JOHN PHILIP SOUSA“The March King”

1854 - 1932 77 years old

Sousa began playing the violin at six years-old. He had perfect pitch.

When Sousa was 13 years-old, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted

his son in the US Marine Corps as an apprentice to keep John from joining a

circus band.

While John was an apprentice for seven years, he learned to play all of

the wind instruments while perfecting his violin skills.

John Philip Sousa married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis in 1879

and had three children.

Sousa left his apprenticeship to join a pit orchestra for a theater where he

learned to conduct.

John Philip Sousa returned to the US Marine Band as its conductor in 1880

for 12 years.

Sousa organized his own band the year he left the Marine Band in 1892.

They performed 15,623 concerts in the next 29 years.

Sousa did not approve of the recorded music industry. He thought

that people would lose their vocal chords in the process of evolution like

apes losing their tails. John missed seeing people on their steps singing

the old songs. John refused to conduct for recordings. He called

recorded music “canned music.”

Soussa died of a heart attack at the age of 77 years old. He had been living in Sands Point, New York.

John Philip Sousa’s other talents:

• wrote 3 novels• a skilled horseman• a connoisseur of cheese• Trap shooter, included in the Trap shooter

Hall of Fame

John Philip Sousathe “March King,”

wrote 136 marches,

and the music to 9 operettas.

Sousa’s Music

1888 Semper Fidelis(Always Faithful)

March of the Marine Corps

1888 in History

• Sousa wrote Semper Fidelis

• The Great Blizzard of 1888 in the Eastern U.S.

• Vincent van Gogh cuts off his ear

1889 Washington Post March

1889 in History• Sousa writes the Washington Post March

• Slave rebels take over the slave ship Amistad

1889 Stars and Stripes Forever

1896 in History

• Sousa writes Stars and Stripes Forever

• First movie theater opens, 10 cents for admission

In the 1890’s, Sousa requested that a

Sousaphone be developed. The sousaphone is known

as a marching tuba. It coils around the player

with the bell pointing forward so that the tone may be heard above the

band.

John Philip Sousa was an American composer and

conductor of the late Romantic Era.

He was known mostly for his American military and patriotic

marches, which gave him the name “The March King.”