Due to a couple inches of snow in our area, we were kept out of the office this past Monday. SO here is New Music Tuesday a day late! We present to you Windscapes, performed by the US Air Force Academy Band. Featuring 14 skill-testing tracks, this album is a true show of the capabilities of the band and of their dedication to producing music they can be proud to have in their repertoire. Beautiful tones and melodies are found throughout on songs such as the fast-paced album opener “Windsprints,” “Concerto for Trombone,” and Henry Fillmore’s well-known favorite,”The Circus Bee.”

If you are a concert band or wind instrument fan, you will not want to miss this fantastic album from the US Air Force Academy Band!

The Disc on Demand album is $10, and the MP3 digital album is $7, both now through Monday! Click the image below to go to the website.

Guiseppe Creatore: Colourful Genius of the Concert Stage
Contributed by Jack Kopstein

Born in Naples, Italy, 1871-Died in New York City, 1952

Giuseppe Creatore’s fame rivaled that of his contemporary, John Philip Sousa, during the first two decades of the twentieth century. By combining showmanship with musicianship, he and his concert band performed to huge and enthusiastic audiences in the United States, Canada, and England. Creatore was born in Naples, Italy, in 1871. He studied with Nicola d’Arienzo and Camillo de Nardis at the Conservatory of San Piestro a Majella in Naples and became an excellent trombonist and conductor. He reportedly became conductor of the Naples Municipal Band in 1887 when he was seventeen–some researchers believe that Creatore conducted a less well known band. He migrated to the United States in 1899, playing trombone in Ellery’s Royal Italian Band for a time and becoming an overnight celebrity when he replaced the conductor Minoliti, who had become ill. By taking the members of the Italian Band who were dissatisfied with their conductor and hiring several more musicians, Creatore formed his own band early in 1901, performed at the Atlantic City Steel Pier from February through July, and concluded the season with a 5,000 mile tour.

In spite of the rave reviews during the tour, Creatore was not satisfied with the quality of his musicians. Returning to Italy in the fall of 1901, he recruited sixty outstanding musicians who accompanied him back to the United States in 1902 for a series of triumphant concert tours. His cornet soloist from 1903 to 1906 was Michael Cupero, brother of the composer-conductor Edward V. Cupero. Creatore’s success encouraged the immigration of other Italian bandmasters, such as Marco Vessella, A.Ifredo Tommasino, and Don Philippini, but none had the phenomenal success enjoyed by Creatore. In his book Bands of America, H. W. Schwartz devotes several pages to the controversial Italian whose conducting mannerisms hypnotized some concert-goers and insulted others. In 1983 Leonard Falcone, a famous euphonium soloist and former conductor of bands at Michigan State University and Wayne University, wrote a letter which included the following personal description of a Creatore Band concert:

The one and only time I saw and heard Creatore and his band play was in Detroit some fifty or so years ago. The band stood up in a circle around the conductor–like the old way in Italy. Creatore was an imposing figure–tall and well built. He wore a white uniform and white gloves. His conducting style was still flamboyant. Occasionally he would walk over and conduct an individual player or section–in other words a great showman. Nevertheless, the band played beautifully–very artistic and with a very expressive style.(the Detroit Free Press was not as kind calling Creatore’s performance ‘Comic Relief”  for Detroit autoworkers)

There is no doubt that Creatore had an animated style of conducting with contortions, leaps, darts into the middle of the band, flailing arms, jerky head motions, pleading gestures while he knelt down, cajoling his players with all manner of finger and arm movements while circling the baton, and all kinds of gymnastic techniques-exciting audiences to a frenzy of clapping, bravos, and other signs of approval. (Swartz p214)

During his heyday Creatore’s Band was booked solidly; his fee reportedly reached $5,000 for each performance. Although he made many successful tours on the Chataqua circuits between 1910 and 1916, the unstable wartime conditions and the competition from other business bands gradually reduced the number of concert opportunities. In 1917 Creatore formed an opera company which opened with a ten-week tour and continued for five years with longer seasons. The twenty-week 1918 tour opened in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and included the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal, Quebec, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Toledo, Toronto, and Detroit. The company’s repertory included such favorites as Rigoletto; Barber of Seville; Carmen; Cavalleria Rusticana; Pagliacci; Il Trovatore; La Traviata; Martha; Faust; Lucia di Lammermoor; La Gioconda: and Aida.

