Get into the holiday spirit! Check out these wonderful videos on YouTube of our military bands:
The Volunteers’ The Christmas Song
Hilarious Video! of the US Navy Band’s The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Army Blues Brass Big Band’s A Kenton Christmas
US Army Jazz Ambassadors Welcome Christmas
Like what you hear? Get your Christmas CD’s by these wonderful bands today. Altissimo Christmas CD’s are 15% the entire month of December.
SEE ALBUMS HERE
The Karl King Band
Contributed By: Jack Kopstein and Stacy Flankey
The Karl King Band is the municipal band for Fort Dodge, Iowa. This ensemble has historically provided a summer concert series in the Karl King Bandshell in beautiful Oleson Park and an indoor concert series held in the auditorium of Iowa Central Community College. The outdoor, summer concert series is an 80 year tradition. The first summer concert was in 1921, after Karl King arrived in Ft. Dodge. These concerts are free to all, and are provided as a service by the City of Fort Dodge. The Karl King Band performs most concerts with an instrumentation of 40 – 45 musicians. Most players live around the area, but there a few that come from as far away as Des Moines and Sioux City. Many of the band’s members are band directors, but many other occupations are represented as well. The band also includes younger players among the musicians that have been playing for 20, 30, and 50 years. “We make an effort to include young people from Ft. Dodge and the surrounding area who show a promising talent or who are pursuing music as a career. The band wants to encourage young people so that the supply of musicians continues,” says Duane Olson, the band’s personnel director. The Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has included the Karl King Bandshell in a list of Iowa’s most significant structures.
http://www.karlking.us/municipal/about.htm
Karl King was a United States march music bandmaster and composer. He grew up as a self-taught musician with very little schooling of any kind. At eighteen, he began a career playing with circus bands, including “Barnum and Bailey,” “Robinson Famous Shows,” the “Sells-Floto Circus,” and “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.” King settled down in Ft. Dodge, Iowa in 1920, and for the next 51 years conducted the city’s municipal band. King published more than 300 works: galops, waltzes, overtures, serenades, rags and 188 marches and screamers.
Contributed By: Jack Kopstein
The band has long been recognized as one Canada’s finest military bands. Their record of achievement is superb particularly in view of the fact that the band is a reserve unit of the Canadian Forces. The albums are representative of the great music of the military band repertoire .
The Fifteenth Field Regiment began in February 1920 after a decision by the Canadian Artillery to formally establish a militia unit in Vancouver. Originally called the Fifteenth Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, the unit consisted of several horse drawn cannons manned by a group of battle hardened veterans of the First World War. Although there is no official record of a band in the early years of the unit, other sources indicate military bands performed throughout British Columbia as early as the 1860s. At the beginning of the twentieth century and throughout World War One, there was a community of military musicians that supported other Vancouver area militia units and there is no doubt that bands were a regular part of regimental life during the early years of the Fifteenth Field Regiment, too. The Canadian Artillery has a long history of supporting musicians and was the first regiment to establish a full-time band in 1879. By the time the Fifteenth Field Regiment moved into the Bessborough Armoury, a purpose built facility in what was then the outskirts of the city in the Kitsilano neighbourhood in 1934, a band was part of the establishment.
Over the years, the Band of the Fifteenth Field Regiment has served its unit at virtually every military and social function held where music has been needed. The band is an integral part of the Regiment’s identity and has contributed to its community footprint within Vancouver and British Columbia. In the early years, many of the musicians were active bombardiers who participated in regimental exercises with their own gun battery. Band members have served as Regimental Sergeants Major and one year, the band gun battery even won the annual shooting competition!
Since 1994, the Band of the Fifteenth Field Regiment has been the only militia band on the mainland of British Columbia and, as such, its duties have expanded greatly to involve the provision of musical support to all militia units in the province. Now, it is not unusual to see the band on parade in Kelowna or Kamloops in the interior or as far east as Castlegar or Trail in the Kootenay region of the province. In recent years, the band has become a vital tool in public relations for the Army. In its capacity as the “Brigade Band”, the group serves as musical ambassadors for the Canadian Forces performing concerts, marching in parades and entertaining the public at community celebrations everywhere in British Columbia and as far away as Québec City, California, Holland and Hong Kong.
