In response to John Farrell's comments about the origins of ragtime:
I must agree that Scott Joplin, though a great contributor, was not the
inventor of ragtime or the ragtime form.  Joplin's greatest contribu-
tion to and his legacy of ragtime is that he had the ability to notate
the music he was playing and hearing for posterity (as well as his own
prosperity).

And in putting pen to paper he certainly made common the "ragtime form"
(that is, AABBACCDD or AABBCCDD).  But there were many pianists playing
ragtime (several even published) long before Joplin.

David Fowler