Sample Media Release

(Name of your organization)

To Present Marcus Neiman and The Sounds of Sousa Band

(YOUR CITY):  Long before the days of radio air play, televised concerts and mass marketed CDs, John Philip Sousa was entertaining millions of people around the world with a particular style of music that market his place in history as the "World's Greatest Bandmaster."

Residents of (name of your community) will have the unique opportunity to experience an authentic "Sousa style" concert by Marcus Neiman and his Sounds of Sousa Band presented by (your organization) on (date), at (site, address, and city). 

What was it about the "March King's" music that attract­ed thousands of people?  According to Neiman, 54 year old Medina, OH resident, "Sousa's  concert style was for his audiences, not his colleagues.  The concerts were characterized by their fast pace, spirited encores that came many times during the concert, use of out­standing soloists, and a rousing finale of his most famous composition, The Stars and Stripes Forever."

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, DC, on Novem­ber 6, 1854, the third of ten children.  As a child, he was an excellent student, both in his academic and musical studies.  At age 13, he planning to "run away with the circus to play in their band," but his father, Antonio, enlisted him instead as an apprentice musician in the U.S. Marine Band. 

Sousa remained in Washington and continued conducting and performing on the violin, his first love, after his military discharge at age 20.

After several years of conducting, composing, and per­forming in cities around the country, Sousa accepted an appointment, at age 25, as leader of the U.S. Marine Band.  Twelve years later, he resigned from that post and formed his own band.  Until his death on March 6, 1932, the Sousa Band performed for standing-room-only crowds in both the United States and abroad.

While Sousa is best known today for his marches, his influence and contributions extended either directly or indirectly to a number of other musical areas.

It was Sousa who introduced European audiences to "ragtime" music, the forerunner of jazz.  The inclusion of jazz compositions in his concerts helped make this new form of American music acceptable.

He was a pioneer of the American musical theater, com­posing 15 operettas, the most successful of which was "El Capitan."

For ticket information on the concert, call (contact person) at (contact phone).

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