In 2000, the band outgrew its facilities in the Bessborough Armoury and relocated to the Garrison Headquarters building near Jericho Beach on English Bay. Although still under command and control of the home regiment, the band functions largely independently as a self contained subunit and performs more than one hundred engagements annually.
Chief Warrant Officer Al Sweet led the band from 1953 until stepping down in 1969. Major Peter Erwin followed CWO Sweet and led the group until 1984. Upon Major Erwin’s retirement, Captain Richard Van Slyke assumed the position of Director of Music and led the band until 2004. Captain James (Jim) Tempest has been the Director of Music since 2004.
Visit their website: http://www.militarymusic.ca/15fieldband/
Contributed by Jack Kopstein
First Published 1897. Written on Christmas day 1896.
Composer John Philip Sousa
“The Stars and Stripes Forever” is a patriotic American march widely considered to be the finest work of composer John Philip Sousa. In fact, the march received the great honor of being selected by an act of Congress as the National March of the United States of America in 1987.
Surprisingly, John Philip Sousa’s great American patriotic march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” was written not in the aftermath of a great battle, but on an ocean liner as Sousa and his wife were returning from a European vacation. In his autobiography, Marching Along, Sousa wrote after he learned of the recent death of David Blakely, then manager of the Sousa Band, that he suddenly had an epiphany and had written the march in his head. He committed the notes to paper soon after his arrival in America on Christmas Day 1896. It was first played by the Sousa band on May 1st 1897 in Augusta Maine. At that time the march was unnamed . It was on May 14th 1897 in a Philadelphia concert that the march was premiered as the “Stars the Stripes Forever” and received rave reviews in the press.
Sousa tells the rest of the story in his autobiography, Marching Along.
Here came one of the most vivid incidents of my career. As the vessel (the Teutonic) steamed out of the harbor I was pacing on the deck, absorbed in thoughts of my manager’s death and the many duties and decisions which awaited me in New York. Suddenly, I began to sense a rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and re-echoing the most distinct melody. I did not transfer a note of that music to paper while I was on the steamer, but when we reached shore, I set down the measures that my brain-band had been playing for me, and not a note of it has ever changed.
The march was an immediate success, and Sousa’s Band played it at almost every concert until his death.
Sousa usually had the custom of sketching out the scores of his marches in pencil and then later inking out the full score and for parts to be e extracted by the copyist. Many of the pencil sketches are still preserved. It is interesting to note however that not one single sketch of the “Stars and Stripes Forever” has been located. This bears out the contention that the march was indeed conceived completely in his head
*The original Sousa instrumentation of the march included:
Piccolo in Db
Two Oboes
Two bassoons
Clarinet in Eb
Two Clarinets in Bb(1-2)
Alto saxophone
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone saxophone
Three Cornets(1-2-3)
4 Horns in Eb(1-2-3-4)
Three Trombones(1-2-3)
Euphonium
Tuba
Percussion
The first known recording of the march was made by Berliner Recording Company on August 18th 1897 (#61) in New York, followed by Columbia (#532) in Washington. Later recordings by Edison and Victor were conducted by Arthur Pryor. Although Sousa would conduct performances of his march at virtually every concert until his death, only one recording of Sousa performing the march with his band which was, made on August 7th 1909 by Edison (#285 and #2104) in New York is known to survive today. Sousa disliked recordings and radio, and most of the Sousa band recording sessions were conducted by Herbert L Clarke.
“The Stars and Stripes Forever” follows the standard American march form. Its trio is the most famous part of the march. Most bands adopt the Sousa Band practice of having one or three (never two) piccolo players play the famous obligato in the first repeat of the trio. In the second repeat (marked “Grandioso”), the low brass joins the piccolo players with a prominent counter melody. The official version, as played by the United States Marine Band, is performed in the key of E-flat.
Sousa wrote lyrics to the piece, although they are not as familiar as the music itself.
Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears ‘mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom’s shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom’s nation.
Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.
Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom’s nation.
Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.
Where on high the Almighty falters never.
Our banner for two hundred years!
Oh pioneers! Here’s to the stars and stripes forever!
Altissimo Recordings is proud to report that the march continues to thrill our clients as never before and is featured on 61 of our albums. Here are a couple of featured albums that include the famous march:
http://www.militarymusic.com/marines-sousas-greatest-hits-and-some-that-should-have-been-p-75.html
http://www.militarymusic.com/marines-heritage-of-john-philip-sousa-vol-p-4523.html
*The instrumentation given is contained on the holograph score which is in Sousa’s hand and is the inked score he wrote on or about April 25/26 1897in Boston.
