==================================================================
About the music:  Here is the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin.  Published
in 1899, It was Joplin's second published ragtime piece.  It became the
first great instrumental sheet music hit in America.  Supposedly, it 
sold 75,000 copies in the first 6 months of publication and eventually
topped the million mark.  Maple Leaf established Scott Joplin as the 
"King of the Ragtime Composers" and is unquestionably THE most popular
ragtime piece ever written.
This is my arrangement of Maple Leaf Rag.  Being the first ragtime
piece I learned to play, over the years my playing of it has evolved
from the original Joplin to include influences by James P. Johnson,
Jelly Roll Morton, Joe Turner and Claude Bolling.  I hope you enjoy
listening to it as much as I enjoy playing it.
==================================================================

About the Composer:  Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

Scott Joplin, once lost to obscurity, has finally found his place in
the sun and been accorded his rightful position as one of the first
truly American composers.  He was one of the nation's music pioneers,
for he was the first to develop fully that pianistic form which could
be considered the initial American art form, the piano rag.  On the
one hand, it is amazing that it took such a long time for the genius
of this black composer to be recognized; on the other, his recent rise
from obscurity symbolizes the prevailing attitudes of our past and
present society.  Although Joplin was respected by his peers as "The
King of Ragtime Writers," the musical establishment refused to
acknowledge his work as a bona fide means of musical expression.  Now,
however, we have his collected works in print, as well as significant
articles and books about him written by some of the foremost music
authorities and critics on the nation.  The continuing interest in
Joplin is clearly based on the fact that the musical world has finally
come to realize the uniqueness of his contributions to music. 

(Excerpt taken from Ragtime, Its History, Composers, and
Music by John Edward Haase and courtsey of the RAGTIME 
HOME PAGE - http://ragtimers.org/) 
==================================================================
About the MIDI sequence:
There are 2 MIDI files in this archive:
mapleaf.MID is a stereo midi which uses pan controller instructions to
place each note in a stereo spectrum.  Lowest note at the far left and
the highest note far right.  All the rest somewhere in between depending
on their pitch.  It sounds just like you were sitting in front of a
player piano.

maple_m.MID is the same performance with all the pan controller in- 
structions removed.  I discovered that some FM synthesis sound cards
cannot handle pan controller calls correctly.  Most of the notes play
in the center of the two channels with an occasional high note playing
far right and a few low notes playing far left.  This is very unnatural
sounding and if your sound card is this type, use this file which will
play OK.

This MIDI was sequenced with Cakewalk Pro on a SoundBlaster AWE 32
sound card.  Your sound card may not reproduce bass notes with the
same intensity as the AWE.  If this is the case, the balance between
the Right Hand part (Track 1) and the Left Hand part (track 2) will
need to be adjusted.  Load the file into a sequencer and edit the 
track volumes according to your taste and sound card.

=========================================================================
ABOUT THE PERFORMER:
My name is John Roache.  I am an amateur ragtime enthusiast living 
in Torrance California.  I have been playing piano and keyboards for 
almost 50 years.  I began creating ragtime computer music in the mid-
'80s on the Commodore-64 using the SIDPLAYER music composition
program.  In 1994, I discovered the power of MIDI and have been
sequencing ragtime, stride and swing music since then.

I would be pleased to hear any of your comments about this midi.  
Address e-mail to JohnRoache@aol.com.  

Also visit my WWW home page to download more of my MIDI sequences:
      http://members.aol.com/ragtimers

This MIDI performance is copyright 1997 and may be distributed only
in ZIP archive form with all files intact and included.  Any commercial
use is strictly prohibited.