The Maurice Walk — Novelty of Frederick Hodges

The Maurice Walk is a rare ragtime piece composed by Paul Biese and F. Henri Klickmann, published in 1913, and performed by Maurice and Florence Walton. I could find only three instances of it on the Internet. The original sheet music, the sheet music turned into a very uninspiring MIDI performance, and Frederick Hodges’ performance of his own arrangement in novelty style.

Hodges’ 2007 novelty version is, I think, very inspiring. It’s got hints of humor and loads of virtuosity as one would expect from Frederick. There are various runs up and down the keyboard including jumping triads. The attitude expressed, along with the perfect clarity of notes, is what makes it pop. And of course, the use of the sostenuto pedal to hold the left thumb, for which Frederick is well-known.

I wish we could hear more versions of this: piano rolls, film with the dancing, or even anyone performing it on YouTube. I don’t know if the piece itself is ingenious, or if it’s all Frederick. Credit goes to Piotr Barcz for bringing this music to my attention by transcribing the whole album to MIDI on his YouTube channel.

In transcribing this piece, I used the same four pieces of software as I used for Corsica Rag about a month ago: Transkun, Cakewalk, Transcribe! and LilyPond. Because Hodges enunciates each note clearly despite the break-neck speed, his playing is particularly amenable to spectral analysis.

Here is the audio from Frederick Hodges recording, as licensed to be available on YouTube:

Here is the original sheet music: Here is my transcription of Frederick Hodges’ version:

Here is a MIDI file of my transcription for download, and also a primitive on-line MIDI player for instant gratification. LilyPond generates the MIDI file.

Play MIDI Stop MIDI