mundell is quite the incredible and different pianist who happens to be deaf and austistic. In fact, I do have an interest in musically talented pianists who are blind and are classified as savants but Sky Mundell is a different breed. And why the interest? Well, naturally I'm a pianist myself who play ragtime and novelty rag pieces who happens to have a hearing loss in both ears.

It was late last year when I read a book about a black, blind savant pianist named "Blind Tom" who was one of the nineteenth century's most famous and perplexing pianists. A man with such an uncanny talent that very few of us would even dare hope to hold. It was several years ago when I became fascinated with pianists who are blind and classified as savants when I saw a show about boy named Derek Paravicini who is such a pianist who is now an adult today. But for Sky Mundell, I'd say that a congratulation is in order for this young man. May he find success and joy!

Dis 'n' dat...

Practice, practice, practice....fun all the time! It is for me when it comes to learning a new ragtime or novelty rag piece like Black and White, Champagne Rag, Bag of Rags, A Breeze from Alabama, Top Liner Rag, Sensation Rag, and American Beauty Rag.

I just started on the American Beauty Rag last week. It's a tricky piece. It'll be awhile til I get around to really practicing it and get it down pat. I already practicing like 30 different pieces right now with more on the back burner as I go through these free, downloadable ragtime music sheets for my growing digital collection.

Champagne Rag is a nice surprise after playing it for a week or so. Plays nicely either slow or fast. I plan on memorizing this piece soon enough.

One of the best Joplin songs I love playing so far is A Breeze from Alabama. Almost completely memorized by now.

Black and White Rag? A cool one. Already memorized. There's a video of me playing it.

Kitten on the Keys is next on my list and I've been practicing off and on with this one. Tough one if played fast but delightful to listen to.

Of course, my plan is to play these pieces up on video soon enough someday.

A Purveyor of Pleasingly Pianistic Pyrotechnics of Ragtime Music

My music began at the age of 7 when my fingers first touched the black and white keys on our first piano in my parents’ house. I begged my Mom and Dad to get a piano because I wanted to learn how to play the piano thinking it was cool to have a piano. Of the three of us siblings, my younger sister and older brother, I was the only one who continued to practice on our piano. Over the years I had fun performing at piano recitals though many did not realize that I was deaf/hh. In my early teens I discovered ragtime though when younger my first piece was a simplified version of “The Entertainer” - a widely popular and recognizable Scott Joplin ragtime piece. My love for ragtime stayed with me even while as I was absent from ever touching a piano during my college days and while raising a family that took away much of my time the opportunity to even play on piano on a regular basis. But that didn’t stop me from reading books on ragtime and the people while collecting ragtime piano sheet music whenever I could. The internet over the last several years has made it easier to learn about ragtime, the people (new and old), the history, the music and lots of free ragtime music sheets I can print out. My time finally came in December 2008 when I bought myself a piano. I decided upon a goal to get back into ragtime with fervor and become the first known deaf/hh ragtime pianist. It will take some time, gradually and slowly for sure. I sure hope I have some fun getting there.

It won’t be easy to be an accomplished ragtime pianist. The question I am facing is how accomplish can I become? This goal of mine will certainly take some time since I started my long hours of practicing last year starting January 2009. I’ve been absent from my piano much too long. My fingers and hands would require getting used to playing the piano on a constant basis. Just like when it comes to sports or exercising, one has to build up to it until so you can practice for hours and not have your fingers get tired. At first I was sore and felt clumsy playing it, my coordination was a bit off but with gradual practicing and finger exercises I was finally able to get to the point of practicing 4 or 5 hours a day if I wanted to. Though my normal, ideal, amount of time is about 2 to 3 hours a day. It takes time to get the proper hand/eye coordination in place, have your brain adapt more fluidly to reading piano music sheets, getting the dynamics down correctly, knowing where to place your fingers and hands without looking, learning to listen to the notes and make sure they sound right, get the timing down, using the right amount of application, getting the right melody, and so on…..done automatically. For me, it takes even more practice to get it down right while others are a pure natural at playing the piano. I may be a “natural” in some sense but it sure doesn’t feel like it...yet. There is a 25 year gap I’ve got to catch up on. Though my sight reading on new music sheet pieces are becoming easier nowadays though by no means I can whiz right though them. There are thousands of ragtime songs out there, many of them available over the internet. I collect them for my growing ragtime portfolio. My goal is to play as many of these ragtime pieces and memorize some of them when I can. Someday I'll eventually move into more early Jazz pieces (e.g. Jelly Roll Morton) and stride piano (e.g. Fats Waller) but for now it’s all ragtime and lot of catching up to do.

How to describe ragtime piano to deaf people?

