Robbie invited submissions on the definition of stride piano, I'm very
tempted but MMD is not the appropriate forum for me to air my views on
the subject at length. I also think that it is folly for anybody to
determine the correct pigeon hole for a piece of music by reference to
a set of rules.  In the main, the categorizing of music - particularly
improvised music - is a subjective matter.

David Jasen - one of the most opinionated, inflexible people I have ever
met - is well known in the ragtime fraternity. In the first chapter of
his book "Rags and Ragtime" (co-authored with Trebor Tichenor) Jasen
set out his almost unbelievably simplistic rules of ragtime, no doubt
he has lived to regret it.

When listening to a person playing the piano I instinctively know either
"That is stride" or  "That is not stride" in much the same way as I am
able to look at a bird and say with absolute certainty "That is a
chicken" or "That is not a chicken". It has nothing to do with the
tune, it has nothing to do with who is playing (everything that Fats
Waller and James P. Johnson played was not stride), it has everything
to do with the way the tune is being played and the delicious adrenaline
rush I get when listening to the genuine article.

Formulating an acceptable definition of stride will be difficult, if not
impossible. Will any MMDer be taking up the challenge? I hope so.

John Farrell
stridepiano@email.msn.com