Abstract
The purpose of this study is to construct a concise historical narrative of the development and characteristics of African American styles of marching band. While some extant research studies have been published in this area of study, the focus has been primarily on individual exemplary teachers or university band programs. In this article, much of the available published and unpublished scholarly work was reviewed for synthesis into narrative form. Unique style characteristics of African American marching bands are identified and tied to historical developments. The author proposes that African American styles of marching band be examined as an art form through the lens of historicultural research.
Introduction
It is a reality that various styles of marching bands exist. Those who work in the marching band milieu are familiar with style designations such as “traditional,” “corps,” “military,” “Big Ten,” “scramble,” “precision,” and more. Descriptive analyses have been undertaken to define some of these specific styles. 1 Marching band styles are often differentiated by repertoire, qualities of sound, and visual appearance. Furthermore, marching band styles seem to exist as artifacts related to two specific factors: relation to a geographical region 2 and the racial population of the band program and school. The first factor may be linked to the styles of marching band practiced at the colleges that the majority of band directors in a region attend; the second is, in America, a result of a history of racially segregated schools and colleges.
Of all the styles of American marching bands, two are prominently found in schools that are either predominantly white or historically black. 3 In predominantly white communities, marching bands tend to be “corps”-style ensembles. 4 These ensembles tend to march with a “roll step,” use “slide” techniques to keep instruments toward the sidelines, program a repertoire of original, concert, or orchestral works, and perform “competition shows” with a primary focus on improving weekly and a goal of giving the best performances at festivals or contests. Various appellations have been assigned to the styles found in predominantly black schools: for instance, “traditional,” “precision,” and “show bands.” 5 By contrast, these bands often utilize “high step” (or “chair step”), perform flanks and facings that aim their instruments in various directions on the field, program a repertoire of both classic band music and popular works, incorporate dance routines into drill formations, and perform halftime shows with the primary goal of entertainment (though a competitive spirit is associated with this tradition as well). A spectator at a football game, upon seeing one of each style of marching band may wonder: “Why are the bands different?”
While the marching band’s history transcends a single culture, the development of the style of marching bands commonly observed in historically black schools is an American phenomenon occurring within the last 200 years as a result of historical events and cultural ingenuity. The contributions of African American performers and pedagogues to American music education are quite significant, yet research and written histories—especially in the area of marching bands—remains underrepresented. 6 D. Antoinette Handy’s Black Conductors 7 is a scholarly work that features profiles of nearly one hundred African American conductors and music educators, and a number of extant journal articles, books, and dissertations address the histories of the band programs of specific historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the band directors who established traditions of excellence in those programs. 8 A small number of studies have examined high school band programs in the era of racial segregation. 9 All of these publications provide varying degrees of background on the development of African American music education, band programs, teachers, performers, and marching bands, yet none provide a concise historical narrative. Historical research regarding white band directors and primarily white band programs has been conducted with high frequency. 10 By comparison, there seems to be a literature gap in historical narrative related to the development of African American marching band programs. 11 An unpublished thesis by William Dukes Lewis 12 seems to be the closest document that develops a narrative history of African American marching bands, yet there seems to be little or no critical examination of the characteristics of the style. Because much previous scholarly work has documented the historical development of band as a product of predominantly white institutions, this article will not revisit previously published work. Instead, it will attempt to elucidate the story of band as an African American phenomenon, developing concurrently with, often separately from, and sometimes intersecting with white culture.
Narrative is utilized in this study in the manner of previous research in the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and journalism as “both a phenomenon to be studied and a method of inquiry.” 13 As a “phenomenon to be studied,” a narrative forms a story that provides “a fundamental way people learn about themselves and their culture” while stressing “the particularity of circumstances.” 14 As a mode of inquiry, a narrative “focuses on ways people make sense of their experiences and construct their identities” and it seeks to encourage the reader to “ask questions about important educational issues,” especially that which “has been previously taken for granted” in order to foster a “reconstruction of the reader’s value system.” 15 It is especially a goal of this study to encourage the “reconstruction” of value systems by examining the style of marching bands found in historically black schools historiculturally—as a product of both the consequences of history and the creative impulse of culture.