In 1931 Creatore began conducting a symphony orchestra in a series of open-air concerts and by 1937 he was conducting both the New York State Symphonic Band and the New York City Symphonic Orchestra in a succession of programs sponsored by the government Works Progress Administration. However, Creatore resigned his music post in 1940 after a disagreement with officials of the WPA Music Project. The rift developed when the officials refused to pay the conductor while he was guest conducting in other cities, and also because they felt he was not spending enough time on an arrangement for a combined band and orchestra concert. Creatore was quoted as saying, “I am a musician, not a bridge-building project. So I resign.” After a seven-year retirement, Creatore made his final public appearance in 1947 as guest conductor of the New York State Symphonic Band in a “pop” concert at the Tri-Boro Stadium on Randalls Island. He died in 1952 at the age of eighty-two, leaving his wife, Rosina, and children: Tommaso and Peter (of an earlier marriage), Ezio, Carlo, Luigi, and Alba.

Creatore arranged numerous Italian operatic selections for band–most are still in manuscript form. Some of his original march titles were changed by the publisher Di Bella. Examples include: Maresciallo Cadorna–Marshall (Luigi) Cadorna, which became Marcia Sinfonica in Fa Maggiore–Symphonic March in Fa Major, and La Sincope-Syncopation, changed to Marcia Sinfonica in Do Minore–Symphonic March in C Minor. These two, plus American Aviation; Columbia; March No. 2; and March No. 3, were recorded by the U.S. Coast Guard Band for the Heritage of the March series. Others include: American Navy; Columbus; Royal Purple; and Electric. Now available on NAXOS

Norman Smith march Notes ARSC Journal

(Information from Jeri Anne Cupero, Leonard Falcone, James W. Herbert, Robert Hoe, New York Times, Franz Pazdirek, Carlo Schmidl, H. W. Schwartz, Nicolas Slonimsky, and Frederick P. Williams)

Musings: Famous Marches

By Jack Kopstein

The following is a list of popular marches from around the world that are frequently performed. They are in alphabetical order for easy reading. No doubt there are other marches which are featured in concert or on parade. This list contains some well known and lesser known marches which are seen on various concert programs from the last several years. Many great marches have disappeared from the program schedules of bands and orchestras in North America. The Vienna concerts usually held on January 1^st each year features the marvelous hand clapping march Radetsky. The popularity of the march Old Comrades (Alte Kameroden) has never wavered. Two very exciting marches which are rarely performed are VIMY by Bidgood and ARROMANCHES by Kelly. A recent march that has been very popular is GLORIOUS VICTORY by Kendal.

The list of well known and preferred marches is endless. In going through the massive lists of marches, one aspect of march writing which  surfaced  was the   dedicatory march. Very often the music was marked at the top ‘Dedicated to’  a person, a place, or an event. Merle Evans of Circus fame dedicated a march called “Symphonia” to Charles Ringling of the Ringling Barnum and Bailey Circus. Victor Grabel devoted a march to the US Marines called Glory of the Marines which had an intro and trio with the US Marine song (From the shores of Tripoli etc). Well known march writer RB Hall  called “The Tenth Regiment March” for that unit of Albany New York. Karl L King saluted Charlie Troops, bandmaster and trombonist of Wilmington Ohio with the march Trombone King.

John Philip Sousa dedicated numerous compositions to towns and cities and musicians and events. T.B. Boyer returned the favour by dedicating his march Sousa’s Triumphal in 1930. Many British marches have as their dedication names like Alford’s Vanished Army, Leo Stanley’s The Contemptables and Vivian Dunn’s Lord Mountbatten.

