This is the original piano version of the “Easy Winners” and the tempo in the realisation is 76 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute whilst the repeats are not played. What is interesting about performing this piece is the impact of a change of tempo on the musical character and musical outcomes. A tempo of 70 quarter note beats to the minute sounds quite slow and yet 80 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute sounds fast. The view of the music editor is to play the piece at the slowest tempo musically possible whilst at the same time exploring the musical shapes which the realisation does rather inadequately. Generally, there is not a great amount of performance detail indicated in ragtime music although where opportunity arises during repeating sections performers need to explore dynamic range. The formal pattern of Joplin’s ragtime pieces generally have the structure of the typical American March which can be represented by letters as: I AA BB AA CC DD. Pianists also need to explore the ensemble options that exist with this piece that can be found on this website.
