Crazy for Ragtime paints a vivid audio-video portrait of America at the dawn of a new era and explores ragtime's impact on the first two decades of the 20th century, as well as its continued influence on popular music today. The title features over 60 interactive rags, all performed by Winter. It also includes features rare film footage of cakewalk dancing, artwork of collectible sheet music covers, and over 200 searchable articles that offer first hand accounts of American life during the ragtime years.
"Ragtime still has a lot to teach us about our country, about our culture, and most of all about ourselves, explains Winter. "The title deals with ragtime on several different levels. Users can learn what critics, composers and the general public were saying about ragtime, spend hours in the reference room perusing rare, collectable ragtime covers or simply enjoy listening to the music that changed the face of American music forever."
Created for the entire family, serious music lovers or those who just want to have fun, "Crazy for Ragtime" is the first in a series of Calliope titles that will use music as a window into American history and is the first of Winter's music titles to incorporate video footage. The title is segmented into six easy-to-access areas, allowing the user to control the level of interactive.
In The Ragtime Craze users can watch and listen to an audio-video essay about America's love affair with ragtime. Listening to Ragtime is an audio-video study that explains why ragtime's musical language and style is so appealing. In Let Me Perform, Winter, with some help from featured singers and vintage film footage, gives personal lessons on playing the piano, singing rags, and dancing the cakewalk. The Reference Room holds a collection of over 200 striking ragtime sheet music covers, a composer gallery, a turn-of-the century movie arcade and over 200 articles with searchable text.
The remaining two sections permit an extraordinary level of interactivity. A Ragtime Sampler contains over 60 interactive rags in digital audio and/or MIDI formats that allows users to view musical notation, change instruments and alter tempo. Or, users can sit back and listen to the rags as recorded by Winter. The Make Your Own Rag section takes the interactive process one step further, enabling users to compose and save their own rags from hundreds of musical phrases.
To get people of all ages into the ragtime rhythm, Calliope and Yamaha Corporation of America have put out a call for the best piano rag with a contest called "Make Your Own Rag." Consumers who purchase a copy of Crazy for Ragtime in the U.S. (void where prohibited by law) between May 15 to October 31, 1996 could win a Yamaha Disklavier digital piano by submitting a rag composed from the Make Your Own Rag section of the CD-ROM. Rag submissions will be reviewed and winners selected by a panel of judges consisting of Winter; world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman; leading authority on ragtime music Max Morath; and Carter Schuld, digital/acoustic piano marketing manager, Keyboard Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. The Grand Prize Disklavier piano will be delivered to the winner in December 1996.
Robert Winter's Crazy for Ragtime is in stores now. Consumers can order the CD-ROM directly by calling (800) 617-2541. Crazy for Ragtime will be released in the UK in May by Macmillan Interactive Publishers, and throughout Europe and Asia by Maxis. The CD-ROM is available for Windows and Macintosh. Suggested retail is $49.95.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Calliope Media is an independently held company co-founded by businessman Jay Heifetz and Winter. The company publishes and distributes interactive multimedia software titles for the consumer market. Calliope's titles feature originally authored programs in the arts, entertainment and humanities that focus on combining intellectually stimulating content with entertaining interactive design. Calliope's first title, "ScruTiny in the Great Round," was awarded the 1996 MILIA d'Or Grand Prix.