• “Old Comrades” – Carl Teike
• “All Sports March” – Robert Farnon
• “American Patrol” – W. Frank Meacham, copyrighted March 30, 1885
• “Americans We” – Henry Fillmore, published in 1929
• “Amparito  Roco”-Jaime Texidor
• “Anchors Aweigh” – Charles A. Zimmerman
• “Band of America” – Paul Lavalle
• “Bandology” – Eric Osterling
• “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite” – Karl L. King, composed in 1913
• “Belgian Paratroopers (Marche des Parachutistes Belges)” – Pierre Leemans
• “The Big Cage” – Karl L. King, Copyright 1934
• “Blaze Away!” – Abe Holzmann
• “The Billboard” – John N. Klohr
• “Bombasto” – Orion R. Farrar
• “Boston Commandery March” – Thomas M. Carter
• “Bravura” – Charles Duble
• “Brighton Beach” – William Latham
• “Brooke’s Chicago Marine Band” – Roland F. Seitz
• “The Chicago Tribune” – W. Paris Chambers
• “The Chimes of Liberty” – Edwin F. Goldman
• “Coat of Arms” – George Kenny
• “Colossus of Columbia” – Russell Alexander
• “Colonel Bogey” – Kenneth J. Alford
• “Combination March” – Scott Joplin
• “Commando March” – Samuel Barber
• “Coronation March” from Le Prophète – Giacomo Meyerbeer
• “Crusade for Freedom” – J.J. Richards
• “Children of the Shrine” – James Swearingen
• “Eagle Squadron”- Kenneth J Alford
• “E Pluribus Unum” – Fred Jewell
• “El Capitan” – John Philip Sousa
• “Emblem of Unity” – J.J. Richards
• “Entry of the Gladiators” (Thunder and Blazes) – Julius Fučik, composed 1897
• “Fairest of the Fair” – John Philip Sousa
• “Father of Victory (Le père la victoire)” – Louis Ganne
• “The Footlifter” – Henry Fillmore
• “Florentiner” Julius Fučik
• “The Gallant Seventh” – John Philip Sousa
• “The Guadalcanal March” – Richard Rodgers
• “Hands Across the Sea” – John Philip Sousa, composed 1899
• “High School Cadets-March” – John Philip Sousa
• “In Storm and Sunshine” – John C. Heed
• “Independentia” – Robert B. Hall
• “Invincible Eagle” – John Philip Sousa
• “Invercargill March” from New Zealand- Alex F. Lithgow, composed in 1909
• “The Klaxon” – Henry Fillmore, composed in 1929
• “Königgrätzer Marsch” – Johann Gottfried Piefke
• “The Liberty Bell” – John Philip Sousa, composed 1893
• “Little English Girl”- Davide Delle Cese (Ingelesa)
• March from A Little Suite – Trevor Duncan
• “March Grandioso” – Roland F. Seitz
• “The Melody Shop” – Karl L. King
• “Men of Ohio” – Henry Fillmore
• “The National Emblem” – Edwin E. Bagley
• “Officer of the Day” – Robert B. Hall
• “Official West Point March” – Philip Egner
• “On Parade” – Edwin Franko Goldman
• “On the Mall” – Edwin Franko Goldman
• “Onward and Upward” – Edwin Franko Goldman
• “On the Square” – Frank Panella
• “On the Quarter Deck” – Kenneth J. Alford
• “Our Director” – F.E. Bigelow
• “Pomp and Circumstance” no. 1 – Edward Elgar
• “Preußens Gloria” (“Prussia’s Glory”) – Johann Gottfried Piefke
• “The Purple Carnival” – Harry Alford
• “The Purple Pageant” – Karl L. King
• “Radetzky March” – Johann Strauss Sr.
• “Repasz Band” -Chas. C. Sweeley
• “Royal Airforce March Past”-Walford Davies(Also RCAF March)
• “Robinson’s Grand Entree” – Karl L. King
• “Salutation” – Roland F. Seitz
• “Semper Fidelis” – John Philip Sousa
• “Semper Paratus” – Francis Saltus Van Boskerck
• “The Screamer” – Fred Jewell
• “Second Connecticut Regiment “ – D.W. Reeves
• “Seventy-six Trombones” – Meredith Willson
• “Sons of the Brave”-Thomas Bidgood
• “The Southerner” – Russell Alexander
• “The Thin Red Line” – Kenneth J Alford
• “Stars and Stripes Forever” – John Philip Sousa, composed December 25, 1896
• “Strike Up the Band (song)” – George Gershwin , composed 1932
• “The Tenth Regiment” – Robert B. Hall
• “The Thunderer” – John Philip Sousa
• “Under the Double Eagle (Unter dem Doppeladler)” – Josef F. Wagner, composed 1902
• “The U.S. Air Force” – Robert Crawford
• “Up the Street” – Robert G. Morse
• “Voice of the Guns” Kenneth J Alford
• “Washington Grays” – Claudio S. Grafulla, composed in 1861
• “The Washington Post March” – John Philip Sousa, composed 1889
• “Wellington March”-Wilhelm Zehle
• “The White Rose” – John Philip Sousa

Altissimo Salutes America’s Oldest Police Band

Contributed by Jack Kopstein

HISTORY OF THE MILWAUKEE POLICE BAND
“The Oldest Police Band in America”

1898 to Present

The Early Years

In the fall of 1897, a number of police officers came together at the original Second District Station to practice whistling. Subsequently one of the whistlers, Officer William Stupenagel, organized some of the officers into a small band to which he was appointed bandmaster. Soon the band, having grown in size and stature, was too large for the district station and relocated to the abandoned morgue on Broadway St. where it was granted official status by Chief John Janssen. On April 9, 1898, the band played its first concert as the “Milwaukee Police Band” before members of the department.

