Seventy-Six Trombones

Last updated

"Seventy-Six Trombones" is a show tune and the signature song from the 1957 musical The Music Man , by Meredith Willson, a film of the same name in 1962 and a made-for-TV movie in 2003. The piece is commonly played by marching bands, military bands, and orchestras. [1] [2]

Contents

In The Music Man

In the musical, it is the primary sales pitch for a boy's band, sung by "Professor" Harold Hill. [3] Hill uses the song to help the townspeople of River City, Iowa visualize their children playing in a marching band by claiming to recall a time when he saw several famous bandleaders' bands in a combined performance. While an average-sized high school marching band might have about 10 musicians playing the trombone, and a large college marching band seldom has more than 30 trombonists, the band that Harold Hill describes to the citizens includes 76 trombones, 110 cornets, "more than a thousand reeds", double bell euphoniums, and "fifty mounted cannon" (which were popular in bands of the late 19th century). The song's opening lines are:

Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand ...

The love ballad "Goodnight My Someone", which immediately precedes "Seventy-Six Trombones" in the musical, has the same tune but is played in 3/4 time at a slower tempo. At the end of the musical, lines from "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Goodnight My Someone" are sung in alternation with each other. [3] This technique is used in opera, but was unknown in Broadway musicals. [3]

Notable performances

Homages

In Willson's hometown of Mason City, Iowa, the song is honored (along with the whole plot of The Music Man) in a building called "Music Man Square", which is located next to Willson's boyhood home. [9] In one large room, there are 76 donated trombones hanging from the ceiling.

In Chile, the instrumental march version (with Leroy Anderson's orchestration) was used as a theme song for radio Portales news show La Revista de Portales. It was used because of an earlier use on the news show La bitácora en Portales. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fats Waller</span> American jazz pianist and composer (1904–1943)

Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999.

<i>The Music Man</i> 1957 stage musical by Meredith Willson

The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naïve Midwestern townsfolk, promising to train the members of the new band. Harold is no musician, however, and plans to skip town without giving any music lessons. Prim librarian and piano teacher Marian sees through him, but when Harold helps her younger brother overcome his lisp and social awkwardness, Marian begins to fall in love with him. He risks being caught to win her heart.

76 (seventy-six) is the natural number following 75 and preceding 77.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meredith Willson</span> American composer, conductor, musical arranger, and bandleader (1902–1984)

Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson was an American flautist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 1957 hit Broadway musical The Music Man and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (1951). Willson wrote three other musicals, two of which appeared on Broadway, and composed symphonies and popular songs. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards for film scores.

Music Man may refer to:

In music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repeated section, such as is indicated by beginning and ending repeat signs.

"Till There Was You" is a show tune written by Meredith Willson, popularised by his 1957 stage production The Music Man and its 1962 movie musical adaptation, and further popularised by the Beatles cover.

English Folk Song Suite is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for the military band as Folk Song Suite and its premiere was given at Kneller Hall on 4 July 1923, conducted by Lt Hector Adkins. The piece was then arranged for full orchestra in 1924 by Vaughan Williams' student Gordon Jacob and published as English Folk Song Suite. The piece was later arranged for British-style brass band in 1956 by Frank Wright and published as English Folk Songs Suite. All three versions were published by Boosey & Hawkes; note the use of three different titles for the three different versions. The suite uses the melodies of nine English folk songs, six of which were drawn from the collection made by Vaughan Williams’ friend and colleague Cecil Sharp.

"You're Just in Love" is a popular song by Irving Berlin. It was published in 1950 and was first performed by Ethel Merman and Russell Nype in Call Me Madam, a musical comedy that made its debut at the Imperial Theatre in New York City on October 12 that year. The show ran for 644 performances. Ethel Merman also later starred in the 1953 film version, with Donald O'Connor.

<i>The Music Man</i> (1962 film) American musical film by Morton DaCosta

The Music Man is a 1962 American musical film directed and produced by Morton DaCosta, based on Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which DaCosta also directed. Robert Preston reprises the title role from the stage version, starring alongside Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Ronny Howard, and Paul Ford.