The purposes of this study are to construct a concise historical narrative of the development and characteristics of the style of marching band found in historically black American schools, and to undertake a critical examination of those characteristics. In establishing a narrative, this study seeks to (1) identify characteristics idiosyncratic to historically black marching bands and (2) to interpret them as unique facets of performance practice. Characteristics identified in this study specific to the style of African American marching bands include a unique ensemble sound, a commingling of military and modern styles in drill and musical repertoire, distinctive marching fundamentals, dancing, an “informal” competitive spirit, and a proposed African aesthetic of Angularity and Asymmetry. Additionally, this study asserts that characteristics unique to African American marching bands are the result of both historical influence and cultural ingenuity, acknowledging that segregation contributed to the noticeable differences between the marching bands of African American and primarily white schools.
To distill a historical narrative from the established literature, information was drawn from journal articles, dissertations, and books, many of which utilize oral histories as a resource. Though limited scholarship has been published regarding this topic, this study will attempt to construct a historical narrative from available disparate sources. Based on the dearth of scholarly research into this specific area, this study constitutes a corrective effort to enrich the profession’s understanding of African American marching bands.
Historical Narrative
Beginnings: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
There are few records of bands in America prior to the American Revolution. 16 Further, there is little information concerning how the earliest enslaved Africans in America began to learn to play the European instruments of the white settlers. 17 Interestingly, some of the earliest reports of enslaved black persons who were musicians come from records of warrants for escaped persons. 18 A 1757 report from the State of Virginia describes a man named Charles Love as a “singer, violinist, and hautboisist” who was being pursued “for running away from Phillip Ludwell Lee with . . . a very good bassoon.” 19 Of interest to the topic at hand, it is worth noting that there is a history in British military bands, pre-dating the American colonies, of “Janizary bands” that were composed of black musicians. 20
Eileen Southern suggests a system of “secondhand learning” whereby enslaved people had access to instruments and music instruction because of their relationship with their master. 21 Southern proposed another facet of “secondhand learning” in which the “benevolent” or “humane master” might allow some of his enslaved persons to be formally trained in music. 22 Finally, Southern suggests that some truly, naturally gifted African American musicians were autodidacts—that is, they were self-taught. 23 The possibility is strong that many black musicians of early America were self-taught; how they acquired instruments to play—whether through the “goodwill of their master” or by other means—remains unclear. Eventually the military, and later public schools, would provide a system of formalized music education for all students, but in early America the prospects for music training were limited to white persons of sufficient privilege and enslaved persons who were either allowed by their masters to study or who had the ability to teach themselves.
Black men were participating in military marching bands well before the American Revolution 24 and although military records did not typically include the races of servicemen, 25 individual black musicians have been identified in American military bands as early as 1723. 26
In 1738 the Virginia Legislature required freed mulattos, blacks, and Native Americans to avail themselves to militias, though they were not allowed to train with or carry weapons because of fears of uprisings against local whites. 27 This left only a few options for service, which included pioneering, or “grunt work” such as digging ditches and moving equipment, administrative work (which excluded many minorities because it often required the ability to read), or serving as a musician. 28 In place of serving in combat, many black, mulatto, and Native American men were permitted to serve as drummers and fifers. 29 Participation in military bands may have served as a “first wave” of music education for African American men.
