Elite Syncopations

Scott Joplin (1,868–1,917)

Key: F major
Style: Modern, jazz and dance
Level: Level 8
Roughly: RCM 8 · ABRSM 7 · Trinity 7 · Henle 4–5
Lesson: 8.6 Read richer chord symbols
Musicianship: 8.6 Major and minor sevenths
Focus: syncopation, chromatic voice leading

What its lesson teaches

8.6 Read richer chord symbols

Study Joplin’s Elite Syncopations in F. It prints no chord symbols: name the chords of its first strain (bars 5–20) using the bass together with the right-hand chord tones, distinguishing passing bass notes from chord roots; then read your symbols as a lead sheet. At the keyboard: play a lead sheet with a broken-chord pattern.

Ideas: Chord symbols
Seventh chords of every quality
Theory cards: Reading lead-sheet symbols
Guide-tone shells and circle voice-leading
Technique: F major scale, hands separately, 2 octaves

Edition and licence

Score: Mutopia Project · public domain

Elite Syncopations

Typeset by Benjamin Bloomfield.

Public Domain

Source: https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=1540

Licence: Public Domain (Mutopia Project licensing: https://www.mutopiaproject.org/legal.html)

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Level 8

Sinfonia No. 1 in C major, BWV 787, Johann Sebastian Bach
Figurierter Choral (Figured Chorale), Op. 68 No. 42, Robert Schumann
Invention No. 15 in B minor, BWV 786, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1: II. Rondo: Allegro, in G major, Ludwig van Beethoven
Moment musical in F minor, D. 780 No. 3, Franz Schubert
Improvisation, Op. 46 No. 4, Edward MacDowell
Sinfonia No. 11 in G minor, BWV 797, Johann Sebastian Bach
Harlem Rag, Tom Turpin
Little Prelude in F major, BWV 928, Johann Sebastian Bach
The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 37, Carl Czerny

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