References: Perspectives on John Philip Sousa- James R Smart-Music Division Library of Congress 1983
The Incredible band of John Philip Sousa – Paul Edmond Bierley Published University of Illinois Press
(Buy the book on MilitaryMusic.com for only $34.95) http://www.militarymusic.com/books-incredible-band-of-john-philip-sousa-p-134.html
The U.S. Army Chorus Celebrates 55 years
Contributed By: Jack Kopstein
Major Dwayne S. Milburn, Director
In 1956 The U.S. Army Chorus was established as the vocal counterpart of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” and is one of the nation’s only professional men’s choruses. From its inception, The U.S. Army Chorus has established and maintained a reputation of excellence in the performance of male choral literature. Beyond the traditional military music and patriotic standards, the repertoire of the Army Chorus covers a broad spectrum which includes pop, Broadway, folk, and classical music.
The Army Chorus performs frequently at the White House, the Vice President’s Residence, the U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the State Department. World leaders, such as the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, former Presidents Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Lech Walesa of Poland, and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union have been serenaded by the Army Chorus during state visits. These visiting dignitaries are often greeted in their native tongues, as the Chorus is able to sing in more than 26 languages.
In 2007, the group was featured at the State Dinner held in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2008 at the State Arrival Ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI held on the south lawn of the White House. The Chorus participated in the dedication ceremonies of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, and memorial ceremonies honoring significant events in our country’s history including the Korean War Veterans Memorial, National World War II Memorial, and the Pentagon Memorial. The Army Chorus was personally requested to perform for the private interment services of former Presidents Ronald Wilson Reagan in 2004, and Gerald R. Ford in early 2007.
The Army Chorus regularly appears with the National Symphony Orchestra in the televised Memorial Day and Independence Day performances from the U.S. Capitol. Also, the Chorus has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, the San Francisco Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, and the Dallas Wind Symphony.
The group has been featured on many well-known stages, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Hall Music Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Meyerson Symphony Center. In 1999, the Chorus was invited to perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for a live radio and television broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word.
In 2008, the Army Chorus joined forces with the Colorado Symphony Chorus, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and conductor David Zinman for a rare performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder at the Aspen Music Festival.
The members of the Army Chorus, most of whom hold advanced degrees in music, are selected from among the nation’s finest musicians. In 2011 the group will celebrate its 55th Anniversary which will be marked with concerts that include a reunion of past members, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in music education and as soloists on Broadway and opera stages around the world.
Visit the U.S. Amy Chorus website:
http://www.usarmyband.com/chorus/the_us_army_chorus.html
Army Chorus Events Calendar:
http://www.usarmyband.com/event-calendar.html
The United States Navy Sea Chanters
Contributed By: Jack Kopstein
The spread of cultural richness is one function military music plays in the defence of our democracy throughout the world. This was never truer than during the Cold War. From 1948-1991, members of the Navy Band travelled throughout the United States, South America and Europe, performing for millions while playing their part in the advancement our national diplomatic interests.
One such Cold War mission occurred on December 1961, when 29 members of the United States Navy Band were sent to West Berlin to participate in a series of concerts sponsored by the United States Information Agency (USIA). The USIA, led at the time by Great American Newsman Edward R. Murrow, who was charged with influencing a positive image of the United States overseas. It accomplished this mission through propaganda campaigns that included motion pictures, television and radio broadcasts, funding of libraries, arts exchanges, etc. The USIA’s main goal at this time was to thwart the spread of communism and counter the negative propaganda created by the Soviet government.
The catalyst for this particular Navy Band Cold War mission began on June 24, 1961. In his first months as President, John F. Kennedy met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna Summit. In a strong response to a war threat made by Khrushchev, Kennedy stated, “Then, Mr. Chairman, there will be a war. It will be a long, cold winter.” A few months later the Berlin Wall was constructed and the battle lines were effectively drawn.
With tensions running high, it became absolutely necessary that a positive diplomatic message be sent throughout the Eastern Bloc countries. To do this the State Department and the USIA turned to the United States Navy Band. A USIA letter to the band stated that Berlin had requested a “first-rank American choir” to participate in a special “Berlin Christmas” broadcast. The Sea Chanters, formed in 1956, had already established an international reputation and were perfect for the task at hand.
