Final answer:
Scott Joplin is chiefly remembered for his pioneering work in composing ragtime piano music. His influential composition, 'Maple Leaf Rag,' helped popularize the genre, leading to ragtime's spread across America and its impact on later musical styles like jazz and blues. All choices given are incorrect.
Step-by-step explanation:
Scott Joplin was an African American composer and a notable figure in the creation of ragtime music. Born in Texas, Joplin traveled across the South, spending time in Missouri and other states, instructing music and spreading his influence to Northern cities like Chicago. His successful composition, "Maple Leaf Rag", helped to popularize ragtime music, which was a blend of various musical elements and became a uniquely American genre.
Ragtime music thrived during a period where new technologies allowed it to reach wider audiences, including young white Americans. It had started in the 'taboo' world of red-light districts and interracial dance halls, mixing black spirituals with European-American folk music. Not invented by one person, it came to influence later musical forms such as jazz, which would crystallize during the cultural ferment of the Harlem Renaissance.
Although Scott Joplin did not invent syncopation or record blues music or incorporate improvisation into the blues, his legacy lies in his mastery of ragtime and his role in its rise to national prominence. Joplin's music and the genre of ragtime would heavily influence subsequent music styles like jazz and blues.
Hence, all options are incorrect.