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) →
First piece of American music to sell a million copies of sheet music. The 1899 Maple Leaf Rag launched the entire ragtime wave single-handed and paid Joplin a cent per copy for the rest of his life. It's also, let's be straight with you, the most demanding rag MIDI we're hosting: the left hand leaps without rest and the right stacks syncopated chords on top.
We file it as advanced without hesitating. Nearly eighteen notes per second on average in this file, left-hand tenths, and not one bar of rest anywhere. If you're new to ragtime, start with The Entertainer. If stride is already in your fingers, this one is a party.
Maple Leaf Rag: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): G#4 D#5 G#4 C5 D#5 G4 D#5 G4 A#4 D#5 G#4 D#5 G#4 C5 D#5 G4 D#5 G4 A#4 D#5 D#5 G#4 B4 E5… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Maple Leaf Rag on the virtual piano
Here are the Maple Leaf Rag virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 7 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar. The melody sounds an octave lower than written, so it fits on the keyboard.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 34 notes
H;HQ;B;BJ;
H;HQ;B;BJ;
;HME;;HME;
HM66
▶ 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
A wide, fast stride that never misses its bass note
Short, precise syncopated chords in the right hand
The D-flat trio and its key-signature switch
Stamina: four themes, zero pause
Playing Maple Leaf Rag on piano with Pianovera
Build it section by section with Pianovera's A·B loop at 60% speed, hands separate. The per-piece accuracy curve will tell you honestly when each theme is ready for the next tempo notch.
Open Maple Leaf 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 Maple Leaf Rag hard to play on piano?
We rate it advanced: 2566 notes over 2:24, spanning G#1 to G#6. The first thing to work on: a wide, fast stride that never misses its bass note.
Where can I get the sheet music for Maple Leaf Rag?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (102 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 Maple Leaf Rag MIDI file really free?
Yes. Scott Joplin died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1899) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