Beginning in the early nineteenth century, brass bands began to spring up across the country, 30 with New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans especially serving as early centers of activity. 31 Professional and amateur brass bands composed of African American musicians became common, many of which were staffed by former members of US military bands. Eileen Southern has asserted that the emergence of all-black brass bands was at least partially due to the musical training African Americans received in military bands during the War of 1812. 32 One of the prestigious African American brass band leaders during this period was Francis (“Frank”) Johnson, who led one of the most popular all-black brass bands in the country. Johnson led both professional and military brass bands that toured and performed at events ranging from parades to ballroom dances. Johnson’s professional bands were designed to be flexible ensembles with the ability to adapt to indoor and outdoor performances, demanding professional musicians who were able to perform multiple times per day, switching from brass or percussion to string instruments. 33 Johnson’s bands regularly faced racial discrimination. He reported multiple occurrences of all-white bands refusing to march in the same parades as his bands. 34 Other all-black brass bands that existed during this time were Matt Black’s “All-Negro Marching Band” of Philadelphia, founded in 1818, and Dixon’s Brass Band of Newburgh, New York, founded in 1827. 35
In 1838, the New Orleans Picayune reported “a real mania in this city for horn and trumpet playing” and that one could not turn a corner without running into a “horn blower.” 36 Important to note about New Orleans brass bands is that one of their most common functions was marching, and that rather than serving the purposes of a military, the marching bands of New Orleans provided entertainment. 37 It was a New Orleans tradition that benevolent societies and fraternal orders sponsored marching bands. Often, these sponsorships were undertaken in order to increase awareness of and to raise funds for philanthropic causes or simply to provide entertainment for social events. 38 Many of the benevolent societies in post–Civil War New Orleans were founded in order to provide assistance in the form of medical care, education, housing, and funeral arrangements for newly freed, former slaves. 39 The benevolent society bands were tasked with providing music for funerals, a ritual that evolved into the jazz funeral. 40
A division of all-black and all-white bands emerged by the late nineteenth century, not only as a result of the missions of the benevolent societies, but as a result of the deeply segregated culture of New Orleans. 41 It is the specific circumstances germane to late nineteenth-century New Orleans—the popularity of brass bands, demand for parades and outdoor performances, the arrival of ex-military bandsmen and affordable instruments, the sponsorship of benevolent societies and fraternal orders, and racial segregation—that resulted in an established tradition of all-black marching bands associated with the city. New Orleans had (and still has) 42 robust participation of African American musicians in brass bands, and the city’s cultural construction has historically allowed for numerous performances in the form of parades, outdoor concerts, and festivals. 43
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the black people of New Orleans were divided into two classes: the “Uptown” people of mixed race and the “Downtown” people of African heritage. 44 Besides differences in skin color (the “Uptown” people were light-skinned because of their mixed ethnicity while the “Downtown” people had dark skin because of their African ethnicity), these divisions of black people were caste-like and segregated. Many “Uptown” musicians received European music training while the “Downtown” musicians exhibited a tradition of either “secondhand” or autodidactic music training. As a result, bands from the segregated neighborhoods had different musical styles, sounds, and influences. However, in the era of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War, new racial norms in New Orleans would class all African Americans the same. “Uptown” Creoles lost many of their former social rights, resulting in greater interaction with “Downtown” people. Jacqui Malone 45 and Leroi Jones 46 credit this commingling for creating a new brass band sound that combined the refinement of European training with the tone quality and styles of the self-taught musician. Jones posited that the convergence of musical cultures had extended influence into the twentieth century: “This merger of stylisms brought about a gradual change in the black brass band sound; an admixture of the African and the European, which remains today, with the sounds of the Black college, university and community bands.” 47 At the close of the Civil War, ex-military musicians 48 settled across the country and played a role in establishing what has been called a “Golden Age” for American bands. 49 African American military men were certainly among this number. 50 Along with the band’s “Golden Age” came greater exposure for African American musicians, both amateur 51 and professional. 52 Continuing a trend from the earlier half of the nineteenth century, African American bands especially flourished in New Orleans. 53 Benevolent societies continued to sponsor bands, especially amateur bands that included members of boys’ homes, orphanages, or fraternal orders. Through their participation in parades, many of these bands managed to raise money for their sponsoring society. 54 Some of New Orleans’s great jazz musicians got their early musical training in the amateur bands. 55 An example is that of Louis Armstrong, who performed with the Colored Waif’s Home band in many parades during his youth. 56
There was fierce competition between the bands of different societies and fraternal orders who, after performing at public events such as a parade, would often meet each other for musical competitions that they called “cutting matches.” 57 Music historian John Rublowsky described a “cutting match” as a “musical free-for-all in which bands would try to outdo each other in volume of sound.” 58 It was considered a “mark of shame” to play the same tune twice, which required musicians and band leaders to acquire skills in arranging and improvisation. 59
Minstrel Shows and Parades
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, African American musicians began performing widely in minstrel shows. For most of the nineteenth century, traveling minstrel shows were one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States. Initially these shows, which included instrumental music, singing, dancing, comedy, acting, and other forms of entertaining such as juggling or acrobatic feats, were performed strictly by white performers. To impersonate black persons, the white performers donned what is known as “black face”—that is, black makeup on most of the face except for the areas around the eyes and mouth. So deep was the association of blackface performance with minstrel shows that it was expected by the paying audience members, who usually happened to be white. 60
Around 1840, a small number of black-owned minstrel troupes with all-black performers began to appear. 61 Employment in these traveling shows provided a good income for professional black musicians, some of whom, such as “The Father of the Blues” W.C. Handy, had come from professional military bands. 62 Handy writes in his 1947 autobiography Father of the Blues that he joined Mahara’s Minstrels in 1896 and eventually was promoted to bandleader of the forty-two musicians in the company. 63 Other celebrated African American entertainers who emerged from the minstrel shows include Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. 64
The minstrel shows performed at night, and during the day a parade served as the major advertisement for the show, 65 proceeding through town and led by its premiere showman, the drum major. The drum major would be doing anything to attract attention, including spinning a baton and dancing, and often the drum major was dressed in an altered version of a military band uniform that might include an extra tall plume on the hat or tails on the jacket. 66 The band would move through town and stop at a point such as the town square where the largest crowd could be gathered. Once there, the band would perform standard military marches, popular works of composers such as Sousa, and the popular dance songs of the day. 67 The band, clad in uniforms and accompanied by the ostentatious drum major, would offer another concert of similar music outside of the performance venue before the show began. For the show, many of the musicians would put away “marching horns” to play violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and piano in the “pit orchestra” of the show. 68 Thus, the musical requirements were quite demanding for the performers, and it can be surmised that the best professionals were highly skilled.