On October 7, 1922, the band met John Philip Sousa at the train station and played for him when he came to Milwaukee to perform with his band. Later that evening, the Milwaukee Police Band performed Sousa’s march “Gallant Seven” with the Sousa Band at the Milwaukee Auditorium. On November 17, 1923, the band performed a second time with the Sousa Band, again at the Milwaukee Auditorium. The Milwaukee Police Band, now comprised of 67 officers, joined the 80 member Sousa Band in playing a Sousa favorite, “Sabres and Spurs”. Sousa presented Chief J.G. Laubenheimer and the Milwaukee Police Band with an American flag with streamers embroidered with Sousa’s name and date of presentation. This flag is currently on display the Milwaukee Safety Academy along with other items and photographs depicting the band’s rich history.

In November 1924, the band made its first appearance at the municipal Christmas tree lighting ceremony. To this day the band has never missed a tree lighting ceremony. On March 22, 1925, the band was joined by the New York City Police Band, who was on a national tour, for a benefit concert before an estimated 8,500 people at the Milwaukee Auditorium. It was during this time period that a local composer, Howard B. Weeks, wrote the “Milwaukee Police Band March”. The original manuscript rests in the archives of the Police Band located at the Safety Academy.

The 1940’s – 1970’s

On February 2, 1940, Dr. Robert O. Brunkhorst became the first civilian director of the Milwaukee Police Band. He was a dentist by profession, but also a highly respected musician. He conducted not only the Police Band but also the Tripoli Shrine Band. Under Dr. Brunkhorst’s direction, the band became a regular feature on WISN radio. Several 78-rpm audio discs from those broadcasts are on display at the Safety Academy.

From 1956 – 1974, in addition to the concert band, 6 band members also performed in the “Police Combo”. The combo performed at various civic locations, including hospitals and schools, as well as special occasions, including concerts at the Milwaukee Auditorium, the children’s Christmas party, Chiefs of Police conventions and on PBS – Channel 10.

In 1962, John Paulish, a city maintenance supervisor, became director. Director Paulish was an accomplished musician playing in the Tripoli Shrine Band and the American Legion Band. During Mr. Paulish’s tenure the elementary school concert program began. In 1964, Mr. Paulish was succeeded by Perry F. Chalifoux, a professional trumpet player who had led his own orchestra in the city since the mid 1920’s. Under Mr. Chalifoux, the band made annual trips to the Veterans Home in King, Wisconsin and also played Christmas concerts at the boy’s home in Plymouth, Wisconsin.

The 1980’s – 1990’s

In 1980, Officer Dennis Benjamin was appointed director by Chief Harold Breier. While Officer Benjamin was director, the elementary school program was enhanced to include a “McGruff” character and an Elvis impersonator carrying an anti-crime, anti-drug, and positive self-esteem message to area school children. In 1986, the format of the band’s annual fall concert and dance was changed to a ‘concert only’. For years, the concert and dance had been held at the Milwaukee Auditorium. With the change in format came a change in venue; the concerts were now held at the Historic Pabst Theatre. The Milwaukee Police Band Jazz Ensemble was also formed to offer a more versatile program by performing big band swing music of the 1930′s and 1940′s.

In July of 1988 the Milwaukee Police Band played a joint concert with the Minneapolis Police Band at the Milwaukee County Zoo. In July 1989, the band traveled to Minneapolis where the band combined with the Minneapolis Police Band and the Winnipeg, Manitoba Police Band and marched in the famous Aquatennial Parade. In 1990, a high school awards program was developed with the help of Dr. Nicholas J. Contorno and Marquette University. Students from area high schools were selected to perform with the Milwaukee Police Band in a concert at Marquette’s Varsity Theater. On November 15, 1991, Chief of Police Philip Arreola presented the band with a Chief of Police Superior Achievement Award.

On May 16, 1992, the Milwaukee Police Band appeared in Cleveland, Ohio at the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial Dedication Ceremony. Police pipe bands, choruses, military bands, and dancers from throughout the United States and Canada took part in this event. In October 1993, the Band was invited to appear at the Wisconsin Music Educators Association Music Conference in Madison, Wisconsin where they demonstrated their approach to youth programs.

In July 1998 the Milwaukee Police Band celebrated its’ 100th anniversary as the “Oldest Police Band in America”. They were invited to Washington D.C. for our nation’s Independence Day Parade, and proudly marched down Constitution Avenue.

In May 1999, Lieutenant Karen Dubis and Officer Bobby Lindsey were appointed co-directors of the Milwaukee Police Band by Chief Arthur Jones. This was the first time in the band’s history that a two-director format was utilized. Lieutenant Dubis was the band’s first female director and Officer Lindsey was the band’s first African American director.

2000 – The Present

March 2000, saw the expansion of the Milwaukee Police Band Youth in Arts Program to include a concert at Marquette Varsity Theater with new activities. Younger children were included in the program and paired with police officer-musicians who mentored and performed with the students at the All City Biennial Music Festival. The band members presented special awards to the student participants.

