God of Our Fathers arr. Dr. Diane Bish

Diane Bish had a show on PBS which highlighted her traveling the world playing the greatest of all instruments. Explain why the organ is the grandest of all instrments.

Fairest of the Fair - John Phillip Sousa

Flight of the Bumblebee

So you say a marching band can't play Flight of the Bumblebee for halftime?


Here is a better recording.

Americans We - Henry Fillmore

What instrument did Henry Fillmore play?

Barnum and Bailey's Favorite

Karl King's best-known composition has to be Barnum and Bailey's Favorite. This march has the power to conjure up the whole magnificent scene of the old tent circus -- all the aromas, all the sounds, all the sights, and, of course, the circus band. King wrote this march for the thirty-two-piece Barnum and Bailey Circus Band in 1913 at the request of the director. King was twenty-two at the time and was preparing to join the band as a euphonium player. The euphonium can be heard in a rousing countermelody. His use of the word 'favorite' in the title proved quite appropriate, as a 1980 international music survey ranked this march fourth in the top 140 marches.

Them Basses by Getty H. Huffine

Them Basses March is by far the best-known march by Kentucky-born composer
Getty H. Huffine. Other marches, also with interesting bass parts, include his Basses On The Rampage, Triple Cities, and The Bearcat. Subtitled, “A March in which the basses have the melody throughout,” it is a test of scale aptitude by all the members of the band. The quick circus tempo of the march challenges players with major and chromatic scales throughout the piece. The march itself is an answer to the age-old student musician question, “Why do I have to learn my scales?