W.C. Handy described a typical parade for the Mahara’s Minstrels Troupe: The parade itself was headed by the managers in their four-horse carriages. . . . They in turn were followed by the drum major—not an ordinary drum major beating time for a band, mind you, but a performer out of the books, an artist with the baton. His twirling stick suggested a bicycle wheel revolving in the sun. Occasionally he would give it a toss and then recover the glistening affair with the same flawless skill. The drum major in a minstrel show was a character to conjure with; not infrequently he stole the parade! Our company had two such virtuosi; in addition to twirling their batons, they added the new wrinkle of tossing them back and forth to each other as they marched.
69
When considering the effects of minstrelsy on modern African American bands, several interesting points come to light. First, it is worthwhile to recognize the expectations of the nineteenth-century American minstrel performer that were consistent with that of the minstrel of the Middle Ages: fluency on multiple instruments and ability to sing, dance, and entertain. Second, it is possible to note similarities between the minstrel bands and the modern bands of primarily African American schools and communities. These similarities include dancing, entertaining performance techniques such as baton twirling for the drum majors, and repertoire that consists of both “classic” band works (especially marches) and popular music. Possibly the most enduring contribution of the minstrel shows was the exposure to African American styles of music to disparate regions of the country.
The Twentieth Century: College and Professional Bands
W. C. Handy became the band director at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1900. 70 His appointment as band director at Alabama A&M was significant in that it marked the entry of musicians trained in military and minstrel bands into the faculty of segregated black institutions. Mahara’s Minstrels cornetist James Wilson followed Handy as band director at Alabama A&M (1903–1951). Major Nathaniel Clark Smith was appointed music director at the Tuskegee Institute (1907–1917) and was followed at Tuskegee by Captain Frank Drye (1918–1931). 71 Handy believed that part of his mission at Alabama A&M was “fighting for American music” and noted “an unwritten law against American music” in colleges. 72 Though Handy may not have been the first to do so, his efforts in support of “American music” (or what David Blanke has called “vernacular arrangements”) represented the introduction of popular styles, specifically the music of African Americans, into the repertory of college bands. 73 He described a band concert at Alabama A&M in which a ragtime piece entitled “My Ragtime Baby” 74 was programed under a “classical” sounding name (“Greetings to Toussaint L’Ouverture”), receiving ovations and a request by the school’s president to be heard again. 75
Two events of the early twentieth century effected the proliferation and prominence of African American musicians in American band culture. The first was a wave of African American migration northward in search of better employment and an escape from the oppression of the Jim Crow South. Musicians were part of this migration, and many of them gained employment in the north’s best-known performance venues. 76 This migration provided further opportunity to bring African American music and musicians to a wider audience. The second event was American participation in World War I, an impetus for the multiplication of military band units. Consequently, the formal training provided by the US military music schools would elevate the musicianship of its band members. 77
Some of the bandleaders who moved north, leaving the minstrel shows and brass bands for the clubs and ballrooms of New York, were selected to lead professional military bands. 78 One example is that of James Reese Europe. 79 In 1916 Colonel William Hayward organized the 15th Infantry Regiment of the National Guard, a “Colored” unit that specifically targeted young black men from New York’s Harlem district. Seeking to recruit members and to raise money for his unit, Colonel Hayward recruited James Reese Europe to train and lead a band for the regiment. At the time, Europe was the leader of the jazz orchestra at New York’s Tempo Club. Europe recruited members from the black musical community of New York, and the band—part of the 369th Infantry “Hellfighters”—became famous in Paris, where they were stationed. 80 The “Hellfighters” combined the styles of European brass band and early American jazz, garnering attention for playing standard Western repertoire with syncopated patterns and jazz tonalities (reminiscent of Jelly Roll Morton’s earlier band arrangements of marches that included syncopation, improvisation, and nontraditional harmonies).
