Maple Leaf Rag sheet music

Scott Joplin (1868–1917), Level 10 · Advanced, 2:24

Sheet music cover of the Maple Leaf Rag — Maple Leaf Rag, first edition cover. Unknown cover artist, 1899. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Key facts

Level: Level 10 · Advanced. Estimated from the notes (6 of 8 on our difficulty score)
Time signature: 2/4
Length: 145 bars, 12 pages
Playing time: 2:24
Notes: 2,566
Range: G#1 to G#6

Source and licence

Licence of the source: Public Domain dedication.

Source: "Maple Leaf Rag", typeset by Chris Sawer, The Mutopia Project, https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=23.

Source: The Mutopia Project, from the edition Reproduction of original edition (1899).

Playback sounds: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0); Upright Piano KW by Gonzalo and Roberto of FreePats (CC0 1.0); Fluid R3 GM by Frank Wen and contributors (CC BY 3.0). Full sound credits.

How to play Maple Leaf Rag

A ragtime classic with 144 bars of syncopation. It is an advanced level, but the sections repeat, so there is less to learn than the bar count suggests.

Where your hands go

It is in A♭ major, four flats, and 2/4. The repeats are written out: bars 1 to 32 are the first part twice, bars 33 to 64 the second part twice, bars 65 to 80 the first part again, then the third part (bars 81 to 112) and the fourth (bars 113 to 144).

Left hand: the classic ragtime pattern, a low octave on the beat and a chord between, such as A♭2 with A♭3, then E♭3, A♭3, C4.

Right hand: many notes are octaves, such as E♭4 with E♭5, with other notes played inside them. Keep the hand open at an octave.

The tricky bars

Bars 1–2: The opening starts with a sixteenth rest, so the tune comes in just after the beat. Count it in.
Bar 13: Repeated A♭ octaves in the right hand over a four-note chord, D3, F3, A♭3, B3, in the left.
Bars 81–82: The third part changes to five flats and the right hand plays four-note chords, with a tie across the beat.
Bars 113–114: The fourth part returns to four flats, with octaves and then a climb to C6.
Bars 143–144: The ending, with both hands finishing on A♭.

Your practice plan

Learn the left hand of bars 1 to 4 alone until the jump from bass to chord is automatic.
Right hand alone, bars 1 to 16, at half speed with the Speed control. That covers the first part, which you will play three times.
Hands together for bars 1 to 16, then learn bars 33 to 48 the same way.
Learn the third and fourth parts, bars 81 to 96 and 113 to 128.
Put it together and play it with Listen on.

Watch out for

Rushing. Ragtime sounds best steady; the syncopation does the dancing.
Playing the off-beat notes on the beat and losing the swing.
Forgetting the key change to five flats at bar 81 and back to four at bar 113.

Power-up: press Loop, tap the first and last of the tricky bars, and they repeat until they feel easy. Hands in Options lets you practise one hand at a time. New to the notation? Start with how to read keyboard staff, then how to practise piano.

Options

Voice

Metronome volume

Loop: tap the first bar, then the last. Ramp starts slow and adds a step after each good pass.

Play along: each section with Wait, then moving slow, steady and at full speed. Two slips start the section again.

Page-turner pedal: set it to Page Up/Down or up/down arrows. It turns a page, or moves one screen in Continuous. Left and right arrows move a bar.

Print at 100%, not fit-to-page.

Listen uses your microphone, or a MIDI keyboard. What it hears stays on this device.