Novelty Rag

A genre of syncopated music based on piano rags that usually consists of three distinct sixteen or thirty-two measure sections in tonic and subdominant keys in the sectional form of A A B B A C C or a variation thereof. Novelty rags are instrumentals that are largely made up of mildly complex secondary rag three-over-four patterns, creating the illusion in many cases that it is more difficult to execute than it is in reality. Novelty rags developed in the late 1910s and were popular throughout the 1920s both on records and piano rolls, along with sheet music which sold a bit less than its counterparts.