Even the characteristic rhythmic and harmonic variations found in African American music seem to have had an impact on the marching and drilling of soldiers. Around the time of World War I, syncopation and melodic “blue notes” were observed in the military cadence-calling of African American drill sergeants, a practice that continues to this day. 81
Novelist Ralph Ellison described his military drilling during World War I as such: A lot has been written about the role of jazz in a certain type of Negro funeral marching, but in Oklahoma City it got into military drill. There were many Negro Veterans from the Spanish-American War who delighted in teaching the younger boys complicated drill patterns, and as we mastered the patterns the jazz feeling would come into it and no one was satisfied until we were swinging. These men who taught us had raised a military discipline to the level of a low art form, almost a dance, and its spirit was jazz.
82
Jacqui Malone expounded on this idea in her examination of dancing and body movements in HBCU marching bands, tracing historical differences between the body movements of black and white marching bands beginning with the minstrel and circus shows and continuing to modern college marching bands. 83
With the rise in popularity of American football, 84 elective curricula, 85 and national performance contests, 86 bands flourished in schools between the 1920s and the 1940s, becoming a source of community pride and school spirit while providing a music education for students. As school bands began to develop, training for band directors was in a similarly nascent state. Once again, music education was affected positively by the end of a war. After World War I, many of the military bandsmen who filled the teaching positions in newly forming school bands were those who received training in the military music schools. 87 Bands had reached national prominence that was unprecedented as school boards provided funding, teachers were trained by either the U.S. military or college music education programs, and schools were scheduling band classes as part of the regularly scheduled day, for credit. 88
A handful of colleges that admitted African American students existed before the First and Second Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Such institutions included Cheyney and Wilberforce Universities and Oberlin College. Colleges for black students were established at a greater frequency after the passage of the Second Morrill Act, which provided more funds for colleges while effectively mandating a “separate but equal” construction of segregated colleges and universities. 89 Many of the new land grant universities established bands, 90 and college marching bands began to develop during the early twentieth century concurrent with the rise of football and the growth of historically black colleges and universities. Tuskegee Institute is believed to have the oldest continually active band at an HBCU, established in 1895. Florida A&M University’s band was begun in 1892, and the band of Alabama A&M—which had W. C. Handy as its first director—was started in 1890. Many of the African American college bands were led either by students or members of the community and often associated with their school’s military training unit. 91 Demand for military band musicians was high in both World War I and II, and at the conclusions of those wars many military musicians returned to school to perform in the band. 92 Especially after World War II, many of the returning military band members were recruited to join the faculties of the HBCUs. 93
One representative exemplary HBCU marching band is the “Marching 100” of Florida A&M University. Started as a marching unit in 1910 with sixteen members group, the band grew to much larger numbers and wide acclaim. FAMU’s revered band director William P. Foster is credited as a pioneer in the HBCU marching band movement for incorporating popular music and dance movements with traditional military precision-style drill. In his autobiography, Foster lists more than thirty innovations to marching band techniques (which he called “pageantry”) that occurred at FAMU, such as double-quick marching and high-stepping. 94 Probably the most prominent feature for which the Marching 100 is known is dancing. 95 By the late twentieth century, the marching bands of HBCUs and predominantly black public schools had developed a distinctive performance tradition of style, different from that of the predominantly white universities and public schools. 96 Extending into current marching band culture, the marching bands of HBCUs are differentiated by characteristics unique to the style including specific ensemble tone qualities, body movement and dance, drill, and repertoire.
