Welcome to Keeper's long-lost MIDI files

If you ordered some of my sheet music prior to 2002, please take note of my new address. The address on the back of the sheet music is no longer valid. The new address is listed on these pages. Also note: My address will be changing again sometime within the next year.

Hear my music on CD!
Conversation Pieces is included on the album Skeletons by Tom Brier. This CD contains band arrangements hand-played and sequenced on a sampling keyboard. Read Jack Rummel's review! This CD may be purchased for $17 from Tom Brier, 2618 Stonecreek Drive #289, Sacramento, CA 95833.

Affinity Rag is included on the album Pianola by Tom Brier. The CD, containing piano-roll arrangements of classic and contemporary ragtime, may be purchased for $17 from Tom Brier, 2618 Stonecreek Drive #289, Sacramento, CA 95833.

Some of my music is available in print!
17 Rags by Ron O'Dell is a ring-bound folio with acrylic covers that sells for $20. It includes new scores for three rags, and eight titles that are not available separately, plus a score that is out of print individually. Titles included are: Affinity Rag, Bird-Bath Rag, Conversation Pieces, That Crotchety Old Rag, Fast Cat Rag, Fiancée Rag, Frivolity Rag, Greasy Spoon Rag, Infernally Unnamable Rag, Mad Scientist Rag, Priority Rag, Puppy Dog Rag, The Scorcher, Skunk in the Parlor, Spontaneity Rag, Tattle-Tale Rag, and To the Nines.

The following scores are available individually also:
A Rag-Time Hullabaloo -- a real romp
Skunk in the Parlor -- humorous and fun!
Puppy Dog Rag -- a fun ragtime march. View the first page (PDF file).
Mad Scientist Rag -- fun in minor keys with augmented and diminished chords.
Fast Cat Rag -- perhaps my most unusual rag, with some baroque keyboard elements.
To the Nines -- my novelty tribute to the year 1999. Currently out of print as a single score, but is included in the folio.
The Scorcher -- my first all-around Joplinesque rag.
Infernally Unnamable Rag -- a folk rag written in an 1899 or 1900 style.
Conversation Pieces -- a big hit in its concert debut at the 1997 Monterey Bay Ragtime Festival.
Affinity Rag -- one of my more solid rags.

They are available from me for $3 each. The folio of 17 rags, which includes eight titles never before available (and exclusive to the folio), may be purchased for $20. Send a check or money order to Ron O'Dell, 620 Caspian Ct, Reno, NV 89521. Please specify which tune(s) you want. Note that I only sell my own compositions!

New sequences only
Recently added "long-lost" sequences
All sequences
Non-ragtime music only (baroque, classical, TV themes -- whatever)
My compositions only

"Level 1-3" refers to the approximate quality level of each arrangement. Level 3 is the best. The dates given are when a sequence was programmed.

If your browser supports javascript and frames, you can use my MIDI Jukebox window to listen to the files without having to keep your browser pointed here, and without having to continually close a MIDI player between selections. Plus, when you select a tune with lyrics, the lyrics will appear in the window automatically! If your browser is frame-capable but not javascript-capable, you can use the messier-looking but just as functional full browser version. You can resize it to be small and almost simulate the javascript version.

New sequences

• A Rag-Time Hullabaloo by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 6 August 2008
  After Lucky Number Rag, which I wasn't sure I'd even show to anyone, I decided I needed to write a more traditional rag, so once I came up with this title, it was off to the races. I stopped after two strains and four measures of the third strain, stuck. Several months later, I finally found a way through and completed this. I even made a cover so it can be sold as an individual sheet.
  
  
• Lucky Number Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 2 -- 10 March 2008
  I have often had ideas for strains in 7/8 time signature in my head, but never sat down to write anything, and had given up on the idea. One day, I had the first strain of this rag in my head, thinking it was in 2/4, but only when writing it down did I realize it was in 7/4. I added an extra beat to make it 2/4, but then had to come up with a title. Seeing that the tempo was set to 88, which is my lucky number, I decided on this title. Then I realized that 7 is a lucky number for many people, so re-wrote the first strain back in 7/4 time. A couple of normal 2/4 strains followed, but then I decided it had to end in 7/8.
  
  
• Yakko's World (traditional; arranged by Randy Rogel) -- Level 3 -- 7 December 2007
  This arrangement of the Mexican Hat Dance appeared in the second episode of Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs in 1993, as the character of Yakko Warner sang a rhyme of countries and territories around the world. I was asked to make this by an anime cosplay group in Ohio who wanted to do a musical sketch with the tune, but could find no recording of it without Yakko's singing (because no such recording existed). I transcribed the arrangement by ear.
  
