Joplin is the only one you have heard of because he was just about the only one with a publisher. The rest simply improvised. Many could not read music. Jopl

Joplin is the only one you have heard of because he was just about the only one with a publisher. The rest simply improvised. Many could not read music. Joplin had some classical training, although he quit it young. His use of syncopation is much more restrained that many other ragtime musicians, and that is what makes it lastingly interesting. It is the lack of syncopation where you expect it that keeps the brain in a state of pleasant surprise.