Description
"The strenuous life" was the phrase Theodore Roosevelt preached in an 1899 speech and used for a book the following year. This 1902 rag takes that political catchphrase of the moment straight as its title — a reminder that Joplin's music sat inside the world around it.
Starting in C major, it moves through changes of key from strain to strain, with a low note count for a Joplin rag and correspondingly clean writing. The right-hand syncopation aims at crispness rather than complexity, and for all the title suggests, the mood is bright and light rather than fierce.
Among the more approachable intermediate pieces Joplin wrote, it is a good one for learning the rhythm. Count aloud to fix exactly where the right hand falls behind the beat. When you can hold the left hand as steady as a machine while only the right is displaced, you have the style.
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 →