Harlem Stride Piano

        The Harlem Stride Piano style is perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the music of the Harlem Renaissance. Up until then, Ragtime had been the popular style and limited the musicians creativity with it’s standard form and lack of creativity. In Harlem Stride, the pianist uses his left hand to play a four beat pulse throughout the song in an improvisational manner. Pianists were now encouraged to improvise and create new music on the spot. This new style gave New York, and Harlem especially, a unique quality that separated it from New Orleans, Chicago and any other Jazz metropolis. Harlem Stride inspired piano duels called cutting contests where two or more players would rip off improvised piano riffs until one man couldn’t keep up. These duels usually took place a rent parties, which were large parties in which the small fee at the door would be used to pay the apartment’s land lord that month.  The Harlem Stride Piano was key in distinguishing Harlem from the rest of the world musically at this time.