Recreating The Marches Of
John Philip Sousa
In A Modern Setting
Scott-Lee Atchison
University of Kentucky
scott.lee.atchison@uky.edu
Reprinted from Kentucky Blue Grass Music News
U
ndoubtedly, John Philip
Sousa’s marches are some of
the most widely performed
works of any other composer throughout
the United States. Not only are they considered popular choices among audiences; they also represent an important part
of the American band heritage. Unfortunately, they are often the most misunderstood. Many of the traditions of the
Sousa band and the performance practices of his time are overlooked or misconstrued when conductors and teachers
try to recreate his marches. However, in
recent years there has been extensive research and attempts to uncover these lost
practices, which will allow us all to experience the “Sousa Sound” and recreate a
historically accurate performance.
Documenting Sousa
Performance Practices
The first issue is encountered when
trying to maintain historical accuracy
in a performance, and understanding
the barriers that stand in the way. John
Philip Sousa wrote his marches for performance, not publication.1 His scores,
as well as the individual parts, contained
very little more than just the notes and
rhythms with little else to guide the
performer along the way. Many of the
articulations and dynamics included in
his music were misleading at best, and
in some cases, incorrect. For example,
the cornet and clarinet parts in some of
his marches did not contain a measure
of rest. Like Percy Grainger’s “elastic
scoring” practices, Sousa wanted his
music to be attainable by small bands
with limited instrumentation, so he
scored the melodies in those consorts
throughout. Even though the cornets and clarinets had music written
for the entire march they never played
the entire time in a Sousa concert.2 To
make matters worse, the musicians in
the Sousa Band very rarely wrote these
changes down in their parts for the sake
of personal pride. The traditions were
simply passed down orally from the veteran musicians to the new ones in the
group. In an article published in The
Etude entitled “How Sousa Played His
Marches,” August Helmecke, the bass
drummer of the Sousa Band for over
twenty 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 discretion never got marked
into the scores…the notes alone
can give you the barest skeleton
of what a Sousa March can be…3
Another obstacle is the lack of recordings of the Sousa Band, specifically
recordings with him on the podium.
John Philip Sousa was against having his
ensemble recorded, which would have
easily answered many questions as to
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how his marches were performed. Sousa
felt the recorded music would eventually
be used in lieu of live music. He was also
concerned with composers not receiving
remuneration for their work. Consequently there are very few recordings that
exist of the Sousa Band, and the majority of those that exist were under different conductors or taken without Sousa’s
knowledge.4 Fortunately, as Edmond
Wall, former solo clarinetist of the Sousa
Band, stated: “Once Sousa established
a pattern that he liked, he let it alone.”
This allows us to find out what the traditions were by simply asking former musicians of the Sousa Band that have had
the oral traditions passed down to them.5
Orchestration
The most common area for concern when performing a Sousa March
is the true orchestration of the piece. As
mentioned earlier, Sousa wrote for performance, not publication. Even though
an instrument may have music written
for a specific section of a march, it by no
means indicates that they were intended
to play during it. The first point that
should be noted is that repeated strains
were rarely played the same way twice.
Also, if there is a counter melody during
a repeated section of a march, it is usually played only the second time through.
Additionally, if a march contained a trio
section that was played three times, the
orchestration changed every time with
OCTOBER 2016