Since 2000, the Milwaukee Police Band has achieved several great milestones including marching in Milwaukee’s own Great Circus Parade (July 16, 2000 and July 15, 2001)), the South Shore Water Frolics (July 14, 2001 – received “Best Band in Parade” honors), Marshall Field’s Jingle Elf Parade in Chicago (November 21, 2001 and November 28. 2002) and Kettle Moraine Days Parade (June 24, 2007). The band also traveled to Florida to perform on Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland stage in the Magic Kingdom and marched in the “Share a Dream Come True” parade (April 2003). On July 29, 2008, the Band performed at the Midwest Airlines Center for the FBI National Academy Conference.

The Band continues to perform regularly at the Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial, recruit graduation ceremonies, the Law Enforcement Mass of Blessing at St. Josephat’s Basilica, the MPAA Police Picnic and other civic functions.

Since 2003, Lieutenant Dubis has been the sole director of the Milwaukee Police Band. Under Lieutenant Dubis’s baton, the band continues in their efforts as “goodwill ambassadors” for the Milwaukee Police Department. They cherish the opportunity they have been given to do their part in contributing to the quality of life in this fine community.

The Band is funded solely by the Milwaukee Police Athletic Association with occasional private donations. No city monies are utilized to fund the Band’s operations. The civilian and police members who perform with the band volunteer their time and talent.

In Search of Tradition
by Captain  Frank Byrne

Contributed by Jack Kopstein

Captain Frank Byrne (retired) wrote the following article while a member of the United States Marine Band, THE PRESIDENTS OWN . He is a noted writer, musician, and symphony executive. His efforts in researching the work of John Philip Sousa are outstanding. During his tenure with the US Marine Band he was chief librarian and also edited a number of Sousa’s works (See below) as well as performing on the tuba. He is presently the Executive Director for the Kansas City Symphony.

***www.MilitaryMusic.com is pleased to announce that with our fall catalog we released the first 4 volumes of The Heritage of the March John Philip Sousa collection. Check our website for these wonderful albums, available on CD and digital download***

The authentic performance movement in music, is a fascinating world where old is new and “tradition” can be a euphemism for musical heresy.

Authentic performance advocates discovered that numerous performance traditions have evolved, which depart from the composers’ original intentions. These discoveries led scholars to restudy original manuscripts and fuelled many “authentic” performances, recordings, and no small amount of controversy. To borrow a phrase from the late music critic Olin Downes, “much ink has been shed over it:’

Some changes attempted to fit master-works of the 18th and 19th century into the framework of the modern ensemble. Some may have resulted when autocratic conductors sought to “improve” on the original. Other changes were benign decisions in an era where the musical score was viewed as a guidepost rather than as holy writ. Still other discrepancies occurred in the incorrect transmission of musical thought via faulty musical editions.

Adding to this advancement in musical instrument design and manufacture, which produced instruments capable of greater intensity, and you have a result which, to some listeners, almost turns Mozart into Mantovani. There will always be audiences for both. But many listeners discover new insights when standard repertoire is presented in authentic performances which attempt to recreate music as the composers intended.

The most pure method blends the use of period instruments (or modern reproductions), ensembles which reflect the style of the period in both size and musical approach, and critically-prepared musical editions created from original manuscripts and other definitive sources. Some conductors apply the same scholarship to performances using modern instruments, believing that composers would welcome the improvements.

Sousa has been a treasured part of the Marine Band’s musical repertoire since his time as director from 1881-1892. In preparation for these Sousa recordings, we considered the various option and examined our own Sousa performance traditions in the light of modern scholarship.

The Marine Band’s history of recording Sousa’s music dates to 1890, and early cylinders made by the Columbia Phonograph Company of Washington, DC. Sousa was then director of the Marine Band, and although he was unconvinced of the value of this new invention, he allowed his hand to record for Columbia. Under succeeding directors, Sousa’s music appeared on Edison and Victor recordings, and on the band’s promotional recordings.

During l974~l976, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Kline (Director, 1974-1979) conducted the Marine Band in The Heritage of John Philip Sousa (now available from Altissimo HERE). This series, the brainchild of band aficionado Robert Hoe, yielded 18 long-playing albums of Sousa’s, marches, songs, overtures, tone poems, operetta selections, concert suites, and miscellaneous pieces. Music never accessible to Sousa enthusiasts was committed to records which were distributed to public libraries, music schools, and educators.

The “total immersion” into Sousa yielded new interest in many of his infrequently performed works, new respect for the difficulty of recording Sousa, and a commitment that this project should he revisited when the repertoire could be considered in more manageable portions.

