The "Searchlight Rag" is a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

composition by

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one r ...

, first published in 1907. It was named after the town of

Searchlight, Nevada Searchlight is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges. At the 2020 census it had a population of 445. History According to U.S. Sena ...

, where his friends had gone prospecting, inspiring the title.

History

In 1907, the "Searchlight Rag" by

was published. In the early 1890s, Joplin's friends, the brothers Tom and Charles Turpin, had done prospecting in the

area. The brothers' frequent stories of this experience, recounted to the patrons of their bar, inspired the title of the rag.

Musical structure

:Intro A A B B A C C D D

Publication history

The copyright was registered August 12, 1907 to Joseph W. Stern and Company of New York. Like most Joplin compositions, "Searchlight Rag" was still under copyright during the ragtime revival of the 1970s, and the holder of copyrights for this piece, "Fig Leaf Rag" and "Rose Leaf Rag" withheld permission for their inclusion in the definitive New York Public Library edition of Joplin's worksScott Joplin: Collected Piano Works,

Vera Brodsky Lawrence Vera Brodsky Lawrence (born Vera Rebecca Brodsky; July 1, 1909 – September 18, 1996) was an American pianist, music historian, and editor. A child prodigy, she left her native Virginia to enroll at the Juilliard School of Music in New York Ci ...

, ed., The New York Public Library, 1971, p. xi and other collections.

In popular culture

The "Searchlight Rag" was used as "Ragtime Style" music in ''RollerCoaster Tycoon'''s ''Added Attractions'' and ''Loopy Landscapes'' expansion pack and the game

Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 2'' is a 2002 construction and management simulation game developed by Chris Sawyer and published by Infogrames Interactive. Released in October 2002 as the sequel to ''RollerCoaster Tycoon'', the game simulates the managem ...

References

External links