A
march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a
military bandA military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in
WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's
Götterdämmerungis the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
to the brisk military marches of
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
and the martial hymns of the late 19th century. Examples of the varied use of the march can be found in
BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's
Eroica SymphonyLudwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major , also known as the Eroica , is a landmark musical work marking the full arrival of the composer's "middle-period," a series of unprecedented large scale works of emotional depth and structural rigor.The symphony is widely regarded as a mature...
, in the
Marches militairesThe Three Marches Militaires, Op. 51, D. 733, are pieces in march form written for piano 4-hands by Franz Schubert.The first of the three is far more famous than the others...
of
Franz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, in the Marche funèbre in
ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
's Sonata in B flat minor, and in the Dead March in
HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's
SaulSaul is an oratorio in three acts written by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Charles Jennens. Taken from the 1st Book of Samuel, the story of Saul focuses on the first king of Israel’s relationship with his eventual successor, David; one which turns from admiration to envy and hatred,...
.
Description
Marches can be written in any
time signatureThe time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, but the most common time signatures are 4/4, 2/2 (
alla breve, although this may refer to 2 time up until the time of
Johannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, or
cut time), 6/8, and 3/4; however, some modern marches are being written in 1/2 time. The modern march tempo hovers around 120 beats to the minute (the standard Napoleonic march tempo); however, many
funeral marchA funeral march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions, the most well-known being that of Chopin...
es conform to the Roman standard of 60 beats to the minute.
The form of a march typically consists of 16 to 32 measures in length with multiple repeats until a new section. Most importantly, a march consists of a strong and steady percussive beat reminiscent of military field drums.
Marches frequently
change keysIn music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
once, modulating to the
subdominantIn music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
key, and occasionally returning to the original tonic key. If it begins in a minor key, it modulates to the relative major. Marches frequently have
counter-melodiesIn music, counter-melody is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. Typically a counter-melody performs a subordinate role, and is heard in a texture consisting of a melody plus accompaniment...
introduced during the repeat of a main melody. Marches frequently have a penultimate
dogfight strain in which two groups of instruments (high/low, woodwind/brass, etc.) alternate in a statement/response format. In most traditional American marches, there are three strains. The third strain is referred to as the "
trioTrio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
".
A military music event where various marching bands and units perform is called
tattoo.
History
Marches weren't notated until the late 16th century; until then, time was generally kept by percussion alone, often with improvised fife embellishment. With the extensive development of brass instruments, especially in the 19th century, marches became widely popular and were often elaborately orchestrated. Composers such as
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
,
Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, and
Gustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
wrote marches, often incorporating them into their operas, sonatas, or symphonies. The later popularity of
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
's band marches was unmatched.
The march tempo of 120 beats or steps per minute was adapted by
Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
so that his army could move faster. Since he planned to occupy the territory he conquered, instead of his soldiers carrying all of their provisions with them, they would live off the land and march faster. The French march tempo is faster than the traditional tempo of British marches; the British call marches in the French tempo
quick marches. Traditional American marches use the French or quick march tempo. There are two reason for this: First, U.S. military bands adopted the march tempos of France and other continental European nations that aided the U.S. during its early wars with Great Britain. Second, the composer of the greatest American marches,
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
, was of Portuguese and German descent. Portugal used the French tempo exclusively—the standard Sousa learned during his musical education. A military band playing or marching at the traditional British march tempo would seem unusually slow in the United States.
March music originates from the military, and marches are usually played by a
marching bandMarching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
. The most important instruments are various drums (especially
snare drumThe snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
), horns, fife or woodwind instruments and brass instruments. Marches and marching bands have even today a strong connection to military, both to drill and
paradeA parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
s. Marches, which are played at paces with multiples of normal heartbeat, can have a hypnotic effect on the marching soldiers, rendering them into a
tranceTrance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
, This effect was widely known already in the 16th century, and was employed to lead the soldiers in closed ranks against the enemy fire in the 16th and 17th century wars.
March music is often important for ceremonial occasions. Processional or coronation marches, such as the popular coronation march from
Le ProphèteLe prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
by
Giacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
and the many examples of coronation marches written for British monarchs by English composers, such as
Edward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
,
Edward GermanSir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
, and
William WaltonSir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
, are all in traditional British tempos.