  
• Morgan Hill Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Hand-played -- 25 October 2007
  This was one of the few occasions when I completed a tune without having a title in mind. Finally, I realized that the town I was living in had celebrated its centenary a year earlier. Since 1906 was right in the middle of the ragtime era, I decided to name this rag after the town. Click here to view a live performance by Tom Brier (YouTube link).
  
  
• Fly-Swatter Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 6 February 2007
  The title came to me in an instant when pianist Andrew Barrett accidentally blew his sheet music right off the piano while trying to shoo away a fly during a performance at the 2006 Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival. Realizing that there was no known rag by this name, I knew I had to write one. Click here to view a live performance by the Sullivans & Drivons (YouTube link).
  
  
• Osawatomie by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 23 January 2007
  This is in the "Indian Intermezzo" style that also was popular during the ragtime era. The style was created accidentally in 1901 by Charles N. Daniels' tune "Hiawatha" (using one of his pseudonyms, Neil Moret). That tune was supposed to be about a train ride to the town of Hiawatha, Kansas, but through misunderstanding its sound became recognized as "Native" American music. Many other tunes in this style were written, and several also were named after towns in Kansas. Most of my ragtime friends have composed an Indian Intermezzo, so I thought should give it a try. When I saw the town name of Osawatomie, I thought it was perfect for my situation, because it sounds similar to saying, "Oh, so what o' me?" The town's claim to fame is being where John Brown's abolitionist uprising began. I actually composed this in 2006.
  
  
• Skunk in the Parlor by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 15 November 2004
  The Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival is known for having rags inspired by it, and in 2004, I was encouraged to add an effort of my own. All the obvious titles were taken, so I had to think of something original. Myself and other composers stay the weekend in a Victorian house fondly nicknamed "Skunk Hollow" in the parlor of which is a piano which gets played late into the night and early in the morning. Of course, Skunk Hollow already has a rag named after it. But I thought about the parlor piano, and came up with the link between skunks and piano keys -- both are black and white! So then, what if a skunk wandered into the parlor, attracted to the piano? Thus I came up with the title, and began writing music to match.
  
  
• Theme to "Angelina" by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 2 August 2004
  NOTE: This is an orchestral/choral file with portamento controls on the voices and so forth which probably will not play properly on anything but another Yamaha XG SoftSynthesizer, with which I composed it. Angelina is a cartoon series concept with a 36-episode storyline by an extremely talented Italian animator friend of mine, Federica Giulietti. Between jobs on various TV shows and at graphics arts studios, she has been working on this concept for close to 10 years, and finished the animated title sequence in 2003. I decided that it should have an original theme, so I wrote this music. It's my first attempt at writing for orchestra. You can view the animation matched with the theme by clicking here then choosing on the left side which size file to download. Because of the compression, the sound quality isn't so great. You can hear a clear MP3 of this music the way it should sound and with most sound effects removed by clicking here (the laughing voice is my own!).
  
  
• Puppy Dog Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 8 June 2004
  I was definitely back on form when composing this. After finishing the first strain, I said out loud, "OK, let's save this puppy," then stared at the screen for several minutes wondering what to name it. The fact that I called it a puppy and spoke it out loud struck me. To obtain the sheet music, send $3 to Ron O'Dell, 620 Caspian Ct, Reno, NV 89521. Please specify which tune you're ordering. View the first page (PDF file). Click here for live performance by Tom Brier (MP3 sound file, 783K).
  
  
• Bird-Bath Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Hand-Played -- 31 May 2004
  I was bored, not really in the mood to write music, when I composed this. It's certainly not close to my best work, but I guess it has its charms. There was a dead blue jay in my driveway when I was thinking about a name for this rag, and it reminded me of watching one of them splash around in a puddle a few days before. That's when I came up with the title. This marks the first time I have hand-played a MIDI sequence on this site, though it was done in several takes and only one hand at a time. I had to quantize the notes to get my poor playing into some semblance of rhythm. Click here to view a live performance by Andrew Barrett (YouTube link).
  
  
• Frivolity Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 2 May 2004
  A day after composing Priority Rag, I wrote this, still determined to give up my usual frivolous activities in order to write music! Click here for live performance by Tom Brier (streaming MP3 sound file, 573K).
  
