What style of piano music, popularised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is characterised by a syncopated 'ragged' rhythm and was a precursor to jazz?

• A Stride
• B Boogie-woogie
• C Ragtime ✓
• D Honky-tonk

Ragtime, exemplified by Scott Joplin's 'Maple Leaf Rag' (1899), was the first distinctly musical genre to achieve widespread popularity and influenced early jazz.