In the intervening years, The Heritage of John Philip Sousa recordings have come to be regarded as the most authoritative set of Sousa recordings on LP. And with the advent of digital recording, opportunistic commercial recording companies recognized that Sousa is still in demand and both new and reissued Sousa recordings by other musical organizations have been released on compact discs. As a result, there has been a renewed interest in performing Sousa by bands and orchestras all over the world. Aside from the marches that are played almost continuously, Sousa’s other marches and many concert works began appearing on concert programs and in publishers’ catalogs.

The Marine Band has continued its Sousa performances and research to learn about its former director. This research has involved an intense study of the Marine Band’s Sousa collections, literature searches for writings by and about Sousa, study of recordings of the Sousa Band, and an ongoing dialogue with Sousa scholars such as Paul Bierley and Keith Brion. This study has brought forth an incredible amount of information about how Sousa performed his music. It has also generated considerable thought and, occasionally, debate regarding the interpretation of some facts.

Even the most exhaustive research may not resolve every question. In an essay published in The Journal of Musicological Research, musicologist Stanley Howell wrote, “Because of this inescapable element of uncertainty, some music historians have begun to wonder if the entire historical performance movement is misdirected. But our inability to achieve absolute authenticity should not prevent us from trying to understand as much as we can. Historically-oriented performances can afford real insights into period musical style as long as we remember that all such efforts are experimental and subject to criticism and eventually revision:’

This has been our approach to this recording. Considerable effort has been expended to capture performances which closely approximate those that Sousa conducted. The modern equipment and instrumentation of today’s Marine Band were used, believing that those yielded the best musical results and, therefore, best served the music. (It should be noted that the current Marine Band instrumentation is similar to that of the Sousa Band). In areas where there have been the “inescapable elements of uncertainty,” we adopted a conservative approach. When performance techniques could not be distilled to a single formula, we explored several options.

Whenever original Sousa manuscript scores were available, they were studied and compared with first published editions. This proved particularly valuable in the Looking Upward Suite. We compared the manuscript full score from the Library of Congress and manuscript parts from the University of Illinois with the two published editions and discovered numerous differences. We performed Looking Upward from the manuscript edition, undoubtedly the first recording of this version.

The scoring of each march was thoroughly checked to insure that only those parts which Sousa performed were used for recording. Many editions published after his death contain extensive changes, including additional parts not written by Sousa. For example, the 1951 John Church edition of ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever” contains 10 instrumental parts that are neither in Sousa’s original manuscript score nor the first published edition.

Former members of the Sousa Band were aware of this problem. During the 1952 meeting of the Sousa Band Fraternal Society, William Gens (President of the Society) commented on remarks delivered by Edwin Franko Goldman (conductor of the Goldman Band) at that meeting. Gens wrote: “Dr Goldman asked us to do everything in our power to stop publishers from murdering Sousa marches. It Is a crime what they are doing to make a sale. We should all refuse to buy, play, or handle anything but those from the original publishers.”

The performance parts used for these recordings were extensively edited to reflect corrections from the original scores, to standardize articulations and dynamics, and to incorporate authentic Sousa performance techniques.

As Keith Brion has documented in his essay “Sousa’s Marches-As He Conducted Them,” Sousa incorporated many distinctive performance techniques which were his trademarks. Sousa said to his musicians, ‘Any band can play the printed arrangements but we shall play them differently’ August Helmecke, bass drum virtuoso of the Sousa Band for 22 years, wrote, “People have no idea how Sousa wanted his marches played because the tricks and effects that brought them to such vivid life under the big boss’ own direction never got marked into the scores. The notes alone give but the barest skeleton of what a Sousa march can be!”

Helmecke continued, “In some of the marches, not a single bar of rest is written for comets and clarinets (this was done so marches could be played by small bands) but when Sousa led his own hand in these works, he’d simply wave the unwanted brasses into silence.”

Frank Simon, Sousa Band solo cornetist and assistant conductor l9l4-1921, once said, “There are so many things he did to make it colourful, not just a march where you go through and play it. He ‘doctored them up’ to make them interesting to the public. That’s why he became so famous. Not only for the marches but for HOW he played the marches”

Fellow composer and conductor Karl King noted Sousa’s performance style in a 1946 letter to a colleague. King wrote, “Even in his marches, Sousa pulled some strains down to a whisper which always made the last strain sound that much better by contrast. Also, Sousa had a few little tricks on pianissimos that I observed and I always wondered why other leaders who heard him didn’t get ‘hep’ to how he did it but apparently they didn’t.”

In his autobiography Marching Along. Sousa wrote, “The chief aim of the composer is to produce color, dynamics, nuances, and to emphasize the storytelling quality The combination and composition which gives that result is most to be desired” Sousa achieved this through his unique interpretations.