  
• Priority Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 1 May 2004
  Another rag written in one sitting! I had the idea for the first strain this morning, and liked it so much, I decided that instead of going to my other job when I'm done with the shipments for my work-at-home job, I would stay home and write music. It's not exactly the best of priorities. I also had just acquired a racing game (actually a 1965 mod for Grand Prix Legends) that had just been released after a year of anticipation. I was afraid that when I did get back home, I would end up playing it instead of following through with my plan to write music. I do that a lot, even though writing music is certainly a more lasting accomplishment, so it should have priority over driving a simulated racing car. Well, I didn't install the racing game tonight, despite having waited so long to play it. Instead, music was my priority, and so the rag is called Priority Rag. Click here for live performance by Tom Brier (streaming MP3 sound file, 593K).
  
  
• Tattle-Tale Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 2 -- 9 July 2003
  I had come up with the title a while ago, and a notion of some kind of descending chromatic figure in the first strain. As soon as I had completed my Fiancée Rag, I began to experiment with the notion. Five hours later, this entire composition was complete. Chromatic figures ended up being used throughout, providing a cohesiveness while also making this something of a show-stopper. Click here for live performance by Tom Brier recorded at the Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium in Sutter Creek, California (streaming MP3 sound file, 551K). Click here to view a live performance by the Raspberry Jam Band (YouTube link).
  
  
• Fiancée Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 9 July 2003
  I had been working on this a little bit at a time over the course of a year. I wanted to write something for my girlfriend, Linda, and by the time I finished this, she wasn't my girlfriend anymore. That's where I got the title from. It has some highly unusual things in the second half.
  
  
• Diplomacy Rag by Christoph Schmetterer -- Level 3 -- 26 November 2001
  This rag was composed in April and June of 2001. Christoph Schmetterer is a ragtime composer from Vienna, Austria, whom I met at the 2001 West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento. He writes some terrific rags in the classic style, and I promised him I'd fix up some MIDI sequences of them from the bare Encore files. This is the first effort. I took some liberties with it on the repeats, as an example of how I might play it.
  
  
• Mad Scientist Rag by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 6 September 2001
  I came up with the title while lying in bed after waking up one day. This rag has some interesting things in it. While the first strain is decidedly in E minor, the second strain starts like it might continue in that key, but then quickly switches to the relative G Major, only to fall back into minor chords. Then it begins to modulate again and -- this is the strange part -- it ends on a G minor chord, though it works as a transition back to the beginning, rather than feeling like an ending. The C strain is really a pair of 8-bar ideas which lead into the D strain. The first of these utilizes diminished and augmented chords to evoke the scene of the mad scientist's laboratory, like Dr Frankenstein's with big electrical arcs and such. The second has a series of tremelos in the left hand with a lot of diminished chords, meant to evoke the evil experiment coming to life, and that life is represented by the more traditional, lighter D strain which spends its time definitively in C Major until the cadence which ends it in A Major (really A minor -- lots of baroque music in minor keys end on the parallel major; I'm doing the same thing here). Then it goes back to repeat the A strain one last time. That strain ends on a root-position chord with a 4-3 suspension, so the last note played is the third degree of the chord -- again typical of baroque music, and very effective for the mood here. If all the musical terminology doesn't make sense to you, it's no matter; the music sounds just fine without all the analysis! To obtain the sheet music, send $3 to 620 Caspian Ct, Reno, NV 89521. Please specify which tune you're ordering. Click here for live performance by Tom Brier (streaming MP3 sound file, 611K).
  
  
• To the Nines by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 6 November 1999
  My first new composition in nearly five years! The title of this novelty is an expression for being dressed in fancy clothes ("dressed to the nines"). However, in this case the music is a tribute to the year 1999. The music in this composition is Y2K compliant! For sheet music, send check or money order for $3 to Ron O'Dell, 620 Caspian Ct, Reno, NV 89521 (please specify which composition you want).
  
  
• Page 2 of lost Scott Joplin song -- Level 3 -- 4 December 1998
  In 1947, Lottie Joplin had a photograph sent to Brun Campbell, titled Joplin's Piano. Whether or not the piano in the picture actually was one of Scott Joplin's has never been determined, but in 1997, Reginald Robinson noticed that a page of handwritten manuscript on the piano in the photograph was a tune almost certainly composed by Scott Joplin, but which nobody had ever heard before! No one in the 50 years previous had ever bothered to look at closely enough at the photo to discover this lost Joplin tune, even though it is fairly readable (I even noticed a wrong note in a recently printed version, just by looking at a mere reproduction of the photograph)! It is marked as page 2, and is a song, though most of its lyrics are too blurry in the photo to decipher. So here is a mere 23 seconds of late Scott Joplin music -- the end of one strain and the beginning of another. From the style, this very well could be from even later than his last known work, Magnetic Rag.
  
