The Sousa and Pryor Bands
by James R. Smart
From the Civil War to the 1920s band concerts formed one of the most important aspects of musical life in the United States. While very few communities could afford an orchestra, many could afford a band. In addition to these civic groups there were employee bands sponsored by business, police bands, school and military bands, and others. Foremost were the large privately run professional bands, made up of the finest players and directed by leaders of national and even international fame. These organizations obtained the most lucrative engagements in large resort parks and at least once a year undertook long city-to-city tours of one-night stands. By 1900 these fine ensembles were attracting immense audiences and through their skilled playing were setting new performance standards.
During this period bands achieved great popularity chiefly because they offered one of the few ways for the general public to hear large instrumental ensembles. With limited transportation, few people could journey to large cities to attend music performances. There was no radio and no sound movies, and the phonograph industry was in its infancy. A band of brass and woodwind instruments plus a variety of percussion could ably fill the gap. These instruments are more easily transported than the more fragile string instruments of a symphony orchestra, are capable of the large volume of sound necessary for outdoor performance, and are adaptable to all sorts of musical expression.
Although the band had its roots in the military – even today most school bands wear military like uniforms – the bands’ repertoire during their golden age went far beyond the march, quickstep, and other martial music. The bands played arrangements of popular songs of the day (frequently featuring a solo cornet), all kinds of dance music from the waltz to the ragtime cakewalk, medleys of opera and operetta tunes, descriptive and novelty pieces, and transcriptions from the standard orchestral literature. Of necessity bands built up large libraries of music. The professional bands were proud of their special arrangements, often unpublished, which were theirs exclusively (the huge library of the Sousa Band, for instance contained hundreds of special arrangements by Sousa or members of the band, and most were never published). In short, the band was ready to play any type of music the public wanted to hear. Besides giving concerts, bands played for civic functions, fairs and expositions, and, of course, parades. The professional bands, however, avoided this last duty, and the Sousa Band is believed to have marched on only about seven occasions during its forty-year history.
[Excerpt from the liner notes]
Sousa and Pryor Bands: Original Recordings
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Federal March
John Philip Sousa
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Creole Belles
J. Bodewalt Lampe
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At a Georgia Camp Meeting
Mills
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The Patriot
A. Pryor
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Pasuinade
Gottschalk
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Glory of the Yankee Navy
John Phillip Sousa
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Trombone Sneeze
A. Pryor
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A Musical Joke on "Bedelia"
Bellstedt
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The Ben-Hur Chariot Race March
Paull
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General Pershing March
Vandersloot
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General Mixup, U.S.A.
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March Sannon
arr. Alvin [?] Willis
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Battleship Connecticut March
James E. Fulton
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Alagazam March
Holzman
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Yankee Shuffle
Moreland
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The Teddy Bear's Picnic
Bratton
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Down the Field March
Friedman
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Falcon March
W. Paris Chambers
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Repasz Band March
Sweeley
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