Definition
The march is a piece with a regular, marked rhythm designed (or stylized) to accompany walking in step: military, ceremonial, funeral, wedding, parade. It has duple meter (2/4, 6/8, cut time 2/2, 4/4), regular phrases of 4 and 8 bars, a bass that alternates tonic and dominant on the strong beats and chords on the weak beats (“oom-pah”), and heavy use of brass and percussion.
The form of the American military march (Sousa model)
| Section | Bars | Key | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 4–8 | I (or V) | fanfare, unisons |
| First strain | 16, repeated | I | main theme, loud |
| Second strain | 16, repeated | I | contrast, often quieter or with a countermelody |
| Trio | 16–32 | IV (subdominant key) | broad, cantabile melody, lower dynamics |
| Break strain (or “dogfight”) | 8–24 | unstable | dramatic passage, chromaticism, dialogues between high and low brass |
| Restated trio (“grandioso”) | 16–32 | IV | same melody, fortissimo, with piccolo obbligato or countermelodies |
The fact that the march ends in the key of the trio (IV) and not in the initial one is a feature specific to this genre.
Example: John Philip Sousa, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (1896): introduction, first and second themes in Eb major, trio in Ab major (IV), break strain, return of the trio with the famous piccolo obbligato and the trombone countermelody.
Typical tempos
- Fast military march (quick march): about 112–120 steps per minute according to national tradition (Sousa's American marches are often performed around ♩ = 120).
- Slow, ceremonial march: about 60–75.
- Funeral march: slow, often in the minor, with dotted rhythms and drum rolls.
Variants and masterpieces
- Funeral march: Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” II (“Marcia funebre,” C minor); Chopin, Sonata No. 2, Op. 35, III (Bb minor, with trio in Db major); Mahler, Symphony No. 5, I.
- Wedding march: Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1842); Wagner, bridal chorus from Lohengrin.
- Triumphal opera march: Verdi, Aida (1871), with the Egyptian trumpets.
- Concert march: Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 (1901), with the trio that would become “Land of Hope and Glory”; Berlioz, March to the Scaffold from the Symphonie fantastique; Prokofiev, March from The Love for Three Oranges.
- March in irregular meter: Holst, Mars from The Planets (5/4 with ostinato).
- Film march: John Williams, “Raiders March” (Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981) and “The Imperial March” (The Empire Strikes Back, 1980): the latter uses the dotted rhythm and, over a G pedal, the alternation of the G minor triad with a chromatic Eb minor triad to evoke menace.
Writing characteristics
- Bass: tonic and dominant alternating on the strong beats (tuba, bass trombones, bass drum).
- Accompaniment: chords on the weak beats (horns, clarinets, snare drum).
- Melody: trumpets, cornets, clarinets; wide leaps of fourths and fifths (“fanfare” intervals, based on the harmonic series of natural brass instruments).
- Countermelodies: trombones and euphonium in the middle register; piccolo above in the finale.
- Percussion: bass drum on 1 (and on 3 in 4/4), cymbals on 1, snare drum with rolls and dotted figures.
For a producer
The structure strain 1 – strain 2 – trio in IV – break – grandioso trio is an excellent model for epic or trailer tracks: the trio on the subdominant gives a sense of “opening up” and nobility; the break is a dramatic breakdown; the grandioso is the final drop with a high countermelody. In sound design: snare with a short hall reverb (1–1.5 s), orchestral bass drum with lows around 50–70 Hz, brass with a cut below 80 Hz so as not to clash with the tuba.
Related
Rhythm: meter, subdivision, half-time and double-time, Orchestration: families, ranges and blends, Bernstein: what is orchestration (Sousa), Binary, ternary and AABA form.