"Rag time is a holiday time": new etymological, historical, and aesthetic theories in the study of "ragtime" music
Date
2026
DOI
Authors
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
The obfuscation of the terms “rag” and “ragtime” has obscured in-depth historical research into and analysis of “ragtime” music. Previous attempts to establish etymologies of these terms, though earnest in intent, appear to be biased and lack supporting evidence. Using newly discovered historical evidence, this study proposes a new theory: that “ragtime” is both etymologically and aesthetically derived from “carnival time.” By arguing against the assumption that “ragtime” is a portmanteau of “ragged time,” it is possible to decenter syncopation as the definitive (and, by implication, the only unique) feature of the music and begin to investigate its previously indiscernible qualities using the theories of carnivalesque and grotesque aesthetics established by philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin.Whereas “ragtime” was previously believed to be the result of black and white musical cultures interacting on North American plantations in the 19th century, this study argues that these interactions can actually be traced back to Roman antiquity (and Greek New Comedy) and mapped using the missionary activities of the Catholic Church in the Age of Discovery and during “New World” colonization by European powers. Using carnival holidays celebrated by the enslaved in North America—particularly “John Canoe”/“junkanoo” festivals, “Pinkster,” and “La Guignolée”—this study attempts to decode the language of “ragtime.” In the process, it offers probable origins for the terms (and musical styles) “cakewalk” and “coon song” as well as for the stock character in blackface minstrelsy known as “Jim Crow.” With the beginnings of a more comprehensive history of “ragtime” music, the genre of American music that was popular between 1897 and 1917 (the “Ragtime Age”) can be significantly expanded and made more inclusive of what would have been historically considered “ragtime” music. This music can then be analyzed in a more culturally-informed way that does not reduce these masterful examples of musical farce and parody to mere “raggedness.”
Description
2026
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International