John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa March Collection Volume I

It is fair to say audiences love John Philip Sousa's marches, and for good reason. From the tuneful nature of his themes to the many associations his marches have created make them not only some of the best known American music but amongst the most performed. And unlike many of Sousa's contemporaries, his marches have stood the test of time. The four marches in this collection have strong associations with America's birthday, Monty Python, the United States Marine Corp, and one of America's greatest newspapers. The study scores in this volume use material as it appears on the original parts with a handful of small alterations. The reason for this is twofold. First, many band libraries contain these early editions and continue to use them when the pieces are programmed, and second, conductors should be able to easily see exactly how the players are being told by the composer to perform. Since the traditional conductor's score at the time the marches were written was the first cornet part, having full scores can be quite useful.