Scott Joplin

  • Birth

    Scott Joplin was born November 24, 1968 in Linden Texas.
    He was the second son of Giles Joplin (father) and Florence Givens (mother).
    His five other siblings were Monroe, Robert, William, Myrtle, and Ossie
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    Scott Joplin

  • Starts playing piano

    Joplin starts playing piano yet is only allowed to play as his mother cleans. This starts at the age of seven.

    It is beleived that this is what started Joplin's career for music and this helped him find the genre that he would soon make legendary.
  • First official piano lessons

    German Piano teacher, Julius Weiss, taught Joplin from the time he was 11 until he was 16: yet, never charged because of how focused and motivation he was.
    It is said that Julius was one of the people who inspired Scott Joplin. To thank his teacher for all of the help he was given Joplin would send money to his former teacher when he was old and ill until he died.
  • First preformance

    Joplin performed in a vocal quartet with three other boys in Texarkana, he played piano as the others sang. In addition he taught guitar and mandolin to those whom wished to learned. Joplin was 16 at the time.
  • Joplin quits his job to work on his music

    In the late 1880's Scott Joplin quit his job on the railroads to leave his hometown and become a taveling musician.
    He played at numerous shows including: Linden 1891, Sedalia, St. Louis, and Chicago.
  • Settled in Missouri

    Joplin settled in Missouri on 1894, in Sedalia, Missouri. He moved in with the family of his future pupil Arthur Marshall.
    It wasnt recored that he ws a resident until 1904 when he started making a living as a touring musician.
  • Major contract deal

    After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers, Joplin signed a contract on August 10, 1899 with John Stillwell Stark, a retailer of musical instruments who later became his most important publisher.
  • Married Belle Jones

    Scott Joplin married Belle Jones in 1899. Belle is the sister-in-law of collaborator Scott Hayden. The date of the wedding isnt known.
    Belle dies soon after the marriage. she passed in 1903 from heart disease.
  • Moving to New York

    Joplin moved to New York believing is would be the best place to find a producer for opera. Yet when no one would sign with him he started feeling the finacial stress of producing.
    John aslo meets his future wife soon after the move.
  • Re-marriage

    After his move to New York, Joplin met Lottie Stokes, whom he married in 1909.
  • Death

    Joplin was suffering from tertiary syphilis which caused him to go insane. In January of 1917 he was admitted into a mental instatution and died there April 1, 1917.