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Chapter 7: Ragtime Sheet Music Art Work
Much has already been written about the colourful art work on sheet
music from the ragtime-era. Many pieces of sheet music have rich,
vibrant colours and fanciful designs. However, many covers also
portray stereotypical caricatures of African-Americans (or other
ethnic groups) that are quite offensive for most people.
Bill Edwards provides an
interesting overview on the
issue of racial
stereotyping present in the cover art for many ragtime pieces
(especially
page two of this article). Edwards' research on this topic is
extremely detailed and highly entertaining, containing many examples
of sheet music covers and information about the artists. Rather than
attempt to repeat this information, readers should see his article in
the preceding links. Instead, in this section, I set out a few
preliminary observations I have on Canadian sheet music covers. For
more detailed information on Canadian sheet music, see Maria Calderisi's
online essay from Library and Archives Canada entitled "Canadian Sheet Music Before 1867"
One initial observation in looking at the sheet music covers
in the table in Chapter 8 is the relatively large number
that have simple brown or off-white covers with little colour or art
work (for an example of this, see the cover of
The Maltese Cross Brand: Rag Time March and Two Step
below).
 |
Left: Example of "plain"
sheet music cover from Wilfred G Astle's
Maltese Cross
Brand: Rag Time March & Two-Step. Toronto, ON:
Anglo-Canadian Music Publishers Assn., 1905.
[view
sheet music]
Source:
Library and Archives Canada [top]
|
Although by no means a scientific observation, one wonders whether
Canadian publishers were concerned about the cost of producing colour
cover sheets or whether there were other factors involved. This is not
to say that Canadian-published sheet music of this era was devoid of
colour. The cover of Clodia (below) is
rich in saturated color.
Other covers portray realistic art or actual
photographs of geographical locations - for examples see The Ottawa
Rag (below) which has a photo of the
Parliament buildings in Ottawa, The Souvenir March and Two Step
(below) which has artwork showing Toronto's
original City Hall, now a courthouse, and Newfoundland March and Two
Step (below) which has a historic photo of St.
Johns, Newfoundland.
One of my favourite covers is for The
Saskatoon Rag (see below) which shows, in
vivid colour, a girl skiing with very high mountains in the
background. Clearly, the artist is using his or her imagination since
mountains like those depicted in the cover art do not exist in
Saksatoon!
On the issue of racism in Canadian sheet music covers, there
appears to be fewer incidences of overt stereotypes or caricatures.
Some of the covers below portray ethnic themes but would not
necessarily be considered offensive by even today's standards - see
Nouhika: Indian Intermezzo Two-Step (below)
for a portrayal of a native Indian and Hakama: A Japanese Jingle
(below) and Yokohama March and Two Step (below)
for a portrayal of Japanese women.
From the table of sheet
music in Chapter 8, the most
stereotypical cover art is likely the portrayal of an African-American
couple in Raggity Rag (see below).
 |
Left: Example of "ethnic
stereotype" sheet music cover from
Raggity-Rag
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Set out below is a non-exhaustive bibliography I have created
providing more information on sheet music cover art and sheet music
generally:
- Allen, R.T. "A Piano is Polite, Genteel (Some Changes in Fifty
Years)" (reprinted from the Toronto Star 14 Oct 1972) (May-Jun 1978)
The Ragtimer 15-20.
- "Big Seizure of Illegal Song Sheets in Montreal" (Mar. 1932)
32(10) Canadian Music Trades Journal 22.
- Dostie, B. "The Changing Scene: Sheet Music Publishing in Quebec"
(Jan 1978) 127 The Canadian Composer.
- Dunson, S.E. "The Minstrel in the Parlor: Nineteenth-Century
Sheet Music and the Domestication of Blackface Minstrelsy" (Ph.D.,
Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst, 2004).
- Levy, Lester S. "Grace Notes in American History: Popular Sheet
Music from 1820-1900." Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
- "Retail Price of 25 Cents Announced for Popular Songs" (Feb. 1931)
31 Canadian Music Trades Journal 35.
- Tsou, J. "Gendering Race: Stereotypes of Chinese Americans in
Popular Sheet Music" (Fall 1997) 6 Repercussions 25-62.
- "Woolworth Stores Discontinue Selling Sheet Music" (May 1921) 21
Canadian Music Trades Journal 70.
In the next chapter, I set
out sheet covers and sheet music for Canadian ragtime music and
ragtime-related compositions.
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