Ragtime is a style of American music that was wildly popular from the 1890s through the 1910s, characterized by its bouncy, syncopated rhythm that makes you want to tap your feet or clap along. The name comes from its “ragged” rhythm: the melody seems to dance playfully around the steady beat rather than landing squarely on it, creating an energetic, almost mischievous feeling.

Ragtime is most associated with piano music, and the most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, whose piece “The Maple Leaf Rag” became one of the best-selling songs of the era. Picture a pianist's left hand keeping a steady, marching rhythm while the right hand bounces and syncopates above it, like someone skipping rope to a steady drumbeat.

Ragtime was America's first truly original musical style to achieve international popularity. It emerged from Black American communities and influenced jazz, which developed shortly after. Though ragtime's peak popularity lasted only about twenty years, its infectious rhythms changed American music forever. You can hear echoes of ragtime's playful syncopation in jazz, blues, and even modern pop music. When you hear old-timey piano music in movies set in the early 1900s, that's often ragtime.