There are certain music I believe that most deaf people, especially those born with a hearing loss or lose it early in life, do not even know it exist or even care for it. One of that music is ragtime. I genre of music that I've come to know and enjoy immensely.

What is ragtime anyway? According to Scott Joplin, the "King of Ragtime," he aptly described ragtime music as "weird and intoxicating" when played right. Yeah, but that doesn't describe it does it? In ragtime on a piano it is the (melodic) syncopation of the right hand with the accented bass movement of the left hand. Chords do not define ragtime but the syncopated style that makes ragtime music recognizable. Which is why it's called "ragged time." Confused? Ok. The bare bones description. On the piano it combines the left hand bass movements (the "oom-pah oom-pah" feel to it) with the deep bass notes that you can actually feel the vibration. The right hand movements play the syncopated movements that produces the melody with an off-beat sound to it. This is mostly the higher notes which is harder to feel and detect its vibrations. With that combination of sound it gives that particular "weird and intoxicating" flavor of music to it.

It's hard to describe to a deaf person on why ragtime is so enjoyable and pleasing to listen to just as it's hard to describe to a blind person why a particular painting is so wonderful and pleasing to look at. Descriptions can only go so far. Other senses must be used help fill in this gap.

First, if you have a good set of speakers for your computer (or to an even larger, stronger external set of speakers) let's go to John Roache's website where he describes what ragtime is all about and a chance for you to feel (and perhaps hear) what it "sounds" like. John Roache is able to break it down into separate, identifiable music and when combined makes it into a ragtime music. In this case, he uses the familiar tune of "Mary had a little lamb" and turns that into a ragtime example.

All I can say is that as with jazz, stride piano, novelty piano, or even ragtime piano, one has to appreciate the musical qualities behind them in order to truly enjoy these genre periods. I don't expect Deaf people to understand why I enjoy and play ragtime piano except that I find it "weird and intoxicating" whenever I play it. It's a musical art that keeps on giving.

Portland Ragtime Society new monthly meeting place

From the Elevated Coffee website, please note the new change of venue for the monthly meeting of the Portland Ragtime Society:

The Portland Ragtime Society conducts their monthly meetings at Elevated Coffee every first Sunday of the month

Everyone is welcome to participate.

DATE: Every first Sunday of the month

TIME: 3:00-6:00

LOCATION: Elevated Coffee, 5261 NE M. L. King Jr. Blvd, Portland, OR 97211 (see map)

Elevated Coffee is located in the Vanport Square, one block south of Killingsworth, and across the street from the Blazers Boys & Girls Club.

Map of location.

Come one, come all. I'll be there once again for sure and have fun with their new, white baby grand piano at Elevated Coffee.

Weeping Willow

Here's my piano ragtime piece called "Weeping Willow," a Scott Joplin piece. Excuse the "clacking" sound you may hear. The piano also sounded a bit odd in a several pieces of this music because of the laptop camera microphone being too close to the wall that unnaturally amplied certain notes whic made the "clacking" noise. Next time I'll move it away from the wall for a more fuller sound, hopefully so. In this video, I was just basically messing around and I'll need to play a bit more smoother in some spots the next time since I was getting a feel of my new laptop and camera. But for now, just enjoy my piece.

An update

Hello all. I got a new lap with a better video cam and I'm currently playing around with it and soon to have a few videos up on me playing some ragtime pieces. Just be patient and things will come around soon enough. My other laptop's video cam didn't do justice when it came to video-taping my playing. It just came out not as clear and motions were blurry such as my recent Black and White rag video. So, sit tight as I get around to a good time to capture my video when everything is quiet in my house. I plan to play Blarney Kisses and Weeping Willow.

Another hard of hearing pianist playing ragtime

Here's an "hearing impaired" pianist playing Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. Don't know who this guy is but he is playing a ragtime piano piece, though.

A tuned piano...

Last week I finally got my piano tuned and it certainly sounds so much better. It was tuned by a blind piano tuner named Kevin. Real nice guy and we talked briefly over the two hours it took to tune the piano to its crisp and melodic sound. The piano really needed the tuning after two moves and then subsequently across several states to its final destination after I bought it brand new back in December 2008. Now with the ragtime pieces I'm playing they sound so much better but some pianos do sound better with certain rag pieces than other pianos, even newer ones. Even my aunt's player piano sounded really great when I played several ragtime pieces for year. Another dream of mine is to get an antique player piano someday. It'd be a really great center-piece for my house (aside from a baby grand piano) and a fun one to play on. So many rags to choose from, the list just keeps growing. Ain't that great or what?