On December 20th, members of the Navy Band including the Sea Chanters, together with a small jazz combo, vocalist Ben Mitchell Morris, and Harmonica soloist Dick Bain, departed for West Berlin. Over the next four days these musicians performed a dozen special concerts for American military personnel, German civilian groups, hospital patients, and radio broadcast audiences.
“We were billeted at the Berlin Hotel. Over the next several days we made the usual rounds of singing at hospitals, military installations, and other venues. We were taken on several bus tours of the city, East Berlin, which we entered and left through Checkpoint Charlie. West Berlin had been largely rebuilt by then and was a lively, festive place, brightly decorated for Christmas. East Berlin was for the most part rubble. The only Christmas decoration was a pitiful string of lights on the sign of a small shop. That section of the city was almost completely dark. The Russians used buildings, with the windows and doors bricked in, as part of the wall. One of the most moving sights on the trip was a Bible that one of the masons had mortared in as a brick in one of the windows.
We were encouraged to go into East Berlin often to establish that, although the Russians had cut it off from the West by the wall, the Eastern Zone was still occupied in part by the Allies, and American military personnel had the right to access the entire city. ”
The trip culminated in a very special 90 minute “television spectacular.” Taped on December 23rd, this concert featured the Sea Chanters, the famous American contralto Marian Anderson, The Oberkirchen Boys Choir, The St. Hedwig Cathedral Choir, The Berlin Radio Orchestra, Cardinal Spellman of New York, and taped messages from President Kennedy, British Prime Minster Harold McMillan, and French President Charles De Gaulle. This live broadcast was telecast throughout Germany and fed to the Eurovision TV Network. With an estimated audience of over 200 million viewers, including an estimated several million viewers in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, the Sea Chanters performed brilliantly and were an integral part to the success of this mission.
President John F Kennedy said of the mission:
It is difficult to judge the importance of this type of cultural diplomacy. What is definite, however, is that the members of the Navy Band distinguished themselves by projecting a positive American image at a time of heightened Cold War tensions. This is a legacy that the men and women of the Navy Band have proudly maintained.
“I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.”
Today The Navy Band Sea Chanters is the United States Navy’s official chorus and remain one of America’s finest vocal groups. The ensemble performs a variety of music ranging from traditional choral music, including sea chanteys and patriotic fare, to opera, Broadway, and contemporary music. Under the leadership of Senior Chief Musician Georgina L. Todd, the Sea Chanters perform for the public throughout the United States. . In 1956, Lt. Harold Fultz, then the band’s assistant leader, organized a group from the Navy School of Music to sing chanteys and patriotic songs for the State of the Nation dinner. An immediate success, Admiral Arleigh Burke, then Chief of Naval Operations, transferred them to the Navy Band, named them the Sea Chanters and tasked this all-male chorus with perpetuating the songs of the sea. In 1980, the group added women to their ranks and expanded their repertoire to include everything from Brahms to Broadway.
The Sea Chanters are frequently found at the center of our most important national events, including Inauguration Day, 2009. They have played a vital role in comforting the nation in times of mourning, including appearances at memorials for the astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia and the presidential wreath laying ceremony at the United Airlines flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pa. Their performance of “Amazing Grace” for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance at the National Cathedral in Washington after the events of 9/11 inspired all in attendance as well as a national television audience. They have appeared at the Kennedy Center Honors and with the National Symphony Orchestra for the nationally telecast “National Memorial Day Concerts” at the U.S. Capitol. In addition the group has appeared on “Larry King Live” and “CBS This Morning” as well as at the premier of the movie “Pearl Harbour”. . The Sea Chanters have enjoyed a great reputation performing with such stars as Perry Como, Marian Anderson, Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie.
Throughout their history, the Sea Chanters have remained true to the Navy’s watchwords of pride and professionalism, and they continue to flourish as a vibrant ensemble.
Altissimo salute the artistry, and spirit of a truly great American Institution THE US NAVY SEA CHANTERS
See them live on YouTube in a thrilling video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojbQctA9qyA
Visit the Navy Sea Chanters’ Website:
http://www.navyband.navy.mil/sea_chanters.shtml
Sea Chanters’ Events Calendar:
http://www.navyband.navy.mil/event_calendar.shtml