Joplin is remembered as the "King of Ragtime". Very little is known about his early musical studies. His father and mother were musical and Joplin received some piano lessons in his hometown in Arkansas when he was very young. He organized a vocal group and a band as a young man. Soon after, began to write his own music. He wrote in a style called "ragtime" (music containing bouncy, syncopated rhythms). He died in New York in the year 1917. He music became even more popular years after his death. He won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1976.

Robert Schumann was born in a German village near Leipzig in 1810. At the age of 7 he started piano lessons, and soon he was composing short songs. Schumann worked hard, and wrote symphonies, overtures, an opera, chamber music, and many more songs. But, he really enjoyed writing music for the piano, for which he composed many pieces. He was a music critic, often writing articles to promote talented young composers. His wife, Clara Wieck Schumann was a great pianist and composer herself. Schumann died in the year 1856.

Chopin was born on March 4, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland.  At the age of 4, he began to study piano.  When he was only 8 years old, he was playing piano concerts in Warsaw, Poland.  He began composing when he studied music at a nearby music school. He later moved to Paris, where he became famous as a pianist, teacher, and composer. Nearly all of Chopin's compositions are for piano. He died in Paris on October 17, 1849, of tuberculosis. Chopin greatly influenced other composers, such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, and Claude Debussy.  He was thought of (by many) as the greatest of all composers of music for the piano.

George Bizet was born in the year 1838. He came from a musical family and was first taught music by his parents. He began to learn music when he was only 4 years old. By the time he was 8 he could repeat long pieces of music by memory. At the age of 10, he began studying music at the Paris Conservatory and won many awards for his piano playing and composing. He wrote mostly operas, and is best known for "Carmen" (one of the most popular operas of all time). Bizet died in the year 1875.