If you’ve ever been a member of a marching band or attended a parade, you’ve heard the brass band music of composer/conductor John Phillip Sousa.
Born in 1854, Sousa was thirteen when he decided he wanted to join the circus and play in the circus band. When his father accidently learned this, he took John to the headquarters of the U. S. Marine Corp in Washington, D.C. The commandant of the Marine Corp appointed young Sousa an apprentice musician in the band. In 1880, Sousa became the leader of this band, called the President’s Band because it plays at occasions attended by the President.
Sousa wrote Semper Fidelis in 1888 and dedicated it to the officers and men of the Marine Corp Later he wrote The Washington Post which became identified with a new dance called the two- step.
On board an ocean liner, the music to The Stars and Stripes Forever filled his heart and head. His composition was an immediate success and he included it in every concert until his death a quarter of a century later.
Sousa, along with George Washington Carver and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was appointed to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. At the ceremony, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York stated, “As a conductor and bandmaster, Sousa elevated band music and the study of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments to new heights in America.”
In 1987 came Susa’s greatest posthumous award: the U. S. Congress mandated The Stars and Stripes Forever be known as the National March of the United States. The White House stated the March had become an “integral part of the celebration of American Life.”
Thankfully, John Phillip Sousa never did join the circus.
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