European march music
Many European countries and cultures developed characteristic styles of marches. Some of the styles and characteristics are
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
marches typically move at a more stately pace (ca. 88-112 beats per minute), have intricate countermelodies (frequently appearing only in the repeat of a strain), have a wide range of dynamics (including unusually soft sections), use full-value "
stingers" at the ends of phrases (as opposed to the shorter "
marcato" stinger of American marches). The final strain of a British march often has a broad lyrical quality to it. Archetypical British marches include
The British GrenadiersThe British Grenadiers is a marching song for the grenadier units of the British and Commonwealth militaries, the tune of which dates from the 17th century. It is the Regimental Quick March of the Grenadier Guards, Corps of Royal Engineers, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Royal Regiment of...
and those of
Kenneth AlfordFrederick Joseph Ricketts was a British composer of marches for band. Using the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, his marches are considered to be great examples of the art...
, such as the well-known
Colonel Bogey MarchThe "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...
and
The Great Little Army.
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
marches move at a very strict tempo of 110 beats per minute, and have a strong "
oom-pah" polka-like/folk-like quality resulting from the bass drum and low-brass playing on the downbeats and alto voices such as
"peck horn" and the snare drums playing on the off-beats. This provides a very "
martial" quality to these marches. The low brass is often featured prominently in at least one strain of a German march. To offset the rhythmic martiality of most of the strains, the final strain ("
trio") often has a lyrical (if somewhat bombastic) quality.
Notable German and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n march composers include
Carl TeikeCarl Albert Hermann Teike was a German composer who wrote over 100 military marches and twenty concert works.-Biography:...
(
Alte KameradenAlte Kameraden is the title of a popular German military march. It is included in the Heeresmarsch as HM II, 150.The march Alte Kameraden was composed around 1889 by the composer of military music Carl Teike in Ulm. Allegedly his superior told him, after Teike presented him the notes, "We have...
),
Hermann Ludwig BlankenburgHermann Ludwig Blankenburg was a German composer of military marches.Blankenburg was the only son of three children of Johann Heinrich and Ernestine Friederike Koch Blankenburg. He was born with the middle name Louis but changed it to Ludwig later in life perhaps as a connection to Beethoven...
,
Johann Gottfried PiefkeJohann Gottfried Piefke was a German conductor, Kapellmeister and composer of military music....
(
Preußens GloriaPreußens Gloria, Armeemarschsammlung II, 240, is a well-known military march of the 19th century. Its composer was Johann Gottfried Piefke ....
), Hans Schmid,
Josef WagnerJosef Franz Wagner was an Austrian military bandmaster and composer. He is sometimes known by the sobriquet 'The Austrian March King'....
, and
Karl Michael ZiehrerKarl Michael Ziehrer was an Austrian composer. In his lifetime, he was one of the fiercest rivals of the Strauss family; most notably Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss....
.
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
military marches are distinct from other European marches by their emphasis on percussion and brass, often incorporating bugle calls as part of the melody or as interludes between strains. Most French marches are in common metre and place a strong percussive emphasis on the first beat of each measure, hence the characteristic "
BOOM-whack-whack-whack" rhythm.
DutchThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
marches typically they feature a heavy intro, often (but not as a rule) played by the
tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s,
euphoniumThe euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
s, drums, and
tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
s, followed by a lighthearted trio and a reasonably fast and somewhat 'bombastic' conclusion. Dutch emphasis on low brass is also made clear in that Dutch military bands use
sousaphoneThe sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the musician and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried...
s, which have a more forward projection of sound, rather than regular concert
tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
s used by most other European military styles. Some well known Dutch march composers are
Jan Gerard PalmJan Gerard Palm was a 19th century composer. Palm is often referred to as the "father of Curaçao's classical music".-Biography:...
,
Willy Schootemeyer,
Adriaan Maas,
Johan Wichers, and
Hendrik Karels.
By far most Dutch military bands perform their music on foot, however some Dutch regiments, most notably the
Trompetterkorps Bereden Wapens carry on a Dutch tradition in which its historical
bicycle infantryBicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who maneuver on battlefields using bicycles. The term dates from the late 19th century, when the "safety bicycle" became popular in Europe, the United States and Australia. Historically, bicycles lessened the need for horses, fuel and vehicle maintenance...
had a mounted band; thus playing march music on bikes.
