Green notes: right hand, blue notes: left hand. Preview played right in your browser with the app's real piano (lightweight version). Inside Pianovera: full multi-layer sound, fingering display and Wait mode.
← Swipe the image to read the score →Beginning of the score, engraved by the Mutopia Project.View the whole score (PDF) →
1914: this is the last rag Joplin published in his lifetime, and its MIDI sounds like nothing else he wrote. Two of its themes sink into minor keys, almost unheard of in the genre, as if the father of ragtime were slipping his farewells between the syncopations. He subtitled it "Syncopations classiques". Says it all.
Our file is the complete version with every repeat: over twelve minutes, a marathon. Musically it's demanding Joplin, with modulations that displace the hand's landmarks and themes that refuse routine. Save it for when The Entertainer runs on autopilot; it will make you rediscover the genre.
Magnetic Rag: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): F4 E4 D#4 F4 D#4 D4 F4 F#4 G4 G#4 A4 A#4 B4 C5 F5 D4 A#4 G4 F4 D#4 C5 C#5 D5 F4… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Magnetic Rag on the virtual piano
Here are the Magnetic Rag virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 8 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 37 notes
RE;R;W
R5T6Y7UI[
W7TR;I9OR7TR
RRRTRRRRTR
▶ Play on the virtual pianoThe piano opens with this piece loaded: the key to play lights up and waits for you.
What you'll be working on
The minor-key themes, rare birds in ragtime
Modulations that move the hand's reference points
Stamina: twelve minutes with the repeats
The bittersweet tone, far from the saloon rag
Playing Magnetic Rag on piano with Pianovera
Don't practice it whole: Pianovera's progress bar jumps you straight to each theme, and the A·B loop isolates the minor episodes. The repeats are a gift, every section comes back to offer you a second chance.
Open Magnetic Rag in Pianovera: the notes fall toward an 88-key virtual piano keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out. On a PC, it's falling notes piano software for Windows, with video export up to 4K.
Free, with no time limit and no ads: 30 pieces (10 in full, 20 in a simplified version), the first 10 lessons and 10 minutes of 3D hands (then 15 seconds per piece). Premium opens all 651 pieces.
The work itself is in the public domain, and this MIDI engraving was placed in the public domain by its typesetter on the Mutopia Project. Use it freely, videos included.
About this piece
Is Magnetic Rag hard to play on piano?
We rate it advanced: 3020 notes over 12:40, spanning A1 to D#6. The first thing to work on: the minor-key themes, rare birds in ragtime.
Where can I get the sheet music for Magnetic Rag?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (120 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, Public domain license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the Magnetic Rag MIDI file really free?
Yes. Scott Joplin died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1914) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
