The musician

Ever since it was the musical theme in the film 'The Sting', there are few people who have not tapped their feet to the hit piano tune, 'The Entertainer' - the most famous composition of the American musician, Scott Joplin.

Scott was born in Texas in 1868, into a poor but musical black family. His father, who was a freed slave, played the violin, and his mother played the banjo and sang. Scott played the violin and bugle but his favourite instrument was his neighbour's piano. His father worked extra hours to buy him a battered old grand piano, and soon Scott was playing by ear negro tunes, blues, and spirituals. Music flowed naturally from his fingers, and he quickly became the talk of the town.

Scott didn't learn to read music until he was 11, when an old German music teacher spotted his talent and gave him free, formal piano lessons. He learned to play the works of such composers as Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart as well as his improvised music. Thus when he started to write music, his tunes were a wonderful mixture of classical European and African beat. This unique style was known as Ragtime, and was played everywhere in the USA in the early 1900s by both black and white musicians.

In 1882, when Scott was 14, his mother died and he left home to seek his fortune in St. Louis. In the 1880s, St. Louis was noisy and bustling with life. The waterfront of the Mississippi River was full of gangsters, gamblers, and sailors. The sound of music was everywhere - black, white and mixed. The hot streamy nights were filled with blues, working songs, banjos, and honky tonk pianos. Scott was soon playing Ragtime piano in cheap bars on the waterfront. This was a rought, thought area of the city where arguments over girls, whisky, and money were settled with fists and guns. Scott grew up very fast and his musical talent continued to develop. All in all he wrote about 50 piano rags.

Scott Joplin died in 1917. Today he is the undisputed King of Ragtime, thanks to his natural ability, his unusual musical education, and the popularity of the film, The Sting.

Ответьте письменно на следующие вопросы по-русски или по-английски:

1). When and where was Scott Joplin born?

2). What was the most important event in his life?

3). Which people played a part in his career?

5. Письменно переведите на русский язык 2, 3 и 4 абзацы текста.