The African American Marching Band: Unique Style Characteristics
This brief narrative has traced historical contexts in the nearly two-hundred-year development of styles of marching band found in predominantly African American schools and communities. Significant historical influences in the development of African American styles of marching band include (1) musical training received in the US military bands, (2) a legacy of “secondhand learning” and autodidacticism (self-training) for early African American musicians, (3) minstrel shows of the late nineteenth century, (4) the school band movement of the twentieth century, and (5) segregation and desegregation of American public schools. What these historical influences do not necessarily account for is a large measure of creativity belonging to African American culture, manifesting as syncopated rhythms, “blue notes,” angular body movements, and more. 97 It may be asserted, then, that the characteristics that make African American marching band a unique art form are due to both historical influences and cultural ingenuity. The following list represents some characteristics idiosyncratic to African American marching bands and some discussion of the development of each.
Distinctive Ensemble Sound
As a result of the phenomenon of musical enculturation, it is possible to posit that a specific ensemble sound exists as an aesthetic principle of African American marching bands. Three factors may be identified in making the assertion of a specific, historical, and cultural tone quality: (1) the effects of self-training and “secondhand learning,” (2) conceptual models of ensemble sonority, and (3) emphasis on volume and “bright” tone.
Self-training (or autodidacticism) and “secondhand learning” (outside of a traditional instructional environment, such as lessons) is a consequential factor in the history of African American music. 98 Quantifying the specific effects of self-teaching and informal learning on the art forms in African American music proves a difficult task, though not an impossible one. Taking the case of Louis Armstrong (who seems to have learned informally at best), 99 lines of resulting influence can be established through generations of trumpet players, vocalists, musicians playing various other instruments, and a wide audience of music consumers. Characteristics that are associated with Armstrong’s playing, such as unique vibrato and tone, have been replicated, emulated, and assimilated into the jazz idiom. Armstrong’s musical skills and knowledge were gained through musical enculturation within the social context 100 of New Orleans, and his influence promulgated via the musical enculturation of other musicians. In the same sense, the musical influences of self- or informally taught musicians who developed idiosyncratic styles may very well be promulgated through musical enculturation. If this is the case, it might be possible to make attributions between the tone qualities of brass sections in nineteenth-century brass bands to those of the early jazz bands, and eventually to the marching bands of HBCUs. 101
Another possible factor of enculturation that is reflected in tone quality has to do with singing styles. Eileen Southern suggests that the effects of instrumentalists emulating the human voice could be heard in the “scooping, sliding, whining, growling and falsetto effects” that became common performance practice in jazz, blues, gospel, and vaudeville. 102 While marching bands do not generally provide occasions for soloists to be heard, the context of this characteristic must be viewed as a cultural conception of ensemble sound. Smithsonian archivist Frederic Ramsey asserts that imitation of singing by wind instrumentalists is a characteristic specific to African American culture. 103
It is intuitive that the tone quality of a band will reflect a model conception of sonority. A discerning ear is able to determine if the model of sonority is a gospel choir rather than a symphony orchestra, or a jazz big band rather than a concert band. Looking directly at the history of African American marching bands, if the model for tone quality is the bright sound of a brass band or jazz band, the sound of the ensemble will likely be perceived as “bright.” Recall as well the “cutting sessions” that were so integral to the brass band culture of New Orleans: volume of the band (and the endurance of the players) was considered as important a factor as any in determining which bands “won” the match. Brightness of tone and intensity of volume are often noted as part of the “HBCU sound” though variations in approach exist by region and school. 104
Commingling of military and modern styles in drill and music repertoire
Freamon McNair has detailed the form of a typical HBCU-style halftime show. 105 According to this model, a show inherently includes structural movements composed of both traditional band and popular “Top 40” musical repertoire, as well as both military and corps styles of marching and drill. African American marching bands still typically include military precision drill as part of each show. Because many of the early directors of African American bands came from the military (and because of marching band’s military roots in general), it would seem that military-style drilling, also known as “precision marching,” can be traced to the earliest roots of African American school marching bands. Military precision drill includes block formations and direction changes such as flanks and “about” facings. In the modern “corps style” marching band, these “precision” types of maneuvers are almost extinct, with “slides” favored for directional movement (this keeps the instrument pointing to the front sideline throughout the drill). 106 Marching band drill for an HBCU band might involve symmetrical shapes, high-stepping, flanks, and facings that cause the performer’s instrument to face only the direction in which he or she is marching, and abrupt direction changes that involve the reorientation of the entire body with a spin or “about-face.” The same performance might also include “corps style” marching consisting of asymmetrical shapes, “roll” stepping in which the performers move by rolling from the heel to the toe rather than picking up the foot, and slide moves that keep the horns facing the front sideline. In addition, this same performance might include dance moves.
