Morris Museum Offers In-Depth Look At Pivotal Music Genre

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Explore the intricacies of one of the most influential music genres of all time — ragtime — at the Morris Museum’s newest exhibition.

Ragtime, named for its “ragged” tempos, is a music genre that was most popular from the 1890s to the 1910s. The style fuses classical music elements with African American music traditions, and is often considered the precursor to jazz.

The Morris Museum is currently displaying items from the Guinness Collection for its new exhibition, RAGTIME: Portrait of America’s Music.

Ragtime was popularized by legendary composers including Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Joseph Lamb. One may hear ragtime when watching their favorite Charlie Chaplin movie, as it was an incredibly popular genre featured in silent films.

“Ragtime is a vibrant, syncopated musical style that took the world by storm at the turn of the 20th century,” a Morris Museum statement read. “Created by Black American composers, ragtime blended African rhythms with European musical traditions to produce a bold, joyful sound that together with the blues, laid the groundwork for jazz and American popular music.”

According to the museum, some of the exhibition’s instruments that capture ragtime’s grip on early 20th-century America are the Wurlitzer Automatic Harp, the Regina Hexaphone, and the Seeburg Style L Coin Piano.

Additionally, rare and original ragtime sheet music is on display.

The exhibition was curated by Bryant Small in conversation with Susan C. Cook, Ph.D., Hilldale Professor of Musicology, Emerit, Mead Witter School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tickets for the Morris Museum, located at 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morristown, can be bought online here.