Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
Contributed by Mary Godwin and Laurie Brisson

Graduates of the famed Palm Beach High School loved music and performing in the high school band so much that in the summer of 1961 they founded the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches in order to continue playing together.  The Symphonic Band has spent the past 49 years performing for the community and giving back to the community by awarding scholarships to local students and grants to band and general music programs in the Palm Beach County (FL) school district.  Next year the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches will be celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Scholarship Program
For nearly 18 years the Band was under the capable direction of Rudolph von Unruh.  When Mr. von Unruh’s life came to an untimely end in 1982, the Band took the step of formally recognizing Mr. von Unruh’s long-term contribution to the Band by establishing the Rudolph von Unruh Memorial Scholarship which is awarded at the Annual Memorial Scholarship Concert. The proceeds of this concert are awarded as scholarships to deserving local students pursuing a college degree or attending a summer music camp.

In 2008 the Band established the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches’ Rudolph von Unruh Young Musicians Scholarship, a $20,000 endowed scholarship.  For the past couple of seasons, the concert series has been co-sponsored by Palm Beach State College allowing the Band to add money to the principal of its endowed scholarship in addition to funding an annual scholarship.  To date over $230,000 has been awarded in scholarships and grants to benefit the youth of our community.

Concert Series
Since 1999, the Band has presented a full 5-concert series at the beautiful Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens and offers an additional 3-concert series at the Duncan Campus Theatre in Lake Worth. To expand the audience base and make the concerts more enjoyable and interesting to our patrons, the band brought in guest artists of local and national acclaim. Internationally renowned conductors, including Colonel Arnald Gabriel, Dr. Alfred Reed, Dr. Paul Yoder, Dr. Harold Walters, Loras Schissel and Commander Alan Beck have been guest conductors with the band.

The Baton is Passed
Mr. Mark Humphreys was appointed the Symphonic Band‘s conductor in May 2008.  Nearing completion of his second season with the Band, the group continues to grow and has increased in size and instrumentation.  Our programming continues to include a wide variety of music styles and genres ranging from Masterworks to Pop and Jazz, and music from Broadway, and the Movies, composed and arranged by internationally renowned composers and arrangers.

Because of their amazing dedication to furthering music education and appreciation in the youth of America via their successful scholarship program, the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches is Altissimo!’s July Community Band Spotlight. To learn more about the band, you can visit their Website at www.SymBandPB.com.

In honor of Independence Day, our contributing writer Jack thought it would be nice to give a short history of American march music. The following is an informative article he found for us to present.

A Short History of Marches

The origins of European and American march music can be traced to the military music of the Ottoman empire. The martial purpose of the music was to regulate the functioning of armies in the field by communicating orders, and keeping time during marching and maneuvers. The extensive use of percussion, such as cymbals, was also used for psychological effect as their use, especially in Western Europe, was unknown and had the capacity to frighten opponents. Indeed, the subsequent use of cymbals and other such percussive instruments in European ‘classical’ music was a direct importation from the Ottomans. In the early 1700s Europeans were first exposed to this type of music and interest would continue to build into the early 1800s when a vogue for Turkish marching bands swept through Europe. Pieces displaying this Turkish influence can be found in the works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven with a notable example being “Turkish March” by Beethoven (part of Op. 113): Overture and incidental music for Die Ruinen von Athen.

The origins of march music began before the Gunpowder Age during which armies would maintain their troops’ morale by marching with music playing, whether that be from the beat of a drum or fife. American march music showed during the Revolutionary War and earlier wartime conflicts, in which a fife and snare drum would play while the troops marched to battle. This is why it can be said that march music is a military’s music.

While the tradition of soldiers playing music while marching into battle had ended soon after the American Civil War (mid 1800s), military bands continued to perform marches during related ceremonies and other events. This actually spawned a whole new tradition of playing marches as a source of entertainment.

Marches and the Concert Band
Around the late 1800s and early 1900s, most towns, organizations, theaters and even companies would have their own band. These bands, currently known today as community bands, would perform their music at special events much like the military band, but would often play at simple scheduled concerts and tours (such as the traditional gazebo concerts). By this time, published marches were plentiful due to prolific composers such as John Philip Sousa, Karl L. King and Henry Fillmore. Marches became a staple in the repertoire of these concert bands and can hence explain how the popularity of the march spread so rapidly across the world.

