Piano rolls

This section is dedicated to ragtime piano rolls recorded during the ragtime era. A piano roll contains the full information on how a certain piano piece should be played and inserted in a special player piano it can still today make the piano sound exactly as it did when the roll was new.

Piano rolls can be produced by performers playing on a player piano with a recording mechanism or they can be produced by a skilled person manually punching holes matching the music score in the paper roll. Both of these methods can also be mixed which explains why sometimes notes and chords that are impossible (for one person) to play in real life can be heard on piano rolls.

Today we don't even need player pianos to play the rolls. They can be converted to digital form without loss of information and that explains why below you can find a number of piano rolls with outstanding sound quality (in mp3-format). How about listening to Scott Joplin himself playing his own compositions Maple Leaf Rag, Weeping Willow, Something Doing and Magnetic Rag (no kidding)!

The list below contains rags composed by all major ragtime composers as well as some representative examples of quality rags by less well-known ones.

Click on the column title to change sort order: Year, Title or Composer. Click on the play icon to listen to or download the music. Click on the pdf icon to see or download the piano score in pdf-format.

Piano rolls converted to mp3
Year	Title	Composer
1912	Jamaica Jinjer	van Alstyne, Egbert
1905	Blue Ribbon Rag	Aufderheide, May
1904	St Louis Tickle	Barney & Seymore
1922	Deuces Wild Rag	Bauersachs, Hubert
1922	The Melrose Rag	Bauersachs, Hubert
1913	Good Gravy Rag	Belding, Harry
1909	That Poker Rag	Blake, Charlotte
1917	Charleston Rag	Blake, Eubie
1908	Black And White Rag	Botsford, George
1910	Chatterbox Rag	Botsford, George
1910	Grizzly Bear Rag	Botsford, George
1911	Honeysuckle Rag	Botsford, George
1911	Hyacinth Rag	Botsford, George
1911	Royal Flush	Botsford, George
1913	The Incandescent Rag	Botsford, George
1915	12th Street Rag	Bowman, Euday
1912	Dockstader Rag	Copeland, Les
1907	Fluffy Ruffles	Crabb, Duane
1910	Anoma Rag	Dabney, Ford
1912	Ham Bones	Denney, Homer
1907	Possum Rag	Dobyns, Geraldine
1910	The Aviator Rag	Giblin, Irene M.
1916	The Cactus Rag	Gibson, Lucien Porter
1908	The Bolo Rag	Gumble, Albert
1910	Clover Blossom Rag	Heltman, Fred
1899	Tickled to Death	Hunter, Charles H.
1900	A Tennessee Tantalizer	Hunter, Charles H.
1901	Cotton Bolls	Hunter, Charles H.
1901	Possum and Taters	Hunter, Charles H.
1908	Poison Ivy	Ingraham, Herbert
1906	Dill Pickles Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1908	Powder Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1909	Porcupine Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1911	Cum Bac - Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1911	Tar Babies	Johnson, Charles L.
1913	Crazy Bone Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1914	Peek-A-Boo Rag	Johnson, Charles L.
1899	Maple Leaf Rag	Joplin, Scott
1899	Original Rags	Joplin, Scott
1901	The Easy Winners	Joplin, Scott
1903	Palm Leaf Rag	Joplin, Scott
1903	Weeping Willow	Joplin, Scott
1904	The Cascades	Joplin, Scott
1907	Gladiolus Rag	Joplin, Scott
1907	Searchlight Rag	Joplin, Scott
1908	Pineapple Rag	Joplin, Scott
1909	Euphonic Sounds	Joplin, Scott
1912	Scott Joplin's New Rag	Joplin, Scott
1914	Magnetic Rag	Joplin, Scott
1903	Something Doing	Joplin, Scott & Hayden, Scott
1911	Felicity Rag	Joplin, Scott & Hayden, Scott
1913	Kismet Rag	Joplin, Scott & Hayden, Scott
1910	The Darkey Todalo	Jordan, Joe
1918	Muslin Rag	Kaufman, Mel B.
1908	Sensation - A Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1913	American Beauty Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1915	Cleopatra Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1915	Ragtime Nightingale	Lamb, Joseph F.
1916	Patricia Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1916	Top Liner Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1919	Bohemia Rag	Lamb, Joseph F.
1911	Haunting Rag	Lenzberg, Julius
1914	Colonial Rag	Lenzberg, Julius & Ball, Ernest R.
1910	Halley's Comet Rag	Lincoln, Harry J.
1909	Temptation Rag	Lodge, Henry
1910	Red Pepper - A Spicy Rag	Lodge, Henry
1912	Black Diamond Rag	Lodge, Henry
1905	Florida Rag	Lowry, Geo.L.
1910	Oyster Rag	Lyle, Tom
1906	Kinklets	Marshall, Arthur
1913	Pastime Rag No 1	Matthews, Artie
1916	Pastime Rag No 3	Matthews, Artie
1911	That Corrugated Rag	Mellinger, Edw.J.
1916	Harmony Rag	Nichols, Hal G.
1912	Red Onion Rag	Oleman, Abe
1907	Missouri Rag	Powell, W.C.
1908	Sunflower Tickle	Richmond, Dolly
1912	The Entertainer's Rag	Roberts, Jay
1913	Junk Man Rag	Roberts, Luckey
1913	Pork and Beans	Roberts, Luckey
1914	The Music Box Rag	Roberts, Luckey
1909	Sapho Rag	Robinson, J. Russell
1911	The Minstrel Man	Robinson, J.Russel
1911	Whirl Wind Rag	Robinson, J.Russel
1899	A Rag-time Skedaddle	Rosey, George
1909	Lemons and Limes	Salisbury, Cora
1906	Frog Legs Rag	Scott, James
1907	Kansas City Rag	Scott, James
1909	Grace And Beauty	Scott, James
1909	Sunburst Rag	Scott, James
1910	Hilarity Rag	Scott, James
1910	The Ragtime Oriole	Scott, James
1911	Quality Rag	Scott, James
1914	Climax Rag	Scott, James
1916	Honey Moon Rag	Scott, James
1916	Prosperity Rag	Scott, James
1904	Panama Rag	Seymour, C.
1912	That Demon Rag	Smith, Russell
1911	Ramshackle Rag	Snyder, Ted
1910	Barbed Wire Rag	Spencer, Herbert
1900	Cotton Picker's Rag	Sutton, Harry O.
1914	The Lily Rag	Thompson, Chas.
1899	The Bowery Buck	Turpin, Tom
1903	St Louis Rag	Turpin, Tom
1903	Ashy Africa	Wenrich, Percy
1911	Sunflower Rag	Wenrich, Percy
1904	Car-Barlick-Acid	Wiley, Clarence
1916	Wild Flower Rag	Williams, Clarence
1913	Banana Peel Rag	Winkler, Gus
1918	Sleepy Hollow Rag	Woods, Clarence
1905	The Black Cat Rag	Wooster, Frank & Smith, Ethyl B.