PRO MUSICAL EXAMPLES –
The following performance excerpts come from the PRO’s acclaimed CD Knockout Drops.
More Clips coming soon!
| Knockout Drops is a rag, written in Chicago in 1910 by Frank Klickmann. It’s a classic example of orchestral ragtime, which in this instance, features the slide trombone. | Play Clip Now!
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/knockout-drops.mp3|titles=Knockout Drops] |
| Kansas City Blues, written in 1915 by Euday L. Bowman (most famous for his earlier “Twelfth Street Rag”), is a superb early Blues tune. This performance is of Bowman’s original score for dance orchestra. |
Play Clip Now!
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/kansas-city-blues.mp3|titles=Kansas City Blues] |
| Scott Joplin’s New Rag — Scott Joplin’s musical interests were not limited to the piano keyboard! He was also a singer, cornetist, guitarist, and violinist; in the early 1900s many of his compositions were arranged for theater and dance orchestras. |
Play Clip Now!
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/new-rag.mp3|titles=New Rag] |
| The Teddy Bears’ Picnic — a 1907 Novelty by Wilmington, Delaware composer John W. Bratton. It’s still an international favorite for children of all ages. Here is how it sounded (as arranged by the pioneer Broadway orchestrator Frank Saddler) when it first appeared more than a century ago. |
Play Clip Now! [audio:/wp-content/uploads/teddy-bear.mp3|titles=The Teddy Bears’ Picnic] |
| Peg O’ My Heart — Thought of today as a gentle ballad, Fred Fischer’s evergreen hit was the high-stepping dancehall sensation of 1913. |
Play Clip Now!
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/peg.mp3|titles=Peg O’ My Heart] |
| Drumology — This 1914 Harry Alford tune is one of the earliest to feature the drum set, known then as the “contraption.” Here, drummer Tim McLafferty puts PRO’s 1910 drum set through its paces. A tricky “number,” indeed! |
Play Clip Now! [audio:/wp-content/uploads/drumology.mp3|titles=Drumology] |
