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Birth
Scott Joplin was said to be born between June 1867 and mid-January 1868 near Linden, Texas. -
Period: to
Birth to Death
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Age 11
By the age eleven, Scott was learning the finer points of harmony and style on the piano. -
Teenager
As a teenager, Scott worked as a dance musician. -
St. Louis
After several years as an itinerant pianist playing in saloons and brothels throughout the Midwest, he settled in St. Louis. There he studied and led in the development of a music genre now known as 'ragtime.' -
Late 1890's
Scott worked at the Maple Leaf Club, which gave him the title to his best known composition, 'The Maple Leaf Rag," published in 1899. -
Sedalia
Scott played in sporting areas similiar to the Colombian Exposition in Chicago, and the following year moved to Sedalia, Missouri. From there, he toured with his eight-member Texas Medley Quartette as far east as Syracuse, New York -
First Composition
One of his first compositions, The Great Crush Collision, was inspired by a spectacular railroad locomotive crash staged near Waco, Texas in September of 1896. -
New York
In 1911, Scott moved to New York City, where he focused on the production of his operatic work, Treemonisha. This would have been the first grand opera composed by an African American. However it was unsuccessful. -
Death
After suffering deteriorating health due to syphilis that he contracted some years earlier, Joplin died on April 1, 1917 in Manhattan State Hospital.