By Hudson Coombs
Mississippi State, Miss. (Take 30 News)--- From February 27th to February 29th of 2020, Mississippi State University hosted the 14th annual Charles H. Templeton Ragtime & Jazz Festival which was accompanied by the Gatsby Fashion Gala within the Mitchell Memorial Library and McComas Theatre. Together, they featured clothing from the 1920's created and modeled by MSU students as well as seminars and performances featuring notable ragtime musicians that travel the world to share their talents.
Pianist and Artistic Director of the festival, Jeff Barnhart, said musicians crave the opportunity to participate in the festival because of what MSU has to offer.
"The equipment itself is of the highest quality you could imagine,” Barnhart said. “Just in the small seminar room, we are playing on 250,000 dollars worth of Steinway pianos. You just don't find that in most festivals. The musicians that I hire, and even the ones we haven't gotten around to yet who approach us, this is a festival people are asking to come to. They're asking to come and perform. They've heard about the quality of the instruments, how well they are treated, the quality of the audiences. They want to come and study."
Ted Loftis, a longtime fan of ragtime music who has attended all 14 festivals, said the festival reminds him of when he was younger.
"Both of my grandmother's had player pianos,” Loftis said, “and you had to pump it, we had a pump pedal. So my little five year old feet just pump, pump, pump.”
Ann Chiles, the leader of the festival's volunteers, is thrilled about the recent rise in the festival's popularity. However, she wishes more people would give it a chance.
"Last night and tonight are the biggest nights that we've had since I remember coming to the festival,” Chiles said. “In fact, we have a couple that are here tonight and she said, ‘oh I don't like jazz music’ and I said try it. She did and she just said to me a while ago, ‘I will be back next year’."
The next Templeton Ragtime & Jazz Festival is scheduled for the spring semester of 2021 as the festival continues to field applicants from across the globe.