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A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who generally perform outdoors and who incorporate some type of marching or other movement with musical performance. Instrumentation includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, and the music usually incorporates a strong rhythmic component suitable for marching.

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http://www.classiccat.net

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A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John Philip Sousa and the martial hymns of the late 19th century. Examples of the varied use of the march can be found in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, in the Marches militaires of Franz Schubert, in the Marche funèbre in Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor, and in the Dead March in Handel's Saul.

Description

Marches can be written in any time signature, but the most common time signatures are 4/4, 2/2 ( alla breve, although this may refer to 2 time up until the time of Johannes Brahms, or cut time), 6/8, and 3/4; however, some modern marches are being written in 1/2 time. The modern march tempo hovers around 120 beats to the minute (the standard Napoleonic march tempo); however, many funeral marches conform to the Roman standard of 60 beats to the minute.

Instrumentation, time signature, and tempo are the most common characteristic of marches. With exceptions, marches usually consist of several strains or sections, usually of 16 or 32 measures in length, and usually repeated at least once during the course of the march. Marches generally have a strong and steady percussive beat reminiscent of military field drums. Marches frequently change keys once, modulating to the subdominant key, and occasionally returning to the original tonic key. If it begins in a minor key, it modulates to the relative major. Marches frequently have counter-melodies introduced during the repeat of a main melody. Marches frequently have a penultimate dogfight strain in which two groups of instruments (high/low, woodwind/brass, etc.) alternate in a statement/response format. In most traditional American marches, there are three strains. The third strain is referred to as the "trio".

A military music event where various marching bands and units perform is called tattoo.

History

Marches were not notated until the late 16th century; until then, time was generally kept by percussion alone, often with improvised fife embellishment. With the extensive development of brass instruments, especially in the 19th century, marches became widely popular and were often elaborately orchestrated. Composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Gustav Mahler wrote marches, often incorporating them into their operas, sonatas, or symphonies. The later popularity of John Philip Sousa's band marches was unmatched.

The march tempo of 120 beats or steps per minute was adapted by Napoleon Bonaparte so that his army could move faster. Since he planned to occupy the territory he conquered, instead of his soldiers carrying all of their provisions with them, they would live off the land and march faster. The French march tempo is faster than the traditional tempo of British marches; the British call marches in the French tempo quick marches. Despite the United States' origin as British colonies, traditional American marches use the French or quick march tempo. There are two reason for this: First, U.S. military bands adopted the march tempos of France and other continental European nations that aided the U.S. during its early wars with Great Britain. Second, the composer of the greatest American marches, John Philip Sousa, was of Portuguese descent. Portugal used the French tempo exclusively-the standard Sousa learned during his musical education. A military band playing or marching at the traditional British march tempo would seem unusually slow in the United States.

March music originates from the military, and marches are usually played by a marching band. The most important instruments are various drums (especially snare drum), horns, fife or woodwind instruments and brass instruments. Marches and marching bands have even today a strong connection to military, both to drill and parades. Marches, which are played at paces with multiples of normal heartbeat, can have a hypnotic effect on the marching soldiers, rendering them into a trance,[citation needed] This effect was widely known already in the 16th century, and was employed to lead the soldiers in closed ranks against the enemy fire in the 16th and 17th century wars.

March music is often important for ceremonial occasions. Processional or coronation marches, such as the popular coronation march from Le Prophète by Giacomo Meyerbeer and the many examples of coronation marches written for British monarchs by English composers, such as Edward Elgar, Edward German, and William Walton, are all in traditional British tempos.

American march music

The true " march music era" existed from 1855 to the 1940s as it slowly became shadowed by the coming of jazz. Earlier marches, such as the ones from Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Mozart, and George Frideric Handel tended to be part of a symphony or a movement in a suite. Despite the age of these marches, the history it holds and its performance in the United States, they are generally not thought of as " typical American march music".

American march music cannot be discussed without mentioning the " March King," John Philip Sousa. Some of his most famous marches include "Semper Fidelis", " The Washington Post March", " The Liberty Bell", and " Stars and Stripes Forever". Two other major American composers of marches are R. B. Hall and Karl King.

