Scott Joplin (c. 1867/68 - April 1, 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist, who came to be known as the "King of Ragtime Writers". Joplin was born in to a family of railroad laborers in Texas, but got as much musical knowledge as he could from local teachers, and ended up  forming a vocal quartet, and teaching mandolin and guitar. He later left for the south to work as a itinerant musician, and eventually found his way up  to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which contributed towards the ragtime craze.Joplin isn't an obscure composer, yet so many of his works are overlooked in favor of his two most well known rags--The Entertainer, and the Maple Leaf rags. He wrote over forty rags however, and their charm isn't just limited to those two! The Easy Winners is yet another example of a great rag.  Ragtime pieces were modifications of marches (like the kind made popular by John Philip Sousa). Additional polyrhythms and syncopations are added particularly in the right hand, giving rhythm a "ragged" feeling, while beat one and three are strong in the left hand. The Easy Winners fits the bill for a good rag, with it's happy old time melody, syncopations, and fun  melodic progressions.

Here are some recordings of this piece for you to enjoy!

Alexander Peskanov
Roy Eaton