The St Louis Rag
by Tom Turpin · arranged by David Blackwell
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1903
- Duration
- 1'13''
- Publisher
- ABRSM (Cello Exam Pieces from 2024, Grade 4, List C no. 2, arranged by David Blackwell; (c) 2023 ABRSM, AB 4107); also sold as a single digital download
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About this piece
Tom Turpin moved from Savannah to St. Louis as a boy, ran the Rosebud Bar on Market Street, a gathering place for ragtime players, and in 1897 published Harlem Rag, considered the first rag published by an African American. Turpin's St. Louis Rag followed in 1903. In David Blackwell's arrangement for ABRSM's Grade 4 cello list, the cello takes the piano rag's syncopated treble line while the piano keeps the steady bass. Two repeated strains in G major lead from tied, off-beat melodies through chromatic runs to a fortissimo climb and an accented closing chord.
Technical overview
G major, 4/4, Allegretto at quarter note = c.120, with two repeated strains and first and second endings. Syncopated ties across the beat, chromatic passing notes with extensions, shifts up to fourth position on the A string, wide leaps from the low G to the top of the range, accents and a final three-note chord.
Technical focus
- 2 Note Slurs
- Accidentals
- Chords
- Collaboration with Piano
- Dynamics
- Extensions
- Shifting
- String Crossings
- Syncopation