On Saturday, November 14, 1944, radio listeners heard an enthusiastic broadcast announcer describe something they had never heard before: Women singing the "Marines' Hymn" instead of the traditional all-male United States Marine Band. The singers were actually members of its sister organization, The Marine Corps Women's Reserve Band of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Today, few remember these all-female military bands because only a small number of their performances were broadcast or pressed to vinyl. But, as Jill Sullivan argues in Bands of Sisters: U.S. Women's Military Bands during World War II, these gaps in the historical record can hardly be treated as the measure of their success. The novelty of these bands—initially employed by the U.S. military to support bond drives—drew enough spectators for the bands to be placed on tour, raising money for the war and boosting morale. The women, once discharged at the war's end, refused to fade into post-war domesticity. Instead, the strong bond fostered by youthful enthusiasm and the rare opportunity to serve in the military while making professional caliber music would come to last some 60 years. Based on interviews with over 70 surviving band members, Bands of Sisters tells the tale of this remarkable period in the history of American women. Sullivan covers the history of these ensembles, tracing accounts such as the female music teachers who would leave their positions to become professional musicians—no easy matter for female instrumentalists of the pre-war era. Sullivan further traces how some band members would later be among the first post-war music therapists based on their experience working with medical personnel in hospitals to treat injured soldiers. The opportunities presented by military service inevitably promoted new perspectives on what women could accomplish outside of the home, resulting in a lifetime of lasting relationships that would inspire future generations of musicians.

Squire's Warren Junior Military Band had an emotional appeal that endeared it to audiences of all ages. Considered one of northeastern Ohio's richest artistic assets, the band's members, who hailed from the entire region, were filled with pride, tradition, patriotism, and a sense of discipline. The original VFW Boys Band was formed in 1927, with Donald W. "Squire" Hurrelbrink becoming director in 1930. In 1957, the name changed to the Warren Junior Military Band. Travels took the band from the East Coast to the West Coast, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and to audiences abroad, amassing an impressive record of Midwest, Canadian, European, American Legion, and VFW National Championships. Throughout the years, the band performed at numerous prestigious events and for an impressive number of dignitaries, as well as a phenomenal number of local, civic, and patriotic festivities. Members were privileged to have Squire's leadership for 66 years. Alumni continued to lead, direct, and pass on the values they learned under Squire's guidance. Finally, in 2010, the band ended its long legacy.

A first-hand account of the Falklands War from the perspective of the Royal Marine Band Service members who fought in the conflict. The Royal Marines are renowned for their military skill and also for having one of the finest military bands in the world. These highly trained and talented musicians are equally at home parading at Buckingham Palace, playing at the Royal Albert Hall, or on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a foreign port. Why then when the Argentines invaded the Falklands in April 1982 did these superb musicians get involved in what became a serious and deadly military campaign? The answer is that, in addition to their musical expertise, the RM Band Service members are trained for military service and fully qualified in a multitude of military and medical skills, providing support to their comrades, the fighting commandos. The Band That Went to War is a graphic first-hand account of the Falklands War as it has never been told before. It describes the roles played by Royal Marine musicians in the conflict; unloading the wounded from helicopters, moving tons of stores and ammunition, burying their dead at sea and guarding and repatriating Argentine prisoners of war. These and other unseen tasks were achieved while still ready to provide morale boosting music to their commando brethren and other frontline troops. These men are not just musicians; they are Royal Marines. Praise for The Band That Went to War “I really enjoyed this account of how the Band of the Royal Marines were involved in the attempt to liberate the Falkland Islands back in 1982 . . . Brian Short’s excellent book is really entertaining.” —Books Monthly