Those who suggest that Sousa made performance changes out of boredom with his music are incorrect. His preparation and attention to detail were impeccable. About the rehearsal and performance of marches, Sousa Band clarinettist Sam Harris wrote, “It was Sousa’s belief that a march is one of the most difficult of all compositions to play correctly. He stressed the importance of being alert for all details tempo, accents, dynamics, nuances, breathing, articulation, and proper balance:’

Colonel Howard Bronson, another Sousa Band member, made the following comments in an address to the College Band Directors National Association: “Why did Sousa’s compositions take on different character when played by his band? He knew exactly how he wanted the band to sound and he developed a playing character that expressed it. Each player knew exactly how Sousa wanted certain passages to be played–just the right shading and perfect coordination. His own compositions were played with meticulous attention to dynamics, shading, and tone coloring. The printed scores do not carry the dynamic markings as actually played by the band:’

To document these performance changes, we consulted three main sources:

1) The writings of Sousa solo cornetist Frank Simon.
In 1966, Frank Simon participated in a series of interviews in which he discussed 35 Sousa marches in detail, documenting the performance changes as he remembered Sousa had made them. These interviews were transcribed and published in two booklets with accompanying recordings under the auspices of the American School Band Directors Association.

2) The Sousa Band encore books
The Sousa Band encore books are another valuable source of information about Sousa’s performance practices. These encore books, now in the Marine Band’s Sousa collection were used at every performance. They include the performance parts used by his musicians.

Although most of Sousa’s information to his players was not written down, some markings were made in these encore books which give insight into how Sousa played his marches. These marking support information given by Frank Simon.

3) Recordings of the Sousa Band
Of the six Sousa march recordings actually conducted by the composer two stand out: “Solid Men to the Front” and “Sabre and Spurs.” Both marches were recorded on September 6, 1918, and are perhaps the best picture of the Sousa Band in a concert performance of a march during this period. Among the interesting features of these two recordings are the tempos.

Sousa Band members reported that he conducted his marches from 120 to 132 beats per minute. In his later years, the tempos became faster and at times may have approached 138 beats per minute (according to Sousa biographer Paul Bierley) as if the band had to rush to catch a train to the next city.  Both of these 1918 march recordings are considerably slower:

“Solid Men to the Front” is performed at approximately 118 and “Sabre and Spurs” at approximately 116-118. Other Victor recordings with Sousa conducting range from 122-128 beats per minute. A radio broadcast transcription of Sousa conducting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” is at approximately 120. While it is doubtful that Sousa would have chosen the identical tempo for every march, the slower tempos are particularly striking.

Since most of Sousa’s marches were performed as encores, to the printed selections on the program perhaps he endorsed a faster tempo for this purpose. This theory is supported by Sousa’s remarks in a Sydney [Australia] Evening News article on July 24, 1911, entitled “Sousa Says Good-Bye.” Under the heading “Quick March” a statement is printed, ‘The opinion has been expressed that your march time is too quick” Sousa responded: “If you play my marches for troops to march to in  the streets, they must, of necessity, be played slower than I play them on the stage. But anyone who attends my concerts must, unless there is sawdust in his veins, see that the whole idea is of terrific musical force. Contemplation must be after the battle, not during it. The whole idea is that the musical atmosphere must be brought up to a great tension, as it were. My marches, with the exception of one, are used entirely as I play them at a rather quick step rather than keep them down to a slow patter.  Of course, no one would march to the tempo that I play them on stage. But I try to quicken up the blood, and exhilarate people.  I have heard people say that they would like me to play my marches slower. Well, if I had to play in front of a regiment, I would do so; but never on stage”

We know that Sousa’s march encores were very effective. He played them within 10 seconds upon the completion of the previous work. Nothing interfered with the momentum of the performance.

Sousa apparently preferred to perform his marches briskly when used as encores, but the true marching tempos were an important factor in their structure and creation. An article in a Wilmington, Delaware, newspaper dated June 10, 1924, quoted Sousa as saying, “I do not think that I ever received the inspiration for a march except while I was marching… with my life at stake I do not think I could sit in a chair and write a march”

In an August 1950 article in The Elude entitled “How Sousa Played His Marches,” Sousa’s bass drummer August Helmecke wrote, “Sousa never played his marches as fast as they’re generally taken today He kept to a good, firm, marching tempo. A march, remember, isn’t a gallop. when people march, they don’t run.

Although Sousa marches can be performed faster; we have adopted tempos around 1 l0-120 beats per minute to simulate actual marching cadences. Sousa’s own recordings of “Solid Men to the Front” and “Sabre and Spurs” demonstrate that, outside of the context of his concert encores, the marches could be quite effective at these tempos.

