Gayola Rag - Donald Ashwander

“Gayola Rag” belongs to one of the most fascinating chapters in Donald Ashwander’s creative life. Composed in 1966, when Ashwander was about thirty-seven years old, it comes from a burst of productivity that produced no fewer than eighteen ragtime works between 1966 and 1967. For any composer, this would be impressive; for a ragtime composer working in the late 1960s—when the genre was all but forgotten—it was downright audacious.

At the time, ragtime existed far from the mainstream. The genre had entered a long cultural winter after its early-20th-century heyday. Ashwander, who possessed a deeply individual musical voice, was effectively composing into a void. There was no established revival, no guaranteed audience, and certainly no institutional encouragement. His commitment to the form during this period reveals both courage and conviction: he wrote ragtime because he found in it a language capable of personal expression, even when the world wasn’t listening. It was only a few years later—after Joshua Rifkin’s landmark 1970 recordings of Scott Joplin and the renewed public enthusiasm sparked by The Sting—would ragtime re-enter public consciousness. Ashwander was ahead of the curve (along with William Bolcom), quietly forging a contemporary ragtime style before anyone thought to look for one.

“Gayola Rag” demonstrates just how independently Ashwander was thinking. While deeply respectful of ragtime tradition, the piece immediately signals a composer intent on widening the form’s expressive possibilities. Most striking is the way Ashwander handles the left hand. Instead of relying on the standard “oom-pah” stride pattern that defines classic ragtime, he deliberately restricts its use, exploring instead an inventive palette of rhythmic ideas. The left hand shifts between syncopations, off-balance accents, chromatic motion, and fluid counter-lines, creating a restless energy that both complements and challenges the right hand.

This rhythmic freedom is paired with Ashwander’s hallmark chromaticism and contrapuntal interplay. Voices weave in and out with unexpected independence, as though the pianist’s two hands are engaged in an animated conversation rather than merely fulfilling their traditional roles. This approach hints at influences outside classic ragtime—elements of early jazz, classical counterpoint, and perhaps even the experimental spirit of the mid-century American avant-garde. Yet it never loses its footing in the genre; Ashwander’s music stretches ragtime, but never breaks it.

As with many of Ashwander’s early works, “Gayola Rag” is a dense, technically formidable piece. Its textures demand both clarity and agility, and achieving its full effect at tempo is no easy task—even for advanced pianists. But the reward is equally substantial: the piece reveals more of its charm, architecture, and wit with each performance.

More importantly, “Gayola Rag” offers insight into Ashwander himself at a pivotal moment: a young composer, largely unknown, fearlessly cultivating a personal style in a genre most considered obsolete. In its pages, we hear the beginnings of the voice that would later make him one of the most distinctive figures in modern ragtime.

To play or listen to “Gayola Rag” is to encounter ragtime in the hands of an innovator—someone who loved the form too much to leave it unchanged.

If you are interested in playing some Ashwander ragtime compositions, please check out his compositions at Sheet Music Plus. More of his compositions will be added in the future.

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