The Easy Winners
Scott Joplin's The Easy Winners (1901) is a ragtime two-step in A-flat major and 2/4, Octotune grade 7 of 8: a syncopated right hand over a stride left hand, in several strains, with a trio in D-flat major.
At a glance
| Composer | Scott Joplin (died 1917) |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Advanced: grade 7 of 8 |
| Key | Key signature: 4 flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭) |
| Time | 2/4 |
| Tempo | 60 quarter-note beats a minute, as the app starts it (it can go slower) |
| Length | 152 measures, about 5:04 |
| Hands | both hands |
| Right hand | G3 to D♭6 |
| Left hand | A♭1 to G4 |
It reaches past the staff: see ledger lines explained.
Levels in the app
| Version | Grade | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| The Easy Winners | 7 of 8 | Melody, Melody and bass, Full |
Practice notes
Scott Joplin published The Easy Winners in 1901, between the Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer. Its name has nothing to do with how easy it is to play: like his other rags, it is advanced. It is in A-flat major (four flats) and 2/4.
How it is built. It opens with a short introduction in which both hands play the same line in octaves. Then come the strains, each repeated: the right hand plays a syncopated tune, notes landing just before the beat and tied across it, while the left hand plays stride: a low bass note or octave on the beat, a chord in the middle of the keyboard off the beat. The trio changes key signature to five flats, D-flat major.
The tricky parts
- The stride left hand. Bass, chord, bass, chord, leaping back and forth, sometimes more than two octaves. Look ahead to each bass note.
- Syncopation. Count "1 and 2 and" aloud and feel where the tied notes fall.
- Flats. Four, then five in the trio. Play each key's scale first.
- Octaves and chords in the right hand.
Practice plan
- The tune alone with the Melody level, one strain at a time.
- Left hand alone, slowly, saying "bass, chord".
- Hands together, one strain at a time, at 50% speed with the loop; join the strains only when each is steady. Ragtime should swagger, not race.
Before you start: the whole Octotune path, especially Units 7 (rhythm) and 11 (chords), and ideally The Entertainer first.
Questions
Is The Easy Winners easy?
No, despite its name. It is an advanced piece, Octotune grade 7 of 8, like Joplin's other rags: a leaping stride left hand, syncopation, octaves and four flats, then five.
When did Scott Joplin write The Easy Winners?
It was published in 1901, between the Maple Leaf Rag (1899) and The Entertainer (1902).
Credits and license
- Music: Scott Joplin (died 1917)
- Typeset by Tom Harke for the Mutopia Project
- License: Public Domain
- Source and printable sheet music: the Mutopia Project’s page for this piece