  
• The Yankee Hustler by Eugene E. Schmitz -- Level 3 -- 12 January 1998
  A "Tribute to American Progress" composed in 1902 by the mayor of San Francisco. Rather simple, but charming.
  
  
• The Garden Walk by Tom Brier -- Level 3 -- 7 November 1997
  A 1996 composition by one of the most prolific ragtime composers ever, arranged with permission. I added some personal flash to the end. Sheet music for this and other rags of his is available directly from the composer for $3 each, to Tom Brier, 2618 Stonecreek Drive #289, Sacramento, CA 95833.
  
  
• Ain't Misbehavin' by Andy Razaf, "Fats" Waller and Harry Brooks -- Level 3 -- 7 July 1997
  Frankie Carle's conception of the popular tune. On a whim the night of July 6, I went looking for some piano/violin music I have, and realized I also had more recently received some piano music from an elderly neighbor who couldn't play the piano any longer and gave me her small sheet music collection so that it would have a home. One of the books was a folio of Frankie Carle conceptions. Upon picking it up, I immediately started deciding which tune from it I wanted to make a MIDI file of first. After nine hours at the computer, this is the result. I put a lot of very subtle dynamics into the melody of this one.
  
  
• Fido Followed Felix by Harry Tilsley -- Level 3 -- 25 June 1997
  A 1924 tune about Felix the Cat meeting with a dog called Fido (perhaps the Ken-L Ration mascot? anyone know when that started?). Lyrics -- This sequence is a reworking of one by David Gerstein, and appears with permission. Visit his Classic Felix the Cat Page.
  
  
• That's A Plenty by Lew Pollack -- Level 3 -- 24 June 1997
  My friend Ryan McDowell arranged this for a brass quintet he plays for in school, but he has limited experience arranging music on the computer, so I took the straight notes-from-the-page sequence and really went to town. I've changed it into a more typical 1930s quintet ensemble, panned the instruments, added the unwritten swing, made the notes bouncier, and most of all added the trombone slides by hand (several hundred pitchbend commands). NOTE: Your MIDI device must be able to adjust the pitchbend range to 12 semitones (I use the Data Entry MSB control in the sequence), or the slides will sound awful. The end of the last slide accelerates just as a real trombonist would do. This was extremely difficult to achieve. I had never spent two days working on about two seconds of music before. My MIDI card is a Turtle Beach Maui; other cards may not have desireable volume levels between the different instruments. I'd be interested to know if it sounds decent on other good MIDI devices.
  
  
• Wakko's Two-Note Song ragtime arrangement by Ron "Keeper" O'Dell -- Level 3 -- 24 April 1997
  In an Animaniacs cartoon, the character of Wakko proved that his two-note melody was indeed a song that could be played in many styles. Ragtime wasn't one of the examples, so I've filled the void. The slow tempo is done to match the original. Think of it as a slow drag. Note the subtle swing added, to sound more natural (in fact, it's how I play this).
  
  
• Slippery Elm Rag by Clarence Woods -- Level 3 -- 31 March 1997
  A very interesting rag, played "Very Slowly." I slapped this together in one sitting while waiting for a phone call that never came.
  
  
• Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin -- Level 3 -- 23 March 1997
  Presented the way I play it, this was modified from a straight arrangement by Warren Trachtman, with permission.
  
  
• Hello! Ma Baby by Ida Emerson and Joseph E. Howard -- Level 3 -- 21 March 1997
  The song immortalized by Michigan J. Frog in the Chuck Jones cartoon One Froggy Evening. I added a lot of personal touches to this, most notable of which is a flashy one-step arrangement at the end, typical of piano performances of songs from the period. Lyrics
  
  
• Medic Rag by C.L. Woolsey -- Level 3 -- 29 January 1997
  I improved on the written score, to add variety to the repeats and give the rag a more robust ending.
  
  

That's just the new stuff! See also:
All sequences
Recently added "long-lost" sequences
Non-ragtime music only (baroque, classical, TV themes -- whatever)
My compositions only

To see hear some stuff I've started but never finished, click here to enter the work directory.