Another distinctive factor in Sousa’s march performance is the addition of unique percussion accents. Helmecke wrote, “I’ve saved the accents for last because, in Sousa, they’re by far the most important. Sousa’s marches gained most of their stirring effectiveness from the crisp, wonderful accents he put into them. As I said, these never got marked into the music and never were published. In giving his material to the copyist, Sousa wrote the drums in the simplest manner-barely indicating where they were to be. But when it came to play those marches, he put the accents in! Sousa didn’t print his accents, and he never explained them-he just made them known through his conducting.’

Helmecke once asked Sousa why the accents were not written in but Sousa would not commit himself to an answer. Helmecke decided that Sousa didn’t want other bands to play the marches the way his band did. In the era of competition between professional bands, such “trade secrets” were very highly valued.

Dr. Leonard B. Smith, conductor of the Detroit Concert Band, knew many Sousa Band members and also performed with Helmecke in the Goldman Band. Regarding the use of accents in the marches, Dr. Smith commented: “The Sousa accents were placed logically, not whimsically. The interpretation is found within the music itself and has nothing to do with sentiment or caprice. Sousa’s accents were so effective because he conceived them. People fantasize that Gus (Helmecke) created them but it is not true. Sousa originated the accents in all his marches.”

Without written documentation, recreating Sousa’s accents is difficult. Some accents reinforce the melodic contour or bring out what is written. Others provide variety by adding rhythmic contrast to the melodic line. Accents in these recordings are a combination of traditional Marine Band accents and new accents which, in the opinion of conductor and percussionists, fit the criteria mentioned above.

Another Sousa percussion technique was to either reduce or completely eliminate the percussion during soft sections of a march. In these recordings, percussion (except for bells) has been eliminated in the trio of “Invincible Eagle.” Interestingly, the published percussion part for “Grid-iron Club” has minimal percussion at the trio and is performed here as written.

In addition to the Sousa accents, many of the marches have unique effects. These include regimental trumpet and drum parts, horse hoofs, the use of orchestra bells, ship’s bell, harp, bosun’s pipe, whistles, sirens, pistol shots, and more.

In performing regimental trumpet and drum parts (“Sabre and Spurs” and “Gallant Seventh”), four trumpet players and two percussionists were positioned to one side of the band. The deeper pitched field drums were used on regimental drum parts to provide contrast to the sound of the concert snare used throughout. Sousa wrote the “bugle strain” in “The Royal Welch Fusiliers” to be performed by the entire cornet and trumpet section. Several marches contain published harp parts (Sousa added a harpist to his hand during the later years). There is a harp folder in the set of Sousa’s encore books which contain mostly piano editions of the marches. Since the published harp parts do not match the piano editions, we may assume that the harpist improvised from the piano edition when no published part was available. We have chosen to use harp only when a separate part was published, as on “Comrades of the Legion” and “Who’s Who in Navy Blue.”

Orchestra bells were added at the trio to double the melody on those marches which had a manuscript bell part in the Sousa encore books.

“Sabre and Spurs” as recorded here duplicates the techniques demonstrated in Sousa’s 1918 recording. This includes a xylophone solo for the first time through the last strain. The use of the xylophone on this part is substantiated by a manuscript part in the Sousa encore books which, unlike the other manuscript bell parts that accompany it, is clearly marked “xylophone” for “Sabre and Spurs.” Former Sousa drummer John I. Heney noted Sousa’s use of the xylophone in this fashion in his percussion text The Correct Way to Drum.

“Manhattan Beach” follows the instructions as noted in the Sousa encore books and also documented by Frank Simon. Among the effects are a soft introduction, contrasting use of the brass in the second strain which is on the repeat, extra emphasis on the clarinet arpeggios at the trio (which simulate waves), and a very dramatic crescendo-decrescendo on the final strain which gives the effect one might hear while passing the handstand during a stroll at Manhattan Beach.

Taken individually, these techniques and performance practices seem a complex collection of formulae: an octave here, an accent there, and an odd xylophone or pistol shot thrown in for good measure. Taken collectively, they represent a particular genius in which Sousa looked beyond convention and saw within his own music the potential for an extraordinary musical experience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “There is properly no history, only biography” In searching for Sousa, we hope to have discovered not only the essence of the music but of the man himself.

The “Pathfinder” referred to by John Philip Sousa in the title of “The Pathfinder Of Panama” March is actually the Panama Canal. Composed in 1915, the march is dedicated to the Panama Canal and the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco where the Sousa Band played a nine week
engagement. The edition by Captain Frank Byrne of the United States Marine Band is the result of extensive research into the specific performance practices of Sousa and his band. Though many of the performance alterations made to Sousa’s marches were never published, interviews and writings of former Sousa Band members provided valuable insight into the creation of this edition.
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