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
marches have a very "
light" musical feel, often having sections of fanfare or soprano obligatos performed with a light "
coloratura" articulation. This "
frilly" characteristic is contrasted with broad lyrical melodies reminiscent of operatic arias. It is relatively common to have one strain (often a first introduction of the final strain) that is played primarily by the higher-voiced instruments, or in the upper ranges of the instruments's compass. A typical Italian march would be "Il Bersagliere" (The Italian Rifleman) by Boccalari. Uniquely, the
BersaglieriThe Bersaglieri are a corps of the Italian Army originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Piedmontese Army, later to become the Royal Italian Army...
regiments always move at a fast jog, and their "running bands" play at this pace.
The most characteristic
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
march form is the
PasodoblePasodoble is a typical dance from Spain march-like musical style as well as the corresponding dance style danced by a couple. It is the type of music typically played in bullfights during the bullfighters' entrance to the ring or during the passes just before the kill...
. Spanish marches often have fanfares at the beginning or end of strains that are reminiscent of traditional bullfight music. These marches often move back and forth between major and (relative) minor keys, and often show a great variation in tempo during the course of the march reminiscent of an prolonged
VienneseVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
rubato. Typical Spanish marches could be
Amparito RocaAmparito Roca is the name of a piece of music composed in 1925 by Spanish musician and composer Jaime Teixidor who named it after one of his piano students, then 12-year-old Amparito Roca ....
by
Jaime TeixidorJaime Teixidor was born in Barcelona on April 16, 1884 and died in Baracaldo on February 23, 1957. He was a Spanish musician, conductor, publisher, and composer....
,
Los Voluntarios by
Geronimo GimenezGerónimo Giménez y Bellido was a Spanish conductor and composer, who dedicated his career to writing zarzuelas, such as La tempranica and La boda de Luis Alonso...
or
El Turuta by Roman de San Jose.
CzechThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
(
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n) march composers include
František KmochFrantišek Kmoch was a Czech composer and conductor.- Life and career :František Kmoch was born in Zásmuky, near Kolín, Bohemia. His father was a tailor and a clarinetist who performed folk music...
and
Julius FučíkJulius Arnost Wilhelm Fučík was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands.Fučík spent most of his life as the leader of military brass bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 300 marches, polkas, and waltzes to his name...
, who wrote
Entrance of the Gladiators"Entrance of the Gladiators" or "Entry of the Gladiators" is a military march composed in 1897 by the Czech composer Julius Fučík...
.
While many of the marches of Tsarist
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
share similar characteristics with German marches of the period, and indeed some were directly borrowed from Germany (such as
Der Königgrätzer MarschThe Königgrätzer Marsch is a famous German military march composed by Johann Gottfried Piefke after the Battle of Königgrätz, 1866, the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire.It was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite marches and was...
) the indigenous, pre-revolutionary Russian march has a distinctly Russian sound, with powerful strains in minor keys repeated with low brass with occasional flashes of major chords between sections. The Soviet period produced a large number of modern marches incorporating both Russian themes and structure reminiscent of Dutch marches. Frequently in major keys, Soviet marches often span a wide range of dynamics while maintaining a strong melody well-balanced with the percussion, entering the "
bombastic" range without overpowering percussion as is common with French marches. They are often in the A-B/Cb-A form or
Ternary formTernary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form, usually schematicized as A-B-A. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them...
.
Modern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
's march is
İstiklal MarşıThe İstiklâl Marşı is the National Anthem of Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, officially adopted on 12 March 1921 - two and a half years before the 29 October 1923 establishment of the Republic of Turkey, both as a motivational musical saga for the troops fighting in the Turkish War...
. It has power and anger with an aggressive tune. But generally, old Turkish marches at the times of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
are aggressive in the lyrics and more confident in the tunes, but still frightful to enemy, e.g. Mehter Marşı. It is notable that Mozart and Beethoven also wrote popular Turkish marches.
