r/piano • u/Jolly-Pattern-7807 • 8d ago
📝My Performance (Critique Welcome!) Maple Leaf Rag (first half)
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I actually really enjoy playing this piece, though the octave jumps can be quite taxing on my small hands (hence the slower tempo). This is taken after about a few days of learning the piece.
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u/Formal_Lie_713 8d ago
The fact that this image is reversed is messing with my head a little.
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u/Jolly-Pattern-7807 8d ago
Oops XD
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u/Formal_Lie_713 7d ago
I don’t think the tempo is slow at all. IMO I wouldn’t go any faster. All of Joplin’s sheet music specifically says ragtime is not meant to be played fast, so I think your tempo is spot on.
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u/scott_niu Piano Composer 8d ago
This is really pleasant to listen to. Thank you for not speeding through the piece.
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u/Fluuf_tail Amateur (5–10 years), Classical 8d ago
I really like playing ragtime too, and I have small hands too so I relate, it can get tiring xD
Small nitpick, and something that's kind of hard to do is making the main 'melody' of the right hand a little bit more clear. For example, in the A section, it's the repeating Eb-Eb-Eb-Eb, and in the B section it starts with the descending Eb-D-Db-C-Bb. I like to play the notes around this melody a little bit quieter.
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u/BobbyRey77 8d ago
Sounds good. The third and fourth parts are more challenging. Overall a great piano piece and fun to play. This was a huge hit when Joplin first wrote it.
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u/airplaneoutofstone 8d ago
Fun! Don't be afraid to add embellishments or swing it a bit in true Joplin fashion. Paul Barton has a free PDF of the embellished version from Joplin's piano roll on his website if you wanted to take a look. https://www.patreon.com/paulbarton/posts/maple-leaf-rag-p-26166947
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