A specialized form of " typical American march music" is the circus march, or screamer, typified by the marches of Henry Fillmore and Karl King. These marches are performed at a significantly faster tempo (140 - 200 beats per minute) and generally have an abundance of runs, fanfares and other " showy" features. Frequently the low brass has one or more strains (usually the second strain) in which they are showcased with both speed and bombast. Stylistically, many circus marches employ a lyrical final strain which (in the last time through the strain) starts out maestoso (majestically-slower and more stately) and then in the second half of the strain speeds up to end the march faster than the original tempo.

European march music

Many European countries and cultures developed characteristic styles of marches. Some of the styles and characteristics are

British marches typically move at a more stately pace (ca. 88-112 beats per minute), have intricate countermelodies (frequently appearing only in the repeat of a strain), have a wide range of dynamics (including unusually soft sections), use full-value " stingers" at the ends of phrases (as opposed to the shorter " marcato" stinger of American marches). The final strain of a British march often has a broad lyrical quality to it. Archetypical British marches include The British Grenadiers and those of Kenneth Alford, such as the well-known Colonel Bogey March and The Great Little Army.

German marches move at a very strict tempo of 110 beats per minute, and have a strong " oom-pah" polka-like/folk-like quality resulting from the bass drum and low-brass playing on the downbeats and alto voices such as "peck horn" and the snare drums playing on the off-beats. This provides a very " martial" quality to these marches. The low brass is often featured prominently in at least one strain of a German march. To offset the rhythmic martiality of most of the strains, the final strain (" trio") often has a lyrical (if somewhat bombastic) quality.

Notable German and Austrian march composers include Carl Teike (Alte Kameraden), Hermann Ludwig Blankenburg, Johann Gottfried Piefke (Preußens Gloria), Hans Schmid, Josef Wagner and Karl Michael Ziehrer.

French military marches are distinct from other European marches by their emphasis on percussion and brass, often incorporating bugle calls as part of the melody or as interludes between strains. Most French marches are in common metre and place a strong percussive emphasis on the first beat of each measure, hence the characteristic " BOOM-whack-whack-whack" rhythm.

Dutch marches typically they feature a heavy intro, often (but not as a rule) played by the trombones, euphoniums, drums, and tubas, followed by a lighthearted trio and a reasonably fast and somewhat 'bombastic' conclusion. Dutch emphasis on low brass is also made clear in that Dutch military bands use sousaphones, which have a more forward projection of sound, rather than regular concert tubas used by most other European military styles. Some well known Dutch march composers are Jan Gerard Palm, Willy Schootemeyer, Adriaan Maas, Johan Wichers and Hendrik Karels.

By far most Dutch military bands perform their music on foot, however some Dutch regiments, most notably the Trompetterkorps Bereden Wapens carry on a Dutch tradition in which its historical bicycle infantry had a mounted band; thus playing march music on bikes.

Italian marches have a very " light" musical feel, often having sections of fanfare or soprano obligatos performed with a light " coloratura" articulation. This " frilly" characteristic is contrasted with broad lyrical melodies reminiscent of operatic arias. It is relatively common to have one strain (often a first introduction of the final strain) that is played primarily by the higher-voiced instruments, or in the upper ranges of the instruments's compass. A typical Italian march would be "Il Bersagliere" (The Italian Rifleman) by Boccalari. Uniquely, the Bersaglieri regiments always move at a fast jog, and their "running bands" play at this pace.

The most characteristic Spanish march form is the Pasodoble. Spanish marches often have fanfares at the beginning or end of strains that are reminiscent of traditional bullfight or flamenco music. These marches often move back and forth between major and (relative) minor keys, and often show a great variation in tempo during the course of the march reminiscent of an exaggerated or prolonged Viennese rubato. A typical Spanish march would be Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor.

Czech ( Bohemian) march composers include František Kmoch and Julius Fučík, who wrote Entrance of the Gladiators.

While many of the marches of Tsarist Russia share similar characteristics with German marches of the period, and indeed some were directly borrowed from Germany (such as Der Königgrätzer Marsch) the indigenous, pre-revolutionary Russian march has a distinctly Russian sound, with powerful strains in minor keys repeated with low brass with occasional flashes of major chords between sections. The Soviet period produced a large number of modern marches incorporating both Russian themes and structure reminiscent of Dutch marches. Frequently in major keys, Soviet marches often span a wide range of dynamics while maintaining a strong melody well-balanced with the percussion, entering the " bombastic" range without overpowering percussion as is common with French marches. They are often in the A-B/Cb-A form or Ternary form.