A Bag of Rags

Two weeks to go til I go to the next monthly Portland Ragtime Society get together and I'm thinking about trying "A Bag of Rags" piece by W.R. MacKanlass. I was looking at the piece today and played my fingers on my kitchen table just to get a feel of it. A doable piece to do in a short time. Maybe memorize it by then? Dunno since I continue to practice other pieces such as Kitten on the Keys which I'm improving slowly. Maybe in time for the October meet up instead? Plus I really like the toe tappin sound of A Bag of Rags piece.

Here's the YouTube version. And here's the free music sheet A Bag of Rags you can download from.



I may even do Humoresque of a Little Dog by Ron O'Dell. A new piece but more modern rag piece. The tune came from a Nintento role-playing series called "Mother" which is the Japanese title but the English title is "EarthBound." It was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka. The piano sheets can be downloaded here. Though I don't know if I will be ready by then since I'll be wanting to do A Bag of Rags first while I have time. We'll see.




And here's the original Humoresque of a Little Dog "Mother Earth" just to get the idea of what it sounds like.



And it has the same bit of rag heard in a 1928 popular guitar ragtime piece called "Dallas Rag."

Portland Ragtime Society Meetup

Today I met up with Mark Nuismer and another older gentleman named Kurt (sorry, didn't get the last name!) at their monthly Portland Ragtime Society get together. Although I arrived late at the It's a Beautiful Pizza restaurant where the ragtime piano playing was taking place. It was well past 2 PM. At least they were happy to see that there a 3rd player show up since it was only between the two of them on the piano for four hours (from 2 to 6 pm). Next time I'll show up on time.

(Please note there has been a change in venue since last year. Visit my updated blog on the new monthly meeting location).



Mark Nuismer plays a ragtime piece.


Mark in the background. Front of restaurant (It's a Beautiful Pizza)looking from the front to back. Psychedelic wall coverings and peace signs (in another room).

The piano I played on was quite old (didn't even look what brand it was) but I'm sure it was or used to be a player piano along with some loose keys, some were exposed down to the rough wood, and some of the white keys were missing, too. It was a bit different playing that piano with such a crappy keyboard condition, though it did carry an alright tune for its age. I am so used to a piano keyboard that's smooth with all the black and white colors in place, nicely laminated. One piece of a white key covering actually flew off when I played Black and White Rag. I heard a "click" sound and then suddenly a white piece from a white keyboard flies off. It startled me enough to ruin my concentration. I introduced my piano pieces through a microphone to a listening audience. And did some short commentaries just to keep things moving. All in all I wasn't that nervous to begin with and it was enjoyable. No picture of me playing it. I completely forgot about that one. Next time, for sure, I'll put one up.

I played one new ragtime piece that neither Mark nor Kurt heard of and that was K.K. Ragtime. Kurt even asked about it and I told him where he can get an electronic copy of it. Mark laughed when I explained to him how KK Ragtime came from a tune in a Nintendo game called Animal Crossing.

Afterwards Mark told me about another place in Portland where there is an open-mic night for musicians tomorrow and he invited me to join him and play some ragtime tunes. I can't go since my mother will fly up to visit me and then her sister in The Dalles, Oregon. Told him to keep me in touch if he wants me to join him in on those open-mic night. But here's the good news. They split up the money from the tip jar and I got $10. Whoo hoo! Ok. Not that much but at least this opportunity allows me to play before an audience. Meanwhile, Sept 6 will be the next Portland Ragtime Society get together.

KK Ragtime by Mike McConnell

This is an up and coming popular ragtime that was spurred on by a Ragtime master himself Tom Brier. Here I play slightly faster than what the Animal Crossing game character KK Slider would sing. And so I decided to throw in a bit of KK Slider's "wack wack" voice into my playing just for effect and have a bit of fun. Not perfect like Tom's nor KK Slider's voice but what the heck, I like this piece. A few blips here and there but essentially it went well.

Video's not smooth but at least the sound came through alright. I had to turn off my fan in my house, turn on my halogen light (hot!!), a house with no air conditioner, and we hit a record high of 106 degrees in the Vancouver-Portland area. I was already sweating by the time I hit the record button. And now I need a cold shower. Enjoy!




Mike McConnell's previous video piano pieces:

Black and White Rag
Maple Leaf Rag

Humoresque of a Little Dog

Here's a ragtime piece played for the first time by the, what else, amazing Tom Brier.



If you like K.K. Ragtime you'll probably like this one. You can download the piano sheet music of this piece here.

Tom Brier sight reads a ragtime piece "Tuxedo Vegas"

Tom is one of those (extremely) rare gifted ragtime pianists that we all dreamed of being one and I couldn't help but feel feel that twinge of jealousy seeing him belt out a new piece, sight unseen and unheard, for the first time, "Tuxedo Vegas." Bravo to Tom on his well played piece!



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