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The Morning After

Yesterday was a big day - expanding the catalog by about 25% and opening up a new genre in the shape of Ragtime.

It is not just the product and the page but all the minor adjustments to the site to complete, submitting the page to the search engines and doing the press release:

Ragtime on Drums at Download2MP3.com Today

Today saw the launch of 30 new world percussion arrangements of Scott Joplin Ragtime pieces at www.download2mp3.com in straight forward MP3 format which can be heard on most MP3 players including iPods. They include the Maple Leaf Rag which was the first Rag to be published as sheet music in 1900 and lesser known pieces such as the Great Crush Collision March from a few years earlier.


Scott Joplin is widely known as the "King of Ragtime", the son of an ex-slave who grew up in Texekarna, he was a talented musician who was lucky enough to receive a classical music education. He worked as a dance musician in towns and cities along the banks of the Mississippi and created a new synthesis of classical music with African American harmony and rhythm. He is the first American composer to be included in the Download2MP3 collection of percussion arrangements of classical music.


Although originally published for piano this music lends itself readily to fresh interpretations on a variety of combinations and permutations of steel drums with marimba, vibraphone, harp and synthesizers. It refreshes our ears, brings out the counterpoint and accentuates the varied moods of Rags, Waltzes, Marches and Novelties including the Entertainer and Easy Winners which featured in "The Sting" movie.

It will take a while for all this to trickle through to visitors so there is a bit of an anti climax today. So to lift the mood and remind ourselves how lovely the music is we are offering a streaming sample of Pleasant Moments by Scott Joplin - what could be nicer?

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