Sousa's song is country's national march

By Jennifer Brummett
Staff Writer

A self-styled ``music virtuoso,'' Jimmy Saied of Tulsa, Okla., decided he wanted to do something for the band business when he retired in the early 1980s.

He asked National Association of Music Merchants to help promote and financially assist in the hundreds of Sousa concerts being played around the country. Together the group, composed of professional bands and military bands, performed John Philip Sousa concerts, especially with ``Stars and Stripes Forever,'' a well-known Sousa piece.

Around 1981, ``bands all across the country that year were playing one Sousa-style concert.'' As part of the celebration of Sousa, Saied suggested his group tried to make the ``Stars and Stripes Forever'' the national march of the United States.

``At all of these concerts around the country, we had people signing petitions,'' Saied said of his move to make the song the national march. ``We had several hundred thousand petitions.''

The NAMM sponsored Saied's drive and eventually he was called to Washington to testify in front of a Congressional committee about why ``Stars and Stripes Forever'' should be the national march. Testifying with him was John Philip Sousa III, who also narrated several concerts for Saied. After much testifying, then-president Ronald Reagan signed ``Stars and Stripes Forever'' as the national march of the United States in December 1977. Why this particular song, one asks?

``It so happens that one of the Congresswomen asked why this song,'' Saied said with a laugh. ``It's very simple. It is the march that is known all around the world and in fact, in many countries around the world, they think of it as being our national anthem.''

In contemporary times, the well-known strains of ``Stars and Stripes Forever'' have been used in a lot of advertising campaigns. Sousa himself is ``the most famous band musician this country has ever known,'' according to Saied.

``He was a hero in this entire country like you don't see often,'' Saied noted.

How he wrote ``Stars and Stripes Forever'' is an interesting sketch:

In December 1896, Sousa experienced one of the most vivid incidents from his career, Saied said. It occurred while he was returning from a European vacation with his wife.

As the boat they were on pulled out of harbor, he was on deck and began to sense the rhythmic beat of the boat as it moved through the water. What began to form in Sousa's head was a most distinct melody.

``He didn't transfer a note of that melody until he reached shore,'' Saied said. ``On Christmas Day, he set down the measures his brain had set out for him. And he did not change a note of it.

``Sousa wanted Americans to recognize the flag as a symbol of freedom. And (the song) has become part of the Great American Heritage.''

Interestingly enough, up until about a year ago Saied portrayed Sousa all around the country when he did Sousa concerts. He said he did 76 concerts in 30 states. Saied noted he happens to look a lot like Sousa, and being a conductor also, he decided to dress up as Sousa while doing a concert in Elkhart, Ind., which he called ``the band instrument capital of the world.''

Saied had uniforms made up just like those of Sousa's band, as well as a number of uniforms to look like those Sousa had. He owns 85 uniforms and hats as well.

In the early part of this century, the ``good music'' for people around the country was performed by concert bands, Saied said.

``There were only a few symphony orchestras in large cities,'' he noted. ``The concert band was started by Patrick Gilmore, who is called the father of the concert band. The day he died was the first concert the Sousa Band played.''

While Gilmore traveled primarily in the East, the Sousa Band traveled all over the United States. When Sousa was director of the Marine Band, that group also traveled all over the states. ``Good, live music came from concert bands,'' Saied said.

``Once he was out doing this, other concert bands were formed. They started traveling around the country, a whole bunch of them, but they were nothing like Sousa.''

Though he is best known for his marches, Sousa also wrote good classical music played by symphony orchestras as well as bands, Saied said. Today, the concert band has lost a lot of its popularity but Sousa is still a household name.

``This man became a great music hero to this country,'' Saied said. ``He is as popular there in Europe as he is here, if not more so.''

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)

Born in Washington, D.C., Sousa was the third of 10 children of John Antonio Sousa and Maria Elisabeth Trinkhaus. Sousa's father played the trombone in the U.S. Marine Band and thus, he grew up around military band music.

In 1860, Sousa began his musical study with voice, violin, piano, flute, cornet, baritone, trombone and alto horn lessons. He published is first composition, ``Moonlight on the Potomac Waltzes'' in 1872.

Sousa became the Marine band leader in September 1880. He conducted ``The President's Own'' under Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Arthur and Harrison.

Sousa formed a civilian group, the Sousa Band, which performed its first concert Sept. 26, 1892, at Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, N.J. Sousa's first successful operetta, ``El Capitan,'' debuted in 1895.

The Sousa Band toured Europe in 1900, 1901 and 1905, followed by world tours in 1910 that included New York, Great Britain, the Canary Islands, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Hawaii and Canada. During World War I, Sousa joined the U.S. Naval Reserve at age 62 and was assigned the rank of lieutenant. He was paid a salary of $1 per month.

Sousa died at age 77 after conducting a concert of the Ringgold Band in Reading, Penn.

**Information about John Philip Sousa was derived from The John Philip Sousa Home Page