You may have already stumbled upon Kristen Mosca on Youtube. Out of a handful of pianists drawing attention for their video posts, she seems to be the only one squarely focused on ragtime rather than showing off a variety of flashy skill. As of this writing, she has just passed 6 million views and 35 thousand subscribers. The Syncopated Times should be so lucky!
But it wasn't luck that got Kristen Mosca where she is and nothing came overnight. Her story could have only happened today, or at least we can know her story only because of the role social media has played in it. She grew to love playing ragtime outside of the network of musicians, clubs and festivals that have defined the community for decades. Though she says she has been invited to festivals as a guest, she has so far never attended a ragtime event. Her engagement with the genre has almost entirely been through the console piano she has played since she was a child.
That piano, and one important one besides.
Her origin story, part of the mystique that has enamored her fans, begins with the ragtime piano at Coke Corner in Disneyland and a chance meeting with the resident pianist Johnny Hodges, a veteran of many West Coast ragtime festivals:
"I met Johnny Hodges at Disneyland as a 15 year old who had just started learning her first rag. We were watching him play, and my mom insisted that I go up to him and ask t
