Ragtime介紹了一種流行于美國(guó)十九世紀(jì)左右名為ragtime的音樂(lè)，能夠表現(xiàn)年青人的活力(spirit of youth)之類的，此樂(lè)流行是由于piano的關(guān)系，因?yàn)閮烧哒媸翘钆淞?。在那個(gè)年代，在各種場(chǎng)合都用鋼琴。此樂(lè)當(dāng)時(shí)流行程度，（like Rock & Roll在某一時(shí)期一樣）。這里出現(xiàn)考點(diǎn)，女學(xué)生說(shuō)了一堆后，來(lái)了一句 I just don't get it，意思是要教授explain，還說(shuō)piano 之所以當(dāng)時(shí)那么受歡迎，一是因?yàn)樗芘c音律產(chǎn)生和諧，另一是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)它算一種財(cái)富地位的象征什么的symbol of wealth and status。再加上，那個(gè)年代，大家都沒(méi)錢(qián)，就去public concert or restaurant什么的聽(tīng)音樂(lè)，而piano聲音夠響亮，又和ragtime music rhythm搭配的天衣無(wú)縫，所以，兩者相得益彰這個(gè)音樂(lè)年輕人很喜歡，因?yàn)楹苡屑で?。除了到處演出啊，park演出等不用鋼琴，因?yàn)殡y搬(出現(xiàn)考點(diǎn))because of transportation problem。 同時(shí)，此樂(lè)也是 jazz的前身，因?yàn)檠葑嗾卟话磁评沓雠?，一首曲七個(gè)人彈，彈出七種調(diào)。 這種regtime音樂(lè)影響很遠(yuǎn)啊，例如現(xiàn)在的jazz就是從那發(fā)展來(lái)的。

Ragtime 拉格泰姆音樂(lè)(1890-1915期間在美國(guó)流行的一種音樂(lè))

Ragtime is an American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1899 and 1918. It has had several periods of revival since then and is still being composed today. Ragtime was the first truly American musical genre, predating jazz. It began as dance music in popular music settings years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Being a modification of the then popular march, it was usually written in 2/4 or 4/4 time (meter) with a predominant left hand pattern of bass notes on odd-numbered beats and chords on even-numbered beats accompanying a syncopated melody in the right hand. A composition in this style is called a "rag". A rag written in 3/4 time is a "ragtime waltz".

Ragtime is not a "time" (meter) in the same sense that march time is 2/4 meter and waltz time is 3/4 meter; it is rather a musical genre that uses an effect that can be applied to any meter. The defining characteristic of ragtime music is a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents fall between metrical beats. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat. The ultimate (and intended) effect on the listener is actually to accentuate the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music. Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist known as the "King of Ragtime", called the effect "weird and intoxicating". He also used the term "swing" in describing how to play ragtime music: "Play slowly until you catch the swing...".[1] The name swing later came to be applied to an early genre of jazz that developed from ragtime. Converting a non-ragtime piece of music into ragtime by changing the time values of melody notes is known as "ragging" the piece. Original ragtime pieces usually contain several distinct themes, four being the most common number.