Sousa, The Naval Reserve March

We have a tradition here of turning to something specifically American near the Fourth of July, often something of a patriotic nature. This seems like a very good year to uphold that tradition.

As a former Army band guy, I don’t recall ever playing this march celebrating the Navy Reserves. Certainly it was not part of our standard repertoire, although we had a number of Navy tunes ready for those occasions when we played joint programs or entertained some admiral.

Sousa himself had some experience with multiple branches of the service. He first enlisted in the Marine Band in 1868 at the age of 13 and served until 1875. He later returned to the Marine Band as its director 1880 to 1892. Finally, when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserves at the age of 62.

He gained national attention as conductor of the Marine Band and resigned to pursue a more lucrative career with his own band, “The Sousa Band.” In addition to composing about 130 marches, he enjoyed success as a composer of operettas.