Frog Legs Rag - Structure

Structure

Ragtime encyclopedist David A. Jasen identifies a number of characteristic James Scott compositional devices in this early work.

The crisp freshness of the A section gives way to a sophisticated use in the B section of the "Maple Leaf Rag" B section. The lyrical C is an interesting development in feeling on the A section, with similar harmonics. The D section introduces us to one of Scott's favorite devices, the echo, or call and response phrasing in which an idea, usually of one measure, is stated and then repeated an octave higher. This develops the feel of B, once again with the use of similar chords. The modulation at the trio is unusual in that it goes to the dominant (A flat) instead of the subdominant, which would have put sections C and D in the key of G flat. —David A. Jasen, Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography

Jasen's appraisal of "Frog Legs Rag" is not unreserved: he also places "Frog Legs Rag" within the early period when James Scott compositions were "flag-waving" and lacking in the restraint the songwriter developed after 1906. Unlike Joplin, who lengthened traditional ragtime phrasing, Scott explored the genre's dynamic qualities with shortened phrasings.

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