SOUSA AND HIS BAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1205, 14 August 1911, Page 8

SOUSA AND HIS BAND.

4 THEIR ARRIVAL. TALK WITH THE GREAT CONDUCTOR A LAW UNTO HIMSELF. Sousa and his band—they ore (according to every poj-ter and play bill) separate identifies—arrived from Lyttelton by the Tarawera at 2.30 p.m. yesterday. Tho steamer was berthed at Jcrvols Quay, where Cnptain Monro, wharfinger, had mado proper provision for checking tiie enthusiasm of the crowd. As the. reception by the local bands had licrn declared ' "off," and tho band ifself was undemonstrative, there was only about a thousand people on tho wharf, and the landing was quietly in keeping with tho day. The members of the band travel in uniform, with which goes a semi-military overcoat of black cloth, bedecked witli black braid and tassels, and black peaked caps, with a badge, tho design of which consists of the word "S/jusa" over an eagle. They are a laughing, jolly crowd, with spirits in keeping witk .the hilarity of a Kousa march, and the first to land was greeted with a roar of laughter, and' shouts of—"Tho Dark Horse." There, had been talk as to who would be the first to negotiate the gangway. Tho honour rested with a little man with a Captain Kettlo expression, who was greatly tickled at his feat, and laughed a jerky cadenza as ho "beat the band." Without demonstration of any kind the bandsmen tailed olf to their hotels, and Sousa himself—a little black-eyed man in spectacles, with a black beard veined with grey—drove away with his wife and two (laughters to the Grand Hotel, where they are staying the week. Universality of Music. The talk was of the difference in appreciation of music. "Look here," said John Philip Sousa, beaming through his glasses, "for tho life of me I can't see any difference in what you call appreciation of music that is good music. It doesn't matter if it be Labrador or tho South 'Pole (in both of which places one would fancy the audiences to be cold), tlio appreciation is about tho same. • There may bo a few who come- to hear our.concerts out of curiosity, much the same as pqople who go to see v. prize fight for the first time, but afterwards it is tho lover of music, and he is-everywhere. I find littlo difference, and I think I ought to know something , about it. seeing that I have been travelling the world for the last twelve years with, this organisation. "The Birth of the Band."

Before that—well, I had the National Band —sometimes known as thq United States Marine Corps Band—which was the Government band at Washington, and used to play at the White House functions.. It was in '91 that I obtained permission from President Harrison to n>ako a tour with it. Its performances attracted the attention of impresarios, who made me an offer to organise a band on any lines I liked, and the outcome was the present organisation which, in tn.v judgment, was the class of band which would make the widest appeal. ■■ Even then America had outgrown the, ordinary brass band, and the constitution of the English military bund did not meet my ideas—that class of band is elastic to a degree in ono sense —that is b> say. that the military band of Germany is not constituted on English lines, and the I'renct is\ different from either, and so it. is in other countlleii. In no. two is the .instrumentation alike. Germany divides them up into infantry and cavalry bands, and alters the constitution for indoor and outdoor performances. •The French bands consist largely of reed instruments, and aro not so effective iu tho open.air, and do no 1 -, compare with the best'of English bands—tha Grenadier Guards, Second Life Guards, and o'thers.

So I decided to my own bund in my own way, and you will have an opportunity to sit in judgment on them tomorrow ovening. I felt that my combination would bo mere attractive than .111 orchestra, and, after having given between 81100 and' 9MO c'bnr'eTts'. 'and travelled 000,000 miles, I am stift of that opinion. Hero it may be illuminating to interpolate that Sousa's Band has only four cornets, and four Uimboues, yet has twenty clarinets, three saxaphones, three flutes, two bassoins, and a harp among the sixty instruments. "I do not argue that it is the best combination for all classes of music, as, for instance, the works of Becthwoa, Handel, Haydn and Mozart wmeh . werewritteu for tho -.-rhestrn composed mostly of strings, with slight wind and.brass departments. Such works aro for the big . symphony orchestras nf America, England, and Germany—that is why you will seldom seo a Beethoven number on my programme. For a Specific Purpose, "My band is the' only wind combination in the world which sits on a staso and gives concerts in that , mnuncr only, and thrft accounts largely for the- order of its constitution. The men are not asked to split their lips in the open air trampling over the cobble stones, and ruining their ability to got the liner effects. They are not asked to turn out to a review or camp one day. play for tho King or President the next, and at a ball or concert the next. 1 learnt what that meant whan I was at Washington. A band may be a good band even under such conditions, but it is not to bo com pared with a carefully-nursed , band res tricted to one class of work. It is relatively like a finely-trained prize-fighter being pitted against a man whose ordinary vacation is lifting logs. The loglifter might havo a big punch, but he' is not up to the finer points, and will not last liko the man trained to the business. Not All Sousa Marches. "You must understand," said Sousa, "that this organisation was not made to play Sousa Marches, as some people have an absurd notion is the case, but it shows what a really fine organisation of windinstruments can accomplish in tho performance of a very wide range of the world's greatest composers. It the Archangel Gabriel himself were to arrange a programme which didn't include one of the inarches I would never bo forgiven. So I go from serious music ,to inarches and humoresques, and so make my peace with all the world. I fancy I was ono of the first to' writo these humouresques, and they are extremely popular. I played ono in "Christchiirch called "The Band Came Back," and do you know I had to play it at every subsequent concert. His First Hit. "My first, hit was away back in '78, when, , in honour of tho resumption of specie payment, I wrote tho 'Resumption March.' That only made a little ripple, however. Then in '79 I" wrote 'Flirtation,' which is still very popular. This is it ." And, without further ado, Sousa rattled off a few bars of the march on the piano. "The first big hit camo in '85, when I wrote 'The Gladiator,' which really made a big popular stir. Then later 'Semper I'idelis,' 'The Washington Post,' 'High School Cadet*.' and other marches that you know of: They call mo the March King, and I think I am prouder of that than anything. ■ They play my marches all over the world—what man wouldn't feel proud? "We are all very much struck with New Zealand—we all like it immensely. Soon after we arrived to-day wo went up to Kelbiirnc, n.nd there enjoyed the beauHful view. Tho fine purple shades of the distant hills, and the snow-ridgo away at tho hoad of tho bay was just fine."