Noctave
The piece
Published in 1899 by John Stark & Son, the Maple Leaf Rag made Scott Joplin's name. Its form is that of a march: four sixteen-bar strains, played here in the order AA BB A CC DD, with a trio in D-flat major. Joplin marks it Tempo di marcia, so it is not a race but a syncopated dance in two. The Mutopia Project engraving used here reproduces the original edition.
The left hand works like a rhythm section: an octave in the bass, then a chord in the middle, with 278 octaves and 79 large leaps. That back-and-forth has to be as regular as clockwork, because it is what makes the right-hand syncopations audible. The right hand also plays plenty of octaves (187) and chords, with accents that fall off the beat: count the sixteenth notes aloud at first so you do not straighten out the rhythm. With four flats, then five in the trio, reading stays manageable; the real demand is a precise bounce. Looping a single strain lets you tune this mechanism before linking the sections.