The repertoire of HBCU bands often includes a wide range of styles. Marches of composers such as John Philip Sousa, Karl King, and Henry Fillmore pay homage to the repertoire of the military bands that were popular when college marching bands were beginning to form—in the “Golden Age of Bands,” approximately 1880–1920. 107 The practice of performing popular music, usually from the “Top 40,” is a staple of HBCU bands both on the field and in the stands. Additionally, musical selections for halftime shows often span across styles and eras within American popular music, extending into masterworks from the Western canon. 108 The combination of elements both old and new are one of the stylistic traits that afford HBCU bands a special appeal. 109 The Miami Herald of December 5, 1964, describes the reaction of an observer at a parade upon seeing the Florida A&M University Marching 100: “It was like John Philip Sousa doing the Watusi.” 110
Distinctive marching fundamentals
“Marching fundamentals” refers to a taxonomy of style that defines body movement in marching band. One consideration of marching fundamentals is style of step, which in “corps style” bands is primarily the “glide” or “roll” step. 111 Many modern college marching bands use a combination of roll or glide step and high step. The step style of HBCUs tends to be almost completely high step. 112 Further, unique horn carriages (the way in which one holds an instrument while marching) and arm movements are added, colloquially described as adding “points” or “angles” to the marching style. 113 The marching fundamentals of the FAMU Marching 100, for example, include extremely fast “high-knee” marching, a step style that is described as “point and drive” (in which the knee is picked up with the same energy with which it is put down), a 180-degree instrument swing to accompany each knee-lift, an “instrument upper-body flash” initiated by fast shifting of the torso when executing horn flashes, horn “swinging” that moves between “points,” and “stopping points” within all moves—points of no movement in every fundamental to give the appearance of “dramatic haltings.” 114
Recalling W. C. Handy’s description of the drum majors of the Mahara’s Minstrels, it could be a possibility that the entertainment traditions of minstrel shows might have factored into the marching fundamentals and popularity of dancing in African American bands. Some work in the area of history of American popular dance has tied the movements of drum majors to styles of dance from the late eighteenth century, 115 and it is interesting to note that the drum major of the 369th Infantry “Hellfighters” was Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, known as the “King of Tap” and immortalized as “Mr. Bojangles” in popular culture. 116 Finally, the “pointed” marching fundamentals of HBCU marching bands may reflect descriptions of the African “aesthetic of Angularity” described by Zora Neale Hurston. 117 It seems possible, then, to make a case for pluralistic influences that shaped the unique style of marching fundamentals in African American marching bands, with cultural aesthetics, minstrel shows, and military training among them.
