Description
The choreographer Kenneth MacMillan took this rag's name for the ballet he made to Joplin's music for the Royal Ballet in 1974 — at the height of the ragtime revival that The Sting had set off, when the music was reaching stages as well as concert halls. The rag itself was published by John Stark in 1902.
As the word "elite" promises, this F major rag carries itself with polish: the melody skips, yet stays trim. The right-hand figuration changes with each strain, so the form never settles into plain repetition. It is one of his longer rags.
Holding one tempo across nearly five minutes is the first hurdle of this intermediate piece. The temptation is to speed up or slow down at each new strain; aim instead to carry a single pulse through the whole. Syncopation is not made by hitting harder — given an exact left hand, it surfaces on its own.
Ragtime pieces centered on Scott Joplin's syncopated rhythms — a lively American genre that helped pave the way for jazz.
Browse all songs in Ragtime →Sheet Music
Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Scott Joplin was an African American composer born in Texas, known as the "King of Ragtime." Blending syncopated, buoyant rhythms with sophisticated harmony, he brought the genre to national prominence with the enormous success of "Maple Leaf Rag." This site includes 18 of his works, such as "The Entertainer" and "Elite Syncopations."
View all works by Joplin →