John Philip Sousa: The March King

A guest post by Jim Probosco

You could say that John Philip Sousa, often called “The March King,” was a major rock star of his day. Since Sousa was born in 1854 and died in 1932, his “day” was a long time ago — well before rock stars came into being.

Still, when Sousa’s band made an appearance, people gathered. Lots of them. In the beginning of his book, “John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon,” the late Paul E. Bierley describes a typical concert by the Sousa band — this one at Willow Grove Park in Philadelphia:

It is a Sunday evening in early September, and Sousa’s band is playing the last concert of the season. Thousands are converging on the park from all directions.
The stage is lighted now, and one by one, the black-uniformed band members take their places.

Thousands more have now joined the crowd, some seated, some standing.

It is 9:45 exactly and there he is — the “March King.” He is the picture of grace and dignity. He bows, once, twice, then quickly steps onto the podium. The band is ready. We hear the opening strains of “The William Tell Overture.” It is superbly played.

If you want to hear examples of music played by Sousa’s actual band, the Library of Congress has a Playlist, featuring some of the very selections the band performed. Warning: These are historical “recordings” and the quality is not great. Be assured that the performances were outstanding — it’s just that recordings from the beginning of the last century were nothing like what we have today.

By the way, it’s interesting to note that Sousa detested the whole notion of recorded music. He felt it would ruin music as an art form and, more importantly, put musicians out of work. He only made recordings grudgingly because his band was so popular and there was so much pressure on him to do so.

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington D.C., the son of Portuguese and German immigrants. His father played trombone in the United States Marine Band, and John Philip was always interested in bands and music.
When he was 13, he almost ran off to join a circus band. His father found out about his plans and made him join the Marine Band instead.

In addition to several band instruments, Sousa also played the violin. This is how he met his wife. She was a singer, and he played violin in the theater orchestra as a side job.

Sousa eventually became conductor of the Marine Band. While there, he wrote many of his famous marches, including Semper Fidelis, which is dedicated to the Marines.

Sousa wrote another of his famous marches, The Washington Post, in honor of the newspaper of the same name. Washington Post became a very popular dance tune during the late 1800’s.

As popular as these marches are — and were — Sousa only made $35 for each one. The publishers made a fortune.

After 12 years as leader of the Marine Band, Sousa left to start his own band. Sousa’s band toured all over the world, always playing to sold-out houses.

Sousa continued conducting up until his death. He died suddenly after leading a band rehearsal. The final piece he conducted at the rehearsal was, perhaps, his most famous composition of all, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Here are a few things you may not know about John Philip Sousa:

• He was the inventor of the modern pops concert. His programming and showmanship greatly influenced Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops.
• Sousa’s own concerts included a lot of music by other composers. He programmed his marches as encores to larger pieces — rarely as standalone selections.
• Sousa’s band only “marched” eight times in their entire forty-year existence.
• Sousa created “secret arrangements” of his marches for his band’s performances. These arrangements, rarely heard today, have been restored by Keith Brion and are featured throughout his Sousa at the Symphony programs.

Now that you know a little more about John Philip Sousa, if you think you would like to tackle a Sousa march on the piano, the website free-scores.com has free sheet music for Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March.”

You can download the pdf file, print it out, and play this famous march which Sousa dedicated to America’s Liberty Bell after seeing a show in Chicago in which a huge painting of the Liberty Bell was lowered. “The Liberty Bell” is a relatively easy march to play on the piano.

Sheet Music Plus has a great book of 24 piano arrangements of Sousa marches that you can buy. Please note, however, that these arrangements are not so easy. SMP rates them a six on a scale of 1 to 10, making them what they call “Late Intermediate.”
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