Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 8

Form: A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → C Section → D Section

Where these chords come from: a lead sheet of this public-domain song, contributed by a musician to the Wikifonia archive and preserved in the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). It describes the song as written, not any particular recording. This page shows that lead sheet as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

A Section 1

• E♭ – Edim – B♭7 (×2)
  I – #i° – V7
• C♭ – B♭7 (×2)
  bVI – V7
• E♭m
  i

B Section 1

• Edim – E♭ – C♭ – E♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – E♭dim – E♭ – C♭ – E♭
  #i° – I – bVI – I – V7 – I – i° – I – bVI – I

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section 1

• B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – Edim – B♭7 – E♭
  V – V7 – I – #i° – V7 – I

D Section 1

• B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – D7 – D♭7
  V – V7 – I – VII7 – bVII7
• C7 – Fm (×2)
  VI7 – ii
• F9 – B♭7 – E♭
  II9 – V7 – I

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

D Section 2

Same chords as D Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭m (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• D♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm.
• F9 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). Community-contributed lead sheet (chord symbols over the melody) from the Wikifonia archive, MIT licence. Title and songwriter credit as written on the sheet.
• Section names: detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases; a phrase that comes back keeps its letter). Lead sheets rarely print section names.
• The sheet has D.C./D.S. jump markings (go back to the start or a sign); those repeats aren't written out here, so part of the song may be played more times than shown.
• Not verified: only one lead sheet of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.