American march music
The true "
march music era" existed from 1855 to the 1940s as it slowly became shadowed by the coming of
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Earlier marches, such as the ones from
Ludwig Van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Wolfgang Mozart, and
George Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
tended to be part of a
symphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
or a movement in a
suiteIn music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
, and are generally not thought of as "
typical American march music."
American march music cannot be discussed without mentioning the "
March King,"
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
. Some of his most famous marches include "Semper Fidelis," "The Washington Post March," "
The Liberty Bell"The Liberty Bell" is an American military march composed by John Philip Sousa.It is now most often associated with the British TV comedy program Monty Python's Flying Circus , which began and ended with the first few bars.-History:...
," and "Stars and Stripes Forever".
A specialized form of "
typical American march music" is the circus march, or
screamerA screamer is a descriptive name for a circus march, in particular, an upbeat march intended to stir up the audience during the show.- History :...
, typified by the marches of
Henry FillmoreHenry Fillmore was an American musician, composer, publisher, and bandleader, best-known for his many marches and screamers.-Biography:James Henry Fillmore Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio as the eldest of five children...
and
Karl KingKarl L. King was a United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of Barnum and Bailey's Favorite.-Biography:...
. These marches are performed at a significantly faster tempo (140 - 200 beats per minute) and generally have an abundance of runs, fanfares and other "
showy" features. Frequently the
low brass has one or more strains (usually the second strain) in which they are showcased with both speed and bombast. Stylistically, many circus marches employ a lyrical final strain which (in the last time through the strain) starts out
maestoso (majestically—slower and more stately) and then in the second half of the strain speeds up to end the march faster than the original tempo.
Marches continued to be commissioned throughout the 20th century to commemorate important American events. In the 1960's
Anthony A. MitchellLieutenant Commander Anthony A. Mitchell , born Antonio Alberto Miceli, was an American clarinetist, composer and conductor who led the United States Navy Band from 1962 until his retirement from the Navy in 1968...
, director of the
United States Navy BandThe United States Navy Band, based at the historic Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served the nation as the official musical organization of the United States Navy since 1925...
, was commissioned to write
The National Cultural Center March for the center that would later become known as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Asian march music
Thailand's very own King
Bhumibol AdulyadejBhumibol Adulyadej is the current King of Thailand. He is known as Rama IX...
is also a march composer.
Royal Guards March is his famous march piece, played by military bands during the
Thai Royal Guards paradeEvery December 2 since 1953, in celebration of the birthday of the King of Thailand, the Royal Guards of the Royal Thai Armed Forces perform a military parade and pledge loyalty to the monarch...
at the Royal Plaza at Bangkok every 2nd of December yearly. It reflects the use of German and British military band influences in Thai military music.
Latin American march music
Although inspired by German, Spanish and French military music, marches of South and Central America are unique in melody and instrumentation.
Argentine military marches, unique in style and melody are inspired by the countless exploits of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic in its long military history. The
San Lorenzo March by Cayetano Alberto Silva is one such march, combining German and French military musical influences. Others celebrate the heroes of its military forces or its military schools, while some are marches made for the cavalry bands of the Argentine Army, in slow time for cavalry trot pasts. Other Latinamerican march, well known, is
Los peruanos pasan March by Carlos Valderrama Herrera inspired by european and andean influences.
Mexican marches, like the
March of the Heroic Military College,
Airborne Fusiliers March and the
Viva Mexico March are all inspired by American, Spanish and French military music and have a faster beat.
See also
- Authorized marches of the Canadian Forces
The following is a list of the notable authorized marches for various organizations of the Canadian Forces. The first march listed is the march most commonly performed for that organization on parade; it is commonly referred to simply as that organization's "march" or "march past"...
- Drum cadence
In music, a drum cadence is a work played exclusively by the percussion section of a modern marching band , descended from early military marches, primarily as a purposefully emphasized means of providing a beat to marchers and often using patterned rhythmic drum strokes to produce a drum beat.A...
- Heritage of the March
Heritage of the March is a series of 185 vinyl records of marches and galops released from 1973 to the early 1980s. It remains the largest single march music record series in history, featuring close to 3,000 different marches...
- Military cadence
In the armed services, a military cadence or cadence call is a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching...
External links