Marches and the Circus
Marches were further popularized with performances by circus bands. During the same period of the community band/concert band, circuses such as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Circus would have live music being performed by their own bands. The marches played were often a special variety of the march known descriptively as “Screamers”, “Two-Steps”, and “Cakewalks”. These marches served the purpose of exciting the crowd while circus acts were taking place.

Marches and the Marching Band
Again, during the same period college marching bands were also beginning to form. March composers would often dedicate marches to university bands. Marches were performed during half-time shows and pep-rallies. Marches were indeed heard everywhere.

The John Philip Sousa Revolution
American composer John Philip Sousa did indeed strongly revolutionize the march. His overall prolific writing of said quality marches added that much to its popularity. According to Sousa researcher Paul Bierley, Sousa’s marches were gems of simplicity and understatement, with rousing counterpoint and overall energy. Sousa also is said to have standardized the traditional march form. American march music was forever immortalized with Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, a patriotic march which became the official march of the United States of America.

March Music Composers
Most march composers come from the United States or Europe, and have some sort of musical background to them. The most popular march composers existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, mainly because modern march dedicators are hard to come by. The following is list of march music composers whose marches are frequently performed in the United States.
• Russell Alexander (1877-1915)
• Kenneth Alford (1881-1945) “The British March King”
• Edwin Eugene Bagley (1857-1922)
• Hermann Louis Blankenburg (1876-1956)
• W. Paris Chambers (1854-1913)
• Charles E. Duble (1884-1960)
• Henry Fillmore (1881 – 1956) “The Trombone King”

A full article on this topic can be found by clicking here

Contributed by Jack Kopstein
Posted with permission from the author Dr. Jill M. Sullivan

My original research started in December 2000. Using historical method and interviews with 79 women military musicians–most octogenarians–I discovered that there were eight U.S. women’s military bands and four drum and bugle corps serving during the war era. All ensembles were conducted by women, six of whom were music teachers before the war. Band members brought a variety of music experience and expertise with them into the military: music degrees, music teaching, professional dance band experience, and school, town, and industry band membership. Most women started their instrumental performing in school bands, and supplemented this instruction with private lessons. Women also remembered participating in other school instrumental activities prior to the war, such as rhythm bands, national band contests, solo and ensemble contests, and college bands. In addition to U.S. women’s military bands, Canada and England utilized women’s bands to serve their female troops. This World War II research led me to find more women’s bands that existed long before and after the war: the Women’s Air Force Band, the 14th Army Band, the Hormel Girls Drum and Bugle Corps, and nineteenth and twentieth century women’s town, military, immigrant, and suffrage bands. This important scholarly pursuit helps fill gaps in instrumental music history and music education by documenting women’s roles as instrumental musicians, music teachers, and conductors for a century in America (1870-1976).

During W.W. II the United States government created women’s reserve units and recruited women to “free a man to fight.” Each military branch enlisted women into separate units from the men and assigned these units catchy acronyms: the Coast Guard SPARS (Semper Paratus, Always Ready), the Army WAAC/WAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps/Women’s Army Corps), the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and the Marine Corps WR (Women’s Reserve). Women enlisted from all parts of the country and held a variety of jobs, one of which was being a member of a military band.

All branches of the service had women’s bands. The first activated was in 1942 at the WAAC Training Center in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The following year all other military branches started bands, while the WAAC–later named WAC–added four more to training centers around the country. The WAVES were the only branch of the service that did not have full-time duty status for its women’s military band. At the close of W.W. II, all bands were deactivated except the 400th WAC ASF Band which was renamed the 14th WAC Band in 1947, and lasted through 1976. The following year men were accepted into the band, the name was changed to the 14th Army Band, and a man was assigned as conductor. In addition, the WAC had the only female black band in the history of the United States military, the 404th, located at Fort Des Moines.

Band membership ranged from 28 to 48 players, with a mix of musical backgrounds from high school to college conservatory graduates, music teachers, and professional dance band experience. Women jumped at the opportunity to perform in a military band since performance opportunities for women were rare. Some women reported that they turned down the chance to become officers to be in a band.

All of the ensembles had an assortment of patriotic duties that called for a variety of music. It was essential for each unit to perform concerts, march in reviews and parades, and perform at service clubs with a dance band. In addition, several of the groups had a Dixieland band, a drum and bugle corps, small chamber ensembles, instrumental soloists, vocal soloists, and choral ensembles. While touring the nation, these women helped raise millions of dollars in bonds for the war effort.