Scott Joplin

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SCOTT JOPLIN

April 7, 2004

Scott Joplin is thought to have been born in mid –1867 in or near Linden, Texas. His birth parents were Florence Givens and Jiles Joplin; Scott was the second of six children. Sometime in 1871 the family moved to Texarkana, Texas where Scott’s mother cleaned the homes of the well off white people. These homes were where Scott learned to play the piano. In 1882 Scott’s mother purchased the first piano for the Joplin home.
The Joplin family was very musical. Florence sang and played banjo, while Jiles played the violin, and Scott played the piano, violin and sang.
While in Texarkana, Scott’s talents were noticed by a local music teacher, Julius Weiss. Weiss educated him further, with emphasis on European art forms and opera. It is believed that this education was his basis for his composing form.
The 1880s found Joplin in Lincoln High School, located in the black district of Sedalia, Missouri. Records show many black families with the “Joplin” name in Sedalia at that time. It is thought that he could have been related to and staying with a number of them.
In 1891 Joplin began his traveling. First he began touring with a minstrel group in Texarkana. Then in 1893 he was said to be in Chicago playing the cornet and leading a band, probably somewhere outside of the 1893 World’s Fair. After the Fair he set up in Sedalia, and that became his home. There ha played first cornet with the Queen City Cornet Band. After a year of playing with the band, he began to itch for the road. He formed the Texas Medley Group, his first vocal group and went to Syracuse, New York. There he impressed several businessmen, who issued his first two publications, Please Say You Will and A Picture of Her Face.
While not on the road, Joplin worked in Sedalia as a pianist and at the town’s two black gentlemen’s clubs, the Maple Leaf Rag and the Black 400 Club. Also he taught some of the young musicians in tow...