The Stars & Stripes Forever (score & parts) - 4BSN/CBSN

The Stars & Stripes Forever
for four bassoons and contrabassoon (or five bassoons)
by John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) - American composer, the "March King"

Arranged and edited by William Spencer

PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE ARRANGER

The Sousa is so well-known that I hardly like to suggest how to approach this admittedly somewhat light-hearted arrangement, but I encourage (as far as is practical) a nice peppy overall tempo, and careful attention to the balance of the different lines, since the tune keeps escaping from one part and ending up in another. Keen listeners may notice a brief reference to the old barbershop standard “Sweet Adeline.”

ABOUT THE ARRANGER

Bassoonist, conductor, and composer William Spencer began his serious musical studies on bassoon at age 12 (after a few years of piano lessons had no apparent effect whatsoever). His teachers included among others Leonard Sharrow and Sherman Walt, former principals of the Chicago and Boston Symphonies respectively. He holds degrees from Boston University in bassoon and musicology, and a doctorate in conducting from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied with Frederik Prausnitz. Over the course of five summers at the Aspen Music Festival he studied bassoon and conducting at different times, the latter with Paul Vermel. As a composer he has dabbled in song cycles, smaller-scale choral works, and double-reed-themed diversions.