Every year, the President’s Own US Marine Band honors the birthday of their first leader, March King John Philip Sousa with a performance and a wreath-laying.
But not this year.
The event, held annually at Congressional Cemetery, was canceled due to the Federal Government Shutdown.
But the community banded together to celebrate the local hero. More than 50 residents showed up to honor the man who grew up in their neighborhood and redefined march music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The March King
John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was born in a house near Sixth and G Streets SE. After an attempt at the age of 13 to run away as a musician with the circus, Sousa’s father enrolled him in the Marine Corps as a musician apprentice.
Beginning in 1880, Sousa led the Marine Band, also known as ‘The President’s Own Band,’ through five presidents before retiring in 1892 to lead his civilian band, the Sousa Band.
Sousa became internationally known as the ‘March King,’ and was the composer of such renowned pieces as “Semper Fidelis,” the Official March of the United States Marine Corps, “The Washington Post” and “Stars and Stripes Forever,” the National March of the United States.
The Band Plays On
The US Marine Band honors Sousa with a wreath and performance annually on his birthday. But this year, musicians were unable to attend due to the government shutdown.
But the band –or a band– played on, “with the cemetery’s kind permission and a little neighborhood grassroots organizing,” said MC Kerry Lupher, who helped with that organizing. A decade ago, in a small high school in Idaho, she received a John Philip Sousa Band Award.
Lupher said that she knew the event had meaning for so many in the community. When she learned it was canceled, she thought, “we must be able to figure out an alternative.”
A former federal employee herself, Lupher was ready to work to keep people together. “There have been so many things shut down, canceled, ripped apart this year,” she said. “This little joyful community event didn’t need to be one of them.”
The Band Plays Despite
Six members of the Capital City Symphony arrayed themselves in the pathway near Sousa’s grave. They played “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and duet renditions of other Sousa works.
The musicians were brought together when Kerry Lupher reached out Tuesday to her community. That included a group of women she exercises with at Lincoln Park Friday mornings, known as Fridays We Prance, to see if a gathering could be arranged. The leader of the group is also a violinist with the Capital City Symphony. Sarah Hanks said she messaged with a mind to recruit for each individual part of the piece.
She said she was proud of the Capital City Symphony and of Fridays We Prance for collaborating to ensure Sousa’s birthday did not go uncelebrated. “Despite the goernment shutdown,” Hanks said, “we will make sure that music and ar, joy and celebration continue –even in these hard times.”
The musicians arrived at the cemetery by 2:15 p.m. to practice before guests arrived, Hanks said. Members of Fridays We Prance provided flowers in white, but prominently red and gold, the Marine Band colors, to lay on his grave as the band played.
A spokesperson for the Prancers said when they heard about the cancellation and the will to honor the local musical hero, they knew they had to take action. “We knew that we had the community and willpower to bring everyone together to honor the March King,” said Fridays We Prance spokesperson Ashley Smith.
Charles M. Free is a relative of John Philip Sousa. He is the last of his family to still live on Capitol Hill, only a block from the Marine Barracks and not far from where Sousa was raised. He said he had spoken to members of the US Marines who were sad they were unable to lead the celebration. But, he said, he was touched that the community remembered Sousa and by extension, his family.
“I’m certainly glad it happened, and I think those musicians were terrific,” Free said.
The Expression of the Soul of A Nation
Seven-year-old Holden Lemon-Gugat was brought to the event by his mother. Afterward, he heartily agreed with Free. “It was pretty cool that the government got shut down and then these random guys that just like music just got together,” Gugat said, “and thought to build this thing back up, so it wouldn’t just be like, “Oh, it’s Sousa’s birthday? Walk on by.”
Two other attendees who declined to be named said that they attend the event every year. One told the Hill Rag that she had heard the event was not happening, but intended to walk past Sousa’s grave anyway. That’s when she heard there would be a service despite.
Her friend was honoring Sousa for the first time. “It was interesting to have it be very different as a first time experience,” she said. “But we’ll come next year and compare. Hopefully, no shutdown.”
As she opened the ceremony, Lupher invoked the March King.
“Sousa once said, music is the expression of the soul of a nation,” Lupher said. “Standing here with friends, neighbors and fellow music lovers, we carry that spirit forward. We’re celebrating not only a great composer and conductor but the community. That music creates something many of us may now need more than ever.”
We must be able to figure out an alternative… We celebrate the composer, conductor and the community.
Yes, Free agreed when asked: it is good to be loved.
