Sousa wrote "The Gladiator March" in 1886. It was his first hit. This edition is by William Hall and follows documented performance procedures of the Sousa Band.

The Gladiator March

One of Alfred Reed's most loved compositions for Concert Band

The Hounds Of Spring

Recording of the 1846 Jenny Lind Polka by Allan Dodworth dedicated to the "Swedish Nightingale." This arrangement is for Civil War Band, and performed by the 1st Nebraska Volunteers Brass Band. 

Jenny Lind Polka

Stephen C. Foster's hit tune of 1853. 

Recorded Live at Grace University on August 23, 2015. The source for this arrangement is Brass Band Journal (1854)

Old Dog Tray

aka Columbia the Gem of the Ocean & Red, White and Blue.

Recorded live at Grace University on August 23, 2015. The source for this arrangement is the 1st Brigade Band of Brodhead, Wisconsin.

National Quickstep

 Though the tune is much older, it was first printed in the book: English Country Songs, in 1893. It’s the story of courting the most beautiful girl in county Down, Ireland, by a young suitor.   Charles Johnston, a former band director from Monroe Louisiana, and member of the 2nd Louisiana String Band, arranged it for full brass band.

Recorded live at Grace University on August 23, 2015.

Star of the County Down

Claudio S. Grafulla was one of the most prolific composer/arrangers of the Civil War period. He often created quicksteps by taking melodies from popular European operas. Here Grafulla selected Giuseppe Verdi's 1841 hit "Nabucco" The story of the Israelites and Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.

Recorded live at Grace University on August 23, 2015

Nabucco Quickstep

Septimus Winner was from a musical family in that his father was a violinmaker and his brother, Joseph, was also a composer (The Little Brown Jug). Septimus was a storekeeper and music teacher in Philadelphia where he would hear “Whistlin' Dick” Milburn, a Negro boy, serenading people in the street with his guitar and bird-like warbling. Winner used one of Dick's melodies for Mockingbird and gave him prominent credit on the published music. He published it under his mother's name, Alice Hawthorne. He also gave Dick a job in the store. Lacking foresight, Winner sold the rights to the song for $5.00 after slow initial sales. The song sold millions of copies over the next 50 years.

Mockingbird Quickstep

Here is a pairing of everyone's favorite Civil War Song, "Dixie" with "The Bonny Blue Flag." The Bonny Blue Flag had a single white star and was used in previous southern freedom movements in West Florida and Texas. It was also the first flag of the Confederate States of America.

This live recording was made at Grace University on August 23, 2015.

Dixie and Bonnie Blue Flag

This version is based on two authentic Civil War band arrangements. Some liberties were taken with interludes. Recorded live at Grace University on August 23, 2015.

billhall

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