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Formation | 1980 |
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Type | Non-profit foundation |
Headquarters | Lafayette, IN, United States |
President & CEO | Lowell E. Graham |
Key people |
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Revenue | $91,026 [1] (2015) |
Expenses | $89,745 [1] (2015) |
Website | www.sousafoundation.net |
The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of band music internationally. The foundation administers a number of projects and awards supporting high quality band performance, conducting, and composition.
The foundation is named for John Philip Sousa, a prominent composer of American band music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Successor to the Sousa Memorial Committee, the organization was reorganized as the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1980 with support from Louis Sudler, a Chicago real estate developer and arts patron for whom many of the foundation's awards are named. [2] [3]
Projects of the Sousa Foundation include funding for the main stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., honor bands, conducting competitions, awards for outstanding performing ensembles, and bringing attention to historic sites in band history. Many of the foundation's awards are funded through an endowment from Louis and Virginia Sudler, and are collectively known as the "Louis Sudler Awards of Merit".
Founded in 1981, the Sousa National High School Honors Band is an ensemble made up of roughly 100 high school junior and senior musicians, selected from the top applicants worldwide. The band performs semi-regularly at a variety of locations around the United States.
The Sudler Flag of Honor is an award bestowed to identify, recognize and honor high school band programs internationally that have demonstrated particularly significant high standards of excellence in concert activities over a period of several years. No school may win the award twice under the same director. The official description of a deserving band is:
The band must have achieved and maintained a high standard of excellence in the concert area over a period of several years. The concert band will have placed itself in situations where there has been opportunity for evaluation by qualified persons or has been rated "superior" at state, regional, or national levels in concert activities. The band program must offer its participants a complete and balanced program of musical activities including concert, solo, ensemble, and marching areas. The band should have performed at regional, state, national, and professional meetings of significance. These can include but are not limited to state music conventions, regional or national MENC meetings, and state or national band association conventions. The director must have been incumbent in his/her position for at least seven years, including the current year. A number of the students in the band should have participated in district and all-state honor bands or similar all-area groups. [4]
The Sudler Flag of Honor is typically considered to be the highest award a high school band can achieve. Sudler Flag laureate bands are automatically included on the Historic Roll of Honor. The following are the recipients of the Sudler Flag since its inception in 1983: [4]
The Sudler Cup is an award bestowed to identify, recognize and honor junior high and middle school concert band programs that have demonstrated particularly significant high standards of excellence in concert activities over a period of several years. The official description of a deserving band is:
The band must have achieved and maintained a high standard of literature in the concert area over a period of several years. The concert band will have placed itself in situations where there has been opportunity for evaluation by qualified persons or has been rated "superior" at state, regional, or national levels in concert activities. The band should have performed at regional, state, national, and professional meetings of significance. These can include but are not limited to state music conventions, regional or national MENC meetings, and state or national band association conventions. The director must have been incumbent in his/her position for at least seven years, including the current year. A number of the students in the band should have participated in district and all-state honor bands or similar all-area groups. The total program of music should exemplify what is considered a sound viable, music education program for this level of endeavor. [5]
The following are the recipients of the Sudler Cup since its inception in 1985: [5]
The Sudler Trophy is an award bestowed on one university marching band. It was awarded annually from 1982 to 2007 and biannually since then. Described by a Los Angeles Times reporter as "[t]he Heisman Trophy of the collegiate band world", [6] the award does not represent the winner of any championship, but rather a band surrounded by great tradition that has become respected nationally. No school may be honored with the award twice. According to the official description of the trophy:
The purpose of the Sudler Trophy is to identify and recognize collegiate marching bands of particular excellence who have made outstanding contributions to the American way of life. The Sudler Trophy is awarded annually to a college or university marching band which has demonstrated the highest musical standards and innovative marching routines and ideas, and which has made important contributions to the advancement of the performance standards of college marching bands over a period of years.
The trophy measures exactly 22.5 inches (57 cm) from the base to the tip of the drum major's mace; precisely the size of a standard 8 to 5 step in marching. [7] [8]
The following are the recipients of the Sudler Trophy since its inception in 1982: [7]
The Sudler Shield recognizes outstanding high school marching bands.
The following are the recipients of the Sudler Shield: [9]
The Sudler Scroll recognizes and honors those community bands that have demonstrated particularly high standards of excellence in concert activities over a period of several years, and which have played a significant and leading role in the cultural and musical environment in their respective communities.
Those community concert bands which have won the award include: [10]
The Sudler International Composition Competition is a biennial competition for wind band composition.
The following are the winners of the competition since its inception in 1983:
Year | Composition | Composer |
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1983 | Concerto for Wind Ensemble | Karel Husa |
1985 | Winds of Nagual | Michael Colgrass |
1987 | Piece of Mind | Dana Wilson |
1989 | Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings" | Johan de Meij |
1991 | American Games | Nicholas Maw |
1993 | Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H) | Ron Nelson |
1997 | Dance Movements | Philip Sparke |
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford. Among Sousa's best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever", "Semper Fidelis", "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", and "The Washington Post".
