Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin

Written in C major, range C4 to C6

Saturday night in a crowded club: the bass keeps a steady beat like a clock, the tune keeps landing just off the beat, and nobody can keep their feet still. It made Scott Joplin famous in 1899 and is named after the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri.

Piano part from the engraving by James Brigham, used under CC BY 4.0. Engraving on IMSLP. Brigham engraved Joplin’s piano solo. We gave the tune to the tenor sax, moved everything from A♭ to B♭, left out piano notes that double it, moved some bass notes an octave lower, corrected one note from the 1899 print and set our own tempo mark and some dynamics.