Intermediate piece
How to play The Entertainer on piano
A ragtime piece published by Scott Joplin in 1902. Ragtime has a steady left hand and a syncopated right hand, which is the part that takes time to feel. Simplified versions exist, so use the one your teacher gives you.
- Composer
- Scott Joplin
- Level
- Intermediate
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 2/4
- Hands
- Both hands
What makes it tricky
- Syncopation in the right hand. Tap the rhythm alone before you add notes.
- Keeping the left hand steady, a bass note then a chord, while the right hand plays off the beat.
- The key changes between sections. Treat each section as a separate piece for the first week.
A three-step practice plan
- Clap the right-hand rhythm while you count 1 and 2 and.
- Play the left hand alone until the bass and chord pattern is automatic.
- Put the hands together four bars at a time, and stay slow until it is steady.