American march music: Difference between revisions

American march music is march music written and/or performed in the United States. Its origins are those of European composers borrowing from the military music of the Ottoman Empire in place there from the 16th century. The American genre developed after the British model during the colonial and Revolutionary periods, then later as military ceremonials and for civilian entertainment events.

One of the earliest exponents of march music in America and its preeminent champion was John Philip Sousa, “The March King”; who revolutionized and standardized American march music during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of his most famous marches—”Semper Fidelis“, “The Washington Post“, “The Liberty Bell March“, and “The Stars and Stripes Forever“—are among the best known of historical American music and are especially revered by many Americans for their rousing strains and patriotic themes. His “Stars and Stripes Forever” features what is arguably the most famous piccolo obligato in all of music.

Other notable American composers of march music include Henry Fillmore – “The Circus Bee“;
Charles A. Zimmerman – “Anchors Aweigh“; W. Paris Chambers – “Sweeney’s Cavalcade”; Edwin E. Bagley – “National Emblem March“; Meredith Willson – “Seventy-six Trombones“; and George Gershwin – “Strike Up the Band“. Composers (from Europe or elsewhere) of march music popular in the US include: Johann Strauss Sr – “Radetzky March“; Kenneth J. Alford – “Colonel Bogey March“; Julius Fucik – “Entry of the Gladiators“; Edward Elgar – “Pomp and Circumstance (No. 1)“.

The forms of American march music typically are of three categories: the military march form, the regimental march form, and a general group containing recapitulation marches, “four-step” marches, and other diverse forms. All marches have at least three common elements, including: different (i.e., contrasting) sections called strains; several different melodies; and a “trio” section of strains/“repeats” that offers pronounced contrasts in phrasing. Most American marches use (seemingly) simple chord progressions, but—using chromatic harmonies, sevenths extensions, and secondary dominants—composers often complicated their marches with interesting chords and rapid chord changes.

History

The true “march music era” succeeded in the United States from the 1850s to the 1920s, and persisted through the 1940s as it slowly became shadowed by the coming of jazz in the U.S. Earlier marches by Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven tended to be parts of symphonies or movements in suites. Despite its age and history and its popular performance in the U.S., European march music generally is not thought of as typically American music.

Marches and the military band

The origins of European and American march music can be traced to the military music of the Ottoman Empire. The martial purposes of the music was to regulate army movements in the field by signalling orders, and to keep time during marching and maneuvers. The extensive use of percussion, especially cymbals, was also for psychological effect as, early on, their use was unknown in Western Europe and had the capacity to frighten opponents. (Indeed, the subsequent adoption of such percussive instruments in European ‘classical’ music was by direct import from the Ottomans.) Europeans were first exposed to march music in the early 18th century, and interest continued to build into the 1800s when a vogue for Turkish marching bands swept through Europe. Pieces displaying the 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).

It was apparently during the latter gunpowder age that military march music was developed for armies to support troop morale by marching with music playing, whether from the melody of a fife or the beat of a drum, or both. American march music developed during the American Revolution and earlier colonial conflicts, in which a fife and snare drum would play while troops marched to battle. Thus it is said that march music is a military music.

The tradition of formed lines of soldiers marching into battle with music playing ended soon after the American Civil War in the mid 19th century; military bands continued to perform marches during ceremonial events, which spawned a new tradition of playing marches as a source of entertainment.

Marches and the concert band

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many U.S. towns, organizations, theaters, and even companies aspired to have their own band. These so-called community/concert bands performed at scheduled parades and concerts and played at impromptu events such as the popular gazebo concerts. Published marches were plentiful due to prolific American composers like…