Nadine Dana Suesse was an American musician, composer and lyricist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brass band</span> Musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments

A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands, but may be more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, or "brass and reed" bands.

<i>The Music Man</i> (2003 film) 2003 American television film directed by Jeff Bleckner

The Music Man is a 2003 American made-for-television musical film directed by Jeff Bleckner with a teleplay by Sally Robinson. It is based on the 1957 musical of the same name by Meredith Willson, which in turn was based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth and features David Aaron Baker, Debra Monk, Victor Garber, and Molly Shannon. It was originally broadcast on ABC on February 16, 2003, as the eleventh episode of the forty-seventh season of The Wonderful World of Disney.

The "Iowa Fight Song" is one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band along with "On Iowa" and "Roll Along Iowa". The music and lyrics were written by Iowa native Meredith Willson, also author of The Music Man, in 1950. The song is mostly a contrafact to his hit, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," much in the same way that "76 Trombones" and "Goodnight, My Someone" from The Music Man are based on the same harmonic structure.

<i>Heres Love</i> Musical by Meredith Willson

Here's Love is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson. Per the Meredith Willson Estate and the show's licensing agent, Music Theatre International, the show has subsequently been retitled Miracle on 34th Street - The Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band</span> College marching band in Ames, Iowa

The Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band is the marching band of Iowa State University. Composed of two ensembles, the Iowa State University Cyclone Football 'Varsity" Marching Band (ISUCF'V'MB) and State Storm, the band performs in support of the Iowa State Cyclones football team at all home games and at some away games versus Big 12 Conference rivals. Nicknamed the "Pride of Iowa State", the "Best of the Midwest", and the "Varsity Band," the band plays at high school band festivals, indoor concerts, and post-season bowl games.

"Ya Got Trouble" is a patter song by Meredith Willson from the 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man, and its 1962 filmed version. It is one of the most popular and recognizable songs in the musical, and Robert Preston's performance in the film is admired. Willson considered eliminating a long piece of dialogue from his draft of The Music Man about the serious trouble facing River City parents. However, he realized it sounded like a lyric and transformed it into "Ya Got Trouble".

<i>1491</i> (musical) American musical

1491 is a musical centered around Christopher Columbus before his voyage to discover the New World. Music and lyrics are by American composer and playwright Meredith Willson. It was Willson's final musical. The book was by Willson and Richard Morris with additional material by Ira Barmak, and was based on an idea by Ed Ainsworth, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

<i>The Music Man</i> (album) 1958 studio album by Jimmy Giuffre

The Music Man is an album by American jazz composer and arranger Jimmy Giuffre featuring tunes from Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical, The Music Man which was released on the Atlantic label in February 1958.

Patrick Conway was a prominent American bandleader during the golden era of professional bands. He often was referred to as Pat Conway or Patsy Conway.

References

  1. ↑ Allen, Ira R. - '76 Trombones' for (Ronald) Reagan, 76 February 6, 1987
  2. ↑ McNary, Sharon - The Big Challenges Facing What May Be This Rose Parade's Most Unusual Marching Band. LAist- Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), December 30, 2021
  3. 1 2 3 Nachman, Gerald. Showstoppers! The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway's Most Remarkable Songs. United States: Chicago Review Press, 2016.
  4. ↑ Gramophone. United Kingdom: General Gramophone Publications Limited, 1981.
  5. ↑ Marches in Hi-Fi at AllMusic
  6. ↑ Our Man in Hollywood at AllMusic
  7. ↑ Radio Times 14 November 1982
  8. ↑ Juregensen, John - A Maestro for the Masses. Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2010
  9. ↑ Mergen, Melanie - Mason City's Music Man Square to throw birthday bash for Meredith Willson. Globe-Gazette, May 11, 2021
  10. ↑ Radio Portales de Santiago. Spanish Language Wikipedia
  11. ↑ Dik Voormekaar – De Dik Voormekaar Show, Label: CNR – 540.019 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo Country: Netherlands Released: 1975 Genre: Non-Music, Pop Style: Comedy
  12. ↑ Jones, Kent - Review: Bernie. Filmcomment, April 26, 2012
  13. ↑ Coyle, Jake - Movie Review:Bernie Delco Times, April 26, 2012
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.