Pieces / Joplin
Maple Leaf Rag

Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin, 1899 · Tempo di marcia · 55 keys · Medium

About the piece

Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag was published in 1899 by John Stark in Sedalia, Missouri, and takes its name from the Maple Leaf Club, a Sedalia social club. It became the best-known rag of its time and the model for classic ragtime piano.

You play the opening A strain as a single line, one hand, moved to D major to fit the 17 keys; the high passage is played an octave lower, as Joplin writes it when it repeats.

Key
A-flat major
Played in
D major, a tritone lower
Time
2/4
Keys
55
Licence
Public domain

Maple Leaf Rag letters

The whole passage, as letters to type. P is a black key; a dash holds the note a little longer.

S H S T H W H W D H - S H S T H W H W D H - H S F U H H S F U H -
S F L L L - L L L L H J T H J S D F S D T S T S D S -