Classic Rag

A subgenre of syncopated music based on march form that usually consists of three or four repeated distinct sixteen measure sections in both tonic and subdominant keys in the sectional form of A A B B A C C D D or a variation thereof. Classic piano ragtime is ostensibly based more on the precepts and concepts of mid-to-late nineteenth century classical forms and harmonic structures, usually made up of more complex and variegated melodies and chord structures than simpler rags. The definition is loose, but not entirely arbitrary, as the criteria are largely agreed upon amongst ragtime scholars. The term "classic rag" was likely coined by publisher John Stark in relation to the rags of Scott Joplin, and later to those of James Scott and Joseph F. Lamb.