Source: Craig Parker, cpb@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/parkerbio.html
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
K-STATE EXPERT SAYS MANY FACTORS MAKE PATRIOTIC MUSIC APPEALING, AND NOT ALL PATRIOTIC SONGS WERE BORN IN THE USA
MANHATTAN -- For many Americans, the Fourth of July means fireworks, parades, picnics and plenty of patriotic music.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Many factors make patriotic music appealing: memorable melodies, catchy and often repetitive rhythms, the emotional content of the lyrics, and, to a lesser extent, the occasion for which the music was written,&1xbet online sports betting ; said Kansas State University's Craig Parker, associate professor of music and an expert on John Phillip Sousa, the American patriotic music composer known as the &1xbet online sports betting ;March King.&1xbet online sports betting ;
While most American patriotic pieces, such as &1xbet online sports betting ;The Star Spangled Banner&1xbet online sports betting ; and &1xbet online sports betting ;God Bless America,&1xbet online sports betting ; have lyrics, Parker said, one of the most recognizable patriotic compositions got lyrics after achieving popularity.
&1xbet online sports betting ;The most recognizable piece of American music around the world is John Philip Sousa's 'The Stars and Stripes Forever,' which was composed in 1896-97 as an instrumental piece. It was played by his own professional concert band that toured America and the world for 40 years,&1xbet online sports betting ; Parker said. &1xbet online sports betting ;The lyrics for this march were added long after it became popular as an instrumental work.
&1xbet online sports betting ;When American orchestras tour internationally, they invariably play 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' as an encore to a symphonic concert, as the National Symphony Orchestra did a few weeks ago during a tour of China,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said.
Parker said Sousa marches such as &1xbet online sports betting ;The Washington Post,&1xbet online sports betting ; &1xbet online sports betting ;Semper Fidelis,&1xbet online sports betting ; &1xbet online sports betting ;The Liberty Bell&1xbet online sports betting ; and others also have enjoyed eternal popularity and are recognized around the world as evocations of the American spirit.
Not all American patriotic music was born in the USA, though, Parker said.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Two of America's best-known patriotic pieces, 'My Country 'Tis of Thee' and 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' use British melodies,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said. &1xbet online sports betting ;'My Country 'Tis of Thee' is based on 'God Save the Queen,' while Francis Scott Key's poem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' written during the War of 1812, was later set to the old British drinking song, 'To Anacreon in Heaven' by John Stafford Smith.&1xbet online sports betting ;
&1xbet online sports betting ;The Star-Spangled Banner&1xbet online sports betting ; did not become America's official national anthem until 1931, Parker said.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Prior to that, 'Hail, Columbia,' which is also known as 'The President's March,' 'Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean' and 'The Star Spangled Banner' all functioned as unofficial national anthems,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said. &1xbet online sports betting ;'Hail to the Chief,' which is played to announce the arrival of the president, is another British import. James Sanderson originally wrote it for an early 19th-century London production of a play based on Sir Walter Scott's novel, 'The Lady of the Lake.'&1xbet online sports betting ;
The American hymn tradition is responsible for some patriotic songs, Parker said, including the melodies for &1xbet online sports betting ;Battle Hymn of the Republic&1xbet online sports betting ; -- which Parker calls the greatest of all Civil War songs -- and &1xbet online sports betting ;America, the Beautiful.&1xbet online sports betting ;
One patriotic song now considered a classic didn't catch on when first introduced.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Irving Berlin's 'God Bless America' was originally written for a 1919 show and was forgotten for 20 years until he revised it in 1939,&1xbet online sports betting ; Parker said.
&1xbet online sports betting ;God Bless America&1xbet online sports betting ; also sparked another patriotic classic -- in protest, according to Parker.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' as a response to 'God Bless America,' which Guthrie thought was a song for the wealthy who were not suffering from the Depression as millions of other Americans were,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said.
