Ragged Bill [music transcription] - Ragtime music

Meter: 4/4
Transcribed by Alan Jabbour, from a performance by Henry Reed.
Key: C
Compass: 12
Title change: This tune is transcribed after the continuation of "Rochester Schottische" on the page.
Strains: 2 (high-low, 8-8)
Rendition: 1-2-1-2-1-2
Phrase Structure: ABCD ABCE QRCD' SRTU (aa'bb'cde aa'bb'cdf qrstcde'u vrstwxy)
Stylistic features: Includes extended fourth finger to high C on E-string.
Handwritten: Played 3 times thru; 2nd time transcribed.
"Ragged Bill" is a turn-of-the-century ragtime composition that has gained a modest niche in Southern tradition. Henry Reed's set omits the implied beats in the phrase finals. Some of his children play the tune with an extra two beats in the last bar of the first phrase, thus making it like the last bar of the third phrase (e'u), and they claim that he used to include those extra beats himself. His performance is notable for using mostly separate bowstrokes in the first strain, giving the piece a rag-like quality quite different from his usual tunes. The second strain shifts to a different style, with more slurs and several repeated ragtime rhythmic figures.