Issue link: http://saihq.uberflip.com/i/1515895
sai-national.org • Winter 2024 21 heaven. en, in the American Revolution, this pattern became "e Tail of Benjamin Franklin's Kite." As time went on, these patterns also told stories of "Going to California" and were signals for "e Underground Railroad." It wasn't until the treadle sewing machine was invented by Isaac Singer in 1851, and quilts and coverings could be purchased from the Sears Roebuck catalog, that women had time to compose or write lyrics for their hymns of praise. Wendy's presentation also shared with us hymns from the time, like Louis Bourgeois' Old 100th and its adaptations, as well as the Ainsworth Psalter by John Calvin. Aer a break for the winter, our final presentation of the year will be my presentation on "American March Music and the Formation of the American Marching Band." e earliest marching bands were fife and drum bands that were used by the military to call men to action and give signals on fogg y battlefields. e music of these military fife and drum bands became known as "Military Field Music" and by the Civil War, each company had its own group of field musicians to accompany them. By the mid-1800s, universities were employing marching bands to increase student morale. is was marked by the formation of the first college marching band, the University of Notre Dame Band of the Fighting Irish, founded in 1845, and first performed at a football game in 1887. e first time we see a college band create a pictorial formation on a football field is in 1907 by the Purdue All-American Marching Band and was soon followed by the first-ever football halime show that same year, performed by the University of Illinois Marching Illini. During this era, John Philip Sousa was also rising to prominence as a musician and composer. We credit Sousa as the pioneer of American march music, as he standardized the military march form. Under Sousa, the standard march form became I-AA-BB-CC- D-C-DC. During this time, we also saw march tempos increase to about 120 bpm, and with his invention of the Sousaphone, large instruments became easier to carry, allowing bands to go on the move with more precision and ease. is standardization led the way for other composers to create new types and styles of marches, such as the circus march, which is performed at a significantly faster tempo of 140-200 beats per minute. ey feature an abundance of runs, fanfares, and other showy features, and can be seen in works such as Henry Fillmore's Rolling under. For many years, pictorial halime shows featuring one or a few simple images that the band displayed on the field while playing a traditional march tune was the typical performance style. is style became known as "pageantry." It wasn't until the 1950s that we saw the creation of Precision Drill, a method of marching band members marching in tandem from one form to another to create continuous geometric patterns across the field. is was pioneered by A.R. Casavant, the Chattanooga High School marching band director. From here, we see this method of marching, also known as "corps style marching," adopted by independent and scholastic marching band groups alike, to become the most popular performance style of American Marching Bands. is marching concept was further promoted and adopted with the introduction of Drum Corps International in 1972. Our presentations may be done for now, but we know there is always more that we can learn about the music and cultures we interact with. rough our study of Music of the Americas, we have formed a new love and appreciation for the cultures, nations, and histories that are right here in our backyard. We continue to hear our call and look forward to where our new knowledge will take us as musicians and people. Sarah Rabin is the Operations Administrator for Drum Corps International. She is an alumna of the Sigma Delta Chapter and currently serves as Editor for the Evanston Alumnae Chapter. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Administration and a Master of Science in Leader for Creative Enterprises. Fraternity Education ii Helen Boatwright was initiated as an SAI Honorary Member on January 8, 1965 by the Sigma Iota Chapter. iii Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://bit.ly/3vVg4f7. iv Focus: American Music. The Choral Journal. 43 no. 8 (March 2003). v William Grimes. "Gregg Smith Choral Leader Who Elevated Standards Dies at 84," The New York Times, July 15, 2016. Accessed September 23, 2023. https://bit.ly/3SErnRS. vi Summer 2005 Program Guide, Adirondack Festival of American Music, 2005. vii Earth Requiem was premiered in March 1997 by the Cathedral Choral Society of Washington at the Washington Cathedral, J. Reilly Lewis, conductor, and received a 10-minute standing ovation. viii Spring Songs is dedicated in memory of SAI Patroness Barbara F. Marble. It was recorded for Voices of Innocence: The Syracuse Children's Chorus Sings the Music of Gregg Smith. Centaur Records CRC2720, 2004. ix Dr. Eileen Strempel is currently Inaugural Dean of UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music. She was initiated into SAI in 1985 at the Eastman School of Music, Sigma Theta Chapter. x The Gregg Smith Papers: An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University. https://bit.ly/4bo3Iwu. Accessed September 25, 2023. xi Gregg Smith Singers Collection: An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University. https://bit.ly/48eYO25. Accessed September 26, 2023. xii Email address for the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) at Syracuse University Libraries is: scrc@syr.edu. xiii Gregg Smith Singers Recordings: An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University. https://bit.ly/49cGs2m. Accessed September 15, 2023. xiv Now I Walk in Beauty is published by G. Schirmer, Octavo #12374, SATB, a cappella; and distributed by Hal Leonard HL #50322060. It is easily adapted to be sung in unison, three, or four parts by treble choirs. SMITH continued from page 17