McMullen: Happenings in ragtime

Sedalia has always tried to indoctrinate its children with a love of ragtime. They let the kids out of class for an hour or two every year so that they can listen to someone play some ragtime music; they teach a miniature ragtime lesson in every class with the words “history” or “music” in the title. We were fed a steady diet of ragtime so that we would be ready each year to play it up like it was the most stunning and original development in music to date.

This has kind of worked too well in my case. “The Entertainer” sticks out distinctly in my mind and I love it. I hope desperately that every new cell phone I get has it as a stock ring tone. “The Maple Leaf Rag” becomes distinct as soon as I hear a little bit of it or try to distinguish it in my head from “The Entertainer.” This Sedalia ragtime upbringing has left me with only two “ragtime” songs that I can identify quickly. They must give the Sedalia students too much of exactly the songs that they want to hear because I can’t remember a single other one from any of those gymnasium performances.

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