The Entertainer
Scott Joplin's 'The Entertainer' is the definitive piano rag — a bright, syncopated classic revived by the 1973 film The Sting. Joplin died in 1917, so the music is firmly in the public domain.
The opening, in notation
The first bars of The Entertainer, rendered from a public-domain score. As a public-domain work, you're free to play, arrange and share it — or transcribe your own recording below.
Playing The Entertainer
The fun and the challenge are the same thing: keeping a steady left-hand stride under a syncopated right hand. Take it slower than you think — ragtime is marked 'not fast'.
How to get The Entertainer sheet music
LoveMyScore transcribes audio into notation, so you can turn a recording — or your own performance — of The Entertainer into a playable score. Choose piano and you get sheet music plus MIDI and MusicXML you can edit in any notation app or DAW. As a public-domain work, you're free to arrange and share it.