The Hanon Rag - Bill Edwards

The Hanon Rag was composed while I was working on my music degree at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, for composition class. I got an A for my effort, in case you were wondering. It is based on a collection of the pieces found in C.L. Hanon’s Piano Exercises, both a boon and a bane to developing pianists for over a century. While the exercises are intended to boost both finger dexterity and evenness of note placement, they in fact tend to foster tedium with the repetitious patterns. Each pattern of eight or so notes is repeated up a one or two octave scale on every note of the scale, and is then intended to be played as such in every key. Imagine, if you will, the first four measures of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer played in the same manner for some ten minutes at a time.

This piece was composed not only to fulfill my obligation, but as a musical joke as well. As it turns out, it is quite a challenging exercise in itself. The truly Hanon-based passages contain little or no syncopation, but they play into riffs that are syncopated in the manner of piano ragtime. Note also that the repeat of the A section after B contains a variation on the first Hanon theme. In retrospect as a more seasoned pianist, I recommend obtaining a copy of the original Hanon exercises and learning some of them, then taking another look at this rag and see if it makes more sense. The cover is a play on the classic Schirmer Library of pieces, which have sported this familiar look since as far back as 1912. Note the Maple Leafs on either side of the top title header, and another tip of the hat to Scott Joplin with the Pineapple logo near the bottom. Since I’m rather rusty on my Latin, I choose to enter my own slogan in English, words to live by: Playeth Ragtime Welleth! Need I say more?

Other Rags by “Perfessor” Bill: Buck’s Banjo The Piano Tuner’s Nightmare (by Thumbs Malone) A Ragtime Nocturne Blood on the Keys Better with Age Pride of the Prairie Lovely Laughing Lucille The Ragtime Pamela Chinese Checkers The Necromancer – A Mystic Syncopation Wiener Schnitzel Rag Ragapples (with Marty Mincer)

The Tuxedo Cat Rag The Radio’s Gone Silent For more info on Ragtime and these pieces please visit me on the web at http://www.perfessorbill.com. .