This book correlates early American history during the Revolutionary War with the musical tradition of America. The growth and topics of American colonial and Revolutionary era music, especially in the military, are used as insight to military trends and American culture.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States extended its empire into the Philippines while subjugating Black Americans in the Jim Crow South. And yet, one of the most popular musical acts was a band of “little brown men,” Filipino musicians led by an African American conductor playing European and American music. The Philippine Constabulary Band and Lt. Walter H. Loving entertained thousands in concert halls and world’s fairs, held a place of honor in William Howard Taft’s presidential parade, and garnered praise by bandmaster John Philip Sousa—all the while facing beliefs and policies that Filipinos and African Americans were “uncivilized.” Author Mary Talusan draws on hundreds of newspaper accounts and exclusive interviews with band members and their descendants to compose the story from the band’s own voices. She sounds out the meanings of Americans’ responses to the band and identifies a desire to mitigate racial and cultural anxieties during an era of overseas expansion and increasing immigration of nonwhites, and the growing “threat” of ragtime with its roots in Black culture. The spectacle of the band, its performance and promotion, emphasized a racial stereotype of Filipinos as “natural musicians” and the beneficiaries of benevolent assimilation and colonial tutelage. Unable to fit Loving’s leadership of the band into this narrative, newspapers dodged and erased his identity as a Black American officer. The untold story of the Philippine Constabulary Band offers a unique opportunity to examine the limits and porousness of America’s racial ideologies, exploring musical pleasure at the intersection of Euro-American cultural hegemony, racialization, and US colonization of the Philippines.

Markworth, former director of bands at Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio, offers tried-and-true suggestions and information on the exciting world of contemporary high school marching band. (Music)

John Philip Sousa's mature career as the indomitable leader of his own touring band is well known, but the years leading up to his emergence as a celebrity have escaped serious attention. In this revealing biography, Patrick Warfield explains how the March King came to be by documenting Sousa's early life and career. Covering the period 1854 to 1893, this study focuses on the community and training that created Sousa, exploring the musical life of late nineteenth-century Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia as a context for Sousa's development. Warfield examines Sousa's wide-ranging experience composing, conducting, and performing in the theater, opera house, concert hall, and salons, as well as his leadership of the United States Marine Band and the later Sousa Band, early twentieth-century America's most famous and successful ensemble. Sousa composed not only marches during this period but also parlor, minstrel, and art songs; parade, concert, and medley marches; schottisches, waltzes, and polkas; and incidental music, operettas, and descriptive pieces. Warfield's examination of Sousa's output reveals a versatile composer much broader in stylistic range than the bandmaster extraordinaire remembered as the March King. In particular, Making the March King demonstrates how Sousa used his theatrical training to create the character of the March King. The exuberant bandmaster who pleased audiences was both a skilled and charismatic conductor and a theatrical character whose past and very identity suggested drama, spectacle, and excitement. Sousa's success was also the result of perseverance and lessons learned from older colleagues on how to court, win, and keep an audience. Warfield presents the story of Sousa as a self-made business success, a gifted performer and composer who deftly capitalized on his talents to create one of the most entertaining, enduring figures in American music.

Following the success of his volumes featuring the works of Thomas Rowlandson and Charles Hamilton Smith (both in his 'Guide to Military Art' series and published by the Naval & Military Press), Ray Westlake has this time turned his attention to military music. Delving into the many thousands of prints and original artworks available from his own and other collections, he has selected for this volume some 150 images featuring military musicians, bands and sheet music covers, each one the colourful and informative work of a talented artist. The book is divided into two sections. The first shows images of military bands and those who played in them-drummers, trumpeters, buglers, pipers and players of brass instruments of all shapes and sizes, marching or standing still. Section Two then moves on to what we believe to be the first ever published account of sheet music covers featuring military subjects. As in Section One, these images will prove to be of equal interest and value to the uniform historian as any specialist painting or published print. A delight to look at, military sheet music covers will surely become a major collecting theme of the future. There is much to be learnt from looking at pictures. 'Of all of our inventions for mass communication', noted American animation pioneer Walt Disney, 'pictures still speak the most universally understood language.' And, of course, we must not forget the wider use of, 'A picture is worth a thousand words.' A Guide to Military Art - Bands, Bandsmen and Sheet Music Covers keeps these words in mind and, in doing so, offers a colourful and informative record of this important aspect of military history.

Classical music in 1940s America had a cultural relevance and ubiquitousness that is hard to imagine today. No other war mobilized and instrumentalized culture in general and music in particular so totally, so consciously, and so unequivocally as World War II. Through author Annegret Fauser's in-depth, engaging, and encompassing discussion in context of this unique period in American history, Sounds of War brings to life the people and institutions that created, performed, and listened to this music.

American Patrol - Frank White Meacham / Piano Sheet Music 1885年作曲 American Patrol アメリカン・パトロール Frank White Meacham フランク・ホワイト・ミーチャム 1856年5月31日～1909年12月22日