A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of instruments, and occasionally including the harp, double bass, or bass guitar. On rare occasions, additional, non-traditional instruments may be added to such ensembles such as piano, synthesizer, or electric guitar.
Frederick Fennell was an American conductor and one of the primary figures who promoted the Eastman Wind Ensemble as a performing group. He was also influential as a band pedagogue, and greatly affected the field of music education in the US and abroad. In Fennell's New York Times obituary, colleague Jerry F. Junkin was quoted as saying "He was arguably the most famous band conductor since John Philip Sousa."
The Woodlands High School is a public high school located in The Woodlands CDP in Montgomery County, Texas, and is a part of the Conroe Independent School District. A section of the Montgomery County portion of The Woodlands and unincorporated areas south of the city of Conroe are served by The Woodlands High School. In 2019, the school received an A grade from the Texas Education Agency.
John Hersey High School is a four-year public high school located in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago in the United States. It enrolls students from Arlington Heights as well as parts of Prospect Heights and Mount Prospect. The attendance zone also includes small portions of Des Plaines and Glenview which lack residents. Named after American writer John Hersey, it is part of Township High School District 214 which also includes Buffalo Grove High School, Elk Grove High School, Prospect High School, Rolling Meadows High School, and Wheeling High School.
[James] Clifton Williams, Jr. was an American composer, pianist, French hornist, mellophonist, music theorist, conductor, and teacher. Williams was known by symphony patrons as a virtuoso French hornist with the symphony orchestras of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houston, Oklahoma City, Austin, and San Antonio. The young composer was honored with performances of Peace, A Tone Poem and A Southwestern Overture by the Houston and Oklahoma City symphony orchestras, respectively. He remains widely known as one of America's accomplished composers for the wind ensemble and band repertory.
David Rex Holsinger is an American composer and conductor writing primarily for concert band. Holsinger is a graduate of Hardin-Central High School in Hardin, Missouri, Central Methodist University, the University of Central Missouri, and the University of Kansas.
Marian Catholic High School is a co-educational secondary school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
Lafayette High School is a public high school in Lexington, Kentucky that has been open for 85 years, seen the beginning of racially-desegregated education in the city, and been overseen by at least nine principals.
Dr. Ralph H. Poteet High School is located at 3300 Poteet Drive in Mesquite, in the U.S. state of Texas. It opened in 1986 and is named for a former school superintendent, Dr. Ralph H. Poteet. It is the fourth high school built by the Mesquite Independent School District.
Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas, United States is located on the west side of El Paso near the intersection of North Mesa Street and Resler Drive. It serves the southern part of west El Paso: east of Interstate 10, from the vicinity of Executive Center Boulevard north approximately three miles to around Coronado Arroyo, a normally dry stream bed running west down from the Franklin Mountains just north of Escondido Drive; and the portion of the Upper Valley which lies south of Country Club Road. Most of the Coronado attendance zone is zoned to Morehead Middle School for grades six to eight. The elementary schools in the Coronado feeder pattern include Dr. Green, L.B Johnson, Putnam, Carlos Rivera, Western Hills, and Zach White. The Upper Valley portion of the Coronado attendance area is zoned to Zach White Elementary and Lincoln Middle School, except for the Buena Vista neighborhood around Interstate 10 and West Paisano Drive, which is zoned to Johnson and Morehead. Dr. Green, L.B Johnson, Putnam, Carlos Rivera and Western Hills elementary schools all graduate into Morehead Middle School.
Dr. Timothy Brett Rhea is director of bands and music activities at Texas A&M University. As director of bands, he leads the university band program, serves as conductor of the Texas A&M Wind Symphony, and coordinates the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band marching band. As director of music activities, he administratively oversees the activities of the jazz, orchestra, and choral programs. Rhea also served as the 79th president of the American Bandmasters Association from 2016-2017.
The Mountaineer Marching Band, known as The Pride of West Virginia, is the marching band of West Virginia University located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The band was awarded the prestigious Sudler Trophy by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1997.
The Band of Pride (BOP) is the official marching band which represents Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. The Band of Pride performs pregame and during halftime at all Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football games, and travels to select road football games. Auditions are held throughout the academic year as scheduled for the upcoming Fall Quarter.
The Northshore Concert Band (NCB) is a 100-member concert band based in Evanston, Illinois which performs throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.
Jerry Junkin is an American conductor of wind bands and educator. Junkin serves on the faculty of the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. He conducts the University of Texas Wind Ensemble and instructs graduate as well as undergraduate conducting courses. Additionally, Junkin has served as the conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony since 1993.
Donald Earnest Caneva was an American internationally renowned, third generation band director, conductor, music editor, festival founder and band music educator.
The East Winds Symphonic Band (EWSB) is a community concert band based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1981, the band's membership includes more than 80 amateur, volunteer musicians from the greater Pittsburgh area. The band has performed at national conventions of the Association of Concert Bands (ACB) as well as annual local concerts at the historic Rodef Shalom Congregation, Kennywood Park's Celebrate America series, and as part of the Three Rivers Community Band Festival.