Modern Turkey's march is İstiklal Marşı. It has power and anger with an aggressive tune. But generally, old Turkish marches at the times of the Ottoman Empire are aggressive in the lyrics and more confident in the tunes, but still frightful to enemy, e.g. Mehter Marşı. It is notable that Mozart and Beethoven also wrote popular Turkish marches.

Asian march music

Thailand's very own King Bhumibol Adulyadej is also a march composer. Royal Guards March is his famous march piece, played by military bands during the Trooping of the Colours at The Royal Plaza at Bangkok every 2nd of December yearly.

Latin American march music

Although inspired by German and French military music, marches of South and Central America are unique in melody and instrumentation.

Argentine military marches, unique in style and melody are inspired by the countless exploits of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic in its long military history.

See also

Further reading

External links

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The Classical March Information Page on Classic Cat

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A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner 's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John Philip Sousa and the martial hymns of the late 19th century.

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Marines.mil

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Unequalled by his predecessors, John Philip Sousa is responsible for bringing the United States Marine Band to an unprecedented level of excellence: a standard upheld by every Marine Band Director since. Sousa grew up with the Marine Band, and his intimate knowledge of the band coupled with his great ability provided the ideal medium to showcase the marches which would earn him the title, the "March King."

Sousa was born Nov. 6, 1854, at 636 G Street, SE, Washington, DC, near the Marine Barracks where his father, Antonio, was a musician in the Marine Band. He received his grammar school education in Washington and for several of his school years enrolled in a private conservatory of music operated by John Esputa, Jr. There he studied piano and most of the orchestral instruments, but his first love was the violin. John Philip Sousa gained great proficiency on the violin, and at the age of 13 he was almost persuaded to join a circus band. However, his father intervened and enlisted him as an apprentice musician in the Marine Band. Except for a period of six months, Sousa remained in the band until he was 20.

In addition to his musical training in the Marine Band, he studied music theory and composition with George Felix Benkert, a noted Washington orchestra leader and teacher.

After his discharge from the Marine Corps, Sousa remained in Washington for a time, conducting and playing the violin. He toured with several traveling theater orchestras and moved, in 1876, to Philadelphia. There he worked as a composer, arranger, and proofreader for publishing houses. Sousa was fascinated by the operetta form and toured with a company producing the musical Our Flirtation, for which he wrote the incidental music and the march. While on tour in St. Louis, he received a telegram offering him the leadership of the Marine Band in Washington. He accepted and reported for duty on Oct. 1, 1880, becoming the band's 17th Leader.

The Marine Band was Sousa's first experience conducting a military band, and he approached musical matters unlike most of his predecessors. He replaced much of the music in the library with symphonic transcriptions and changed the instrumentation to meet his needs. Rehearsals became exceptionally strict, and he shaped his musicians into the country's premier military band. Marine Band concerts began to attract discriminating audiences, and the band's reputation began to spread widely.

Sousa first received acclaim in military band circles with the writing of his march "The Gladiator" in 1886. From that time on he received ever-increasing attention and respect as a composer. In 1888, he wrote "Semper Fidelis." Dedicated to "the officers and men of the Marine Corps," it is traditionally known as the "official" march of the Marine Corps.

In 1889, Sousa wrote the "Washington Post" march to promote an essay contest sponsored by the newspaper; the march was soon adapted and identified with the new dance called the two-step. The "Washington Post" became the most popular tune in America and Europe, and critical response was overwhelming. A British band journalist remarked that since Johann Strauss, Jr., was called the "Waltz King" that American bandmaster Sousa should be called the "March King." With this, Sousa's regal title was coined and has remained ever since.

Under Sousa the Marine Band also made its first recordings. The phonograph was a relatively new invention, and the Columbia Phonograph Company sought an ensemble to record. The Marine Band was chosen, and 60 cylinders were released in the fall of 1890. By 1897, more than 400 different titles were available for sale, placing Sousa's marches among the first and most popular pieces ever recorded, and the Marine Band one of the world's first "recording stars."

The immense popularity of the Marine Band made Sousa anxious to take his Marine Band on tour, and in 1891 President Benjamin Harrison gave official sanction for the first Marine Band tour, a tradition which has continued annually since that time, except in times of war.

