U.S. FIELD ARTILLERY MARCH
by: John Philip Sousa
arranged by: Brian Harris
This joyous, fun, and toe-tapping march will be the favorite of your band and audience alike - especially at the break strain where the band members break into song with the tune everyone knows. Pure excitement! For an even greater effect, have the brass section stand for the final repeat of the famous melody.
In 1917, Sousa was requested to write a march using the newly-popular Caisson song, thought to date back to the Civil War. Turns out the man who wrote it was still alive and spent years unsuccessfully trying to get rights/royalties from the work. Eventually, the US Army changed much of the lyrics (such as "..caissons go rolling along" was changed to "..Army goes rolling along") and adopted it as their official service song.
This arrangement of Sousa's work remains in the original key, but has modified (easier) ranges for most players. The bass line is now doubled throughout the low woodwinds, and the alto and tenor saxophone parts reorganized (the original published parts were inconsistently voiced). Instead of three clarinet and trumpet parts, it now has two with the second part have optional divisi notes. Also, the repeat of the first strain was removed and an optional cannon shot at the end was added.
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