A strain is a series of musical phrases that create a distinct melody of a piece. A strain is often referred to as a "section" of a musical piece. Often, a strain is repeated for the sake of instilling the melody clearly. This is so in ragtime and marches. Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Musical composition is: an original piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A musical composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance... Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900–1918. ... // History The true march music era existed from 1850 to 1940s as it slowly became shadowed by the coming of jazz. ...