After the second Marine Band tour in 1892, Sousa was approached by his manager, David Blakely, to organize his own civilian concert band, and on July 30 of that year, John Philip Sousa resigned as Director of the Marine Band. At his farewell concert on the White House lawn Sousa was presented with a handsome engraved baton by members of the Marine Band as a token of their respect and esteem. This baton was returned to the Marine Band by Sousa's daughters, Jane Priscilla Sousa and Helen Sousa Abert, in 1953. The Sousa baton is now traditionally passed to the new Director of the Marine Band during change of command ceremonies.

In his 12 years as Leader of the Marine Band, he served under five Presidents, and the experience he gained with the Marine Band would be applied to his civilian band for the next 39 years. With his own band, Sousa's fame and reputation would grow to even greater heights.

Sousa's last appearance before "The President's Own" was on the occasion of the Carabao Wallow of 1932 in Washington. Sousa, as a distinguished guest, rose from the speaker's table, took the baton from Director Captain Taylor Branson, and led the orchestra through the stirring strains of "Hands Across the Sea ."

John Philip Sousa died on March 6, 1932, at Reading, Pa., where he was scheduled to conduct the Ringgold Band. His body was brought to his native Washington to lie in state in the Band Hall at Marine Barracks. Four days later, two companies of Marines and Sailors, the Marine Band, and honorary pall-bearers from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps headed the funeral cortege from the Marine Barracks to Congressional Cemetery.

His music was not the only memorial to John Philip Sousa. In his native city on Dec. 9, 1939, the new Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge across the Anacostia River was dedicated to the memory of the great American composer and bandmaster. More recently, Sousa was enshrined in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1976.

In a fitting tribute to its 17th Leader, in 1974 the Marine Band rededicated its historic band hall at Marine Barracks as "John Philip Sousa Band Hall." The bell from the S.S. John Philip Sousa, a World War II Liberty ship, is there.

Perhaps the most significant tribute to Sousa's influence on American culture, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was designated as the national march of the United States on Dec. 11, 1987. A White House memorandum states the march has become "an integral part of the celebration of American life."

In 2004, 26th Director Colonel Timothy W. Foley opened the season with a Sousa-style concert in honor of the Director's sesquicentennial (150) year. This rousing performance has since become an annual tradition of opening each concert season in early January, and is reminiscent of Sousa and his sold-out concerts. On Nov. 6, 2004, "The March King's" 150th birthday, "The President's Own" and 33rd Commandant of the Marine Corps General Michael W. Hagee dedicated the new band hall at Marine Barracks Annex John Philip Sousa Hall.

"The President's Own" concluded his sesquicentennial year on Nov. 5, 2005, by unveiling an eight-foot bronze statue of Sousa outside the band hall. The statue, funded by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, private donor Mickey Gordon, and the John Philip Sousa Foundation, is the only one of its kind. Sculpted by artist Terry Jones, the statue is an enduring testament to Sousa's contributions to the Marine Band.

See video of Sousa conducting the public première of his new work "The Royal Welch Fusiliers" on May 12, 1930 at the White House.

Download music by Sousa here.

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Unequalled by his predecessors, John Philip Sousa is responsible for bringing the United States Marine Band to an unprecedented level of excellence: a standard upheld by every Marine Band Director since. Sousa grew up with the Marine Band, and his intimate knowledge of the band coupled with his great ability provided the ideal medium to showcase the marches which would earn him the title, the "March King."

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Text copyright © 2007, Stephen L. Rhodes. Web design by David R. Hamrick.
This web site sponsored by Lipscomb University and the Lipscomb University Department of Music.

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A History of the Wind Band: The Glorious March

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Chapter 10 of 'A History of the Wind Band' by Dr. Stephen L. Rhodes. This chapter describes the history of the march from Medieval times to the present, including a survey of marches in symphonies, ballets, operas, and keyboard music in addition to marches written for wind ensembles.

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Listening -March Madness -  Fill in your bracket

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Listening -March Madness -  Fill in your bracket

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Marines.mil

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When it comes to the historical knowledge and performance of marches, the United States Marine Band is considered a prime resource, especially for those written by John Philip Sousa. That's why during the month of March, "The President's Own" will be hosting "Sousa's March Mania," a tournament pitting 32 marches against each other for the Marine Band online community to determine which one is the favorite.