Dancing
One of the most celebrated aspects of African American marching bands is dancing. Jacqui Malone studied the dancing of the “Marching 100” of Florida A&M University and detailed an exhaustive list of dances. 118 Malone identified Hurston’s “aesthetic of Angularity” as influential upon the band’s dancing: “the hallmarks of the band’s dance routines are angularity, off-centeredness and asymmetry.” 119 It is possible that the influence of a cultural aesthetic played only a small role in the emergence of dance in the halftime shows of African American marching bands. As described by W. C. Handy, the minstrel band parades were certainly highly entertaining performances that included dancing. The brass bands participating in “cutting sessions” and marching parades with the purpose of garnering fame and pride for their organizations or communities likely incorporated body movement. The military bands of James Reese Europe and the African American drill sergeants of World War I infused body movements into their performances. 120 There are numerous possible influences for this characteristic, but it may be that the creativity of individual band directors or band members had the greatest effect. William P. Foster could not recollect when dancing was first established in his band, but noted that it could be that adding dancing to the show was just a singular idea that came about one afternoon in a planning session. 121
“Informal” competitive spirit
Competition, or “cutting,” was described as the practice of brass bands “facing off” in competition in nineteenth-century New Orleans. “Winning” was a subjective notion of audience and performer assessment based on a combination of showmanship, volume produced by the ensemble, varied repertoire, and endurance of the musicians. This practice is somewhat evident today in the “fifth quarter” performances seen at some football games in which bands will take turns playing and dancing to entertaining music of varied repertoire, with emphasis on playing louder and longer than the opposing band. Often, the bands are surrounded by their supporters. This modern-day event is very much reminiscent of the “cutting sessions” described by Rublowsky. 122 Competitiveness is not exclusive to African American marching bands: both “show” and “corps” style bands attend national, state, and local assessments, festivals, and competitions. 123 However, “fifth-quarter” performances and nineteenth century “cutting matches” represent a specific spirit of competitiveness in African American bands that might be called “informal” competition. A spirit of “informal” differs from that of “formal” competitiveness in that the “prize” is esteem and respect for one’s school or community, much more so than the commendations—such as trophies or medals—that accompany victory in a formal competition. 124
African aesthetics of “Angularity” and “Asymmetry”
Zora Neale Hurston asserts the existence of pervasive African aesthetics of Angularity and Asymmetry, which stand in opposition to a Western aesthetic based on symmetry and smoothness. 125 For Hurston, both concepts may be interpreted literally, as she has observed in interior décor of African American homes, in the actual lack of symmetry in African art, or angular body movements in African dance, 126 but also as deliberate techniques to develop juxtaposition of African American art with white, European-centric, American art. 127 African American artists, actors, writers, and musicians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were forced to creatively respond to the expectations of audiences that had been established via the popularity of the minstrel shows and portrayals of African Americans in literature, on stage, and in films. 128 For Hurston, Angularity and Asymmetry were techniques for such a creative response.
Duke Ellington composed music that featured actual asymmetrical phrasing, such as the phrasing of the melody of “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” in which the 32-bar form is structured as 8+9+7+8. 129 The more esoteric version of Angularity is evidenced in his “jungle band” compositions which employed primitivism to “present a more accurate picture of the race by exposing the African roots.” 130 Following the second Morrill Act and the introduction of marching bands to college campuses, bands at the “A&M schools” would over many years begin to assert techniques—both literal and esoteric—of Angularity and Asymmetry through unique interpretation of precision military drill, dancing, repertoire that reflected historical military band roots alongside popular music of the time period, and a competitive spirit punctuated with showmanship.
Seen through Hurston’s perspective, characteristics borne out of aesthetics of Angularity and Asymmetry may serve as a differentiating characteristic in styles of jazz, gospel, and blues when compared to European styles of music. Further, these characteristics could be surmised as a cause of the perceivable differences between the styles of predominantly white marching bands and African American marching bands. Implications for the existence of historical, aesthetic values might better inform perceptions of African American bands inside the field of music education.
Conclusions
Returning to the question that might be asked by a spectator at a football game: “Why are the bands different?” It is possible that the differences are merely cultural—that there is an inherent aesthetic embedded within each. This seems to be an easy answer to a difficult question, and when such an answer is espoused may border on the superfluous at best, and stereotypical at worst. A dehistoricized, cultural explanation (possibly prompting statements such as “They just always swing their music” or “That band plays with soul”) does not do justice to the artistic and musical creativity required in response to the historical reality of segregation. It is the goal of this study to consider both cultural and historical influences on the art form that is African American marching band styles. What can acceptance of a historicultural 131 explanation accomplish? It is hopeful that this type of understanding will lead to an evaluation of the musical, cultural, and educational values that have been imposed by the historically dominant ideology in music education. 132
Three possible areas of future research are recommended as it relates to a historicultural understanding of African American marching bands: (1) an examination of privilege by those trained in the dominant culture of music education; (2) an evaluation of adjudication practices, especially pertinent in secondary level band programs 133 ; and (3) further identification of exemplary programs and teachers in order to continually improve pedagogy, musical, and performance outcomes for bands in the African American marching band tradition.
How might an evaluation of privilege be addressed in the realm of marching band? 134 One possibility is that acknowledging the historicultural characteristics of African American marching bands will result in greater instances of attribution when those characteristics are appropriated by marching bands outside of the tradition. For instance, when “corps” style or college bands of primarily white institutions include dancing in a show, simply attributing the success of such a performance device to the appropriate source educates the students involved, providing them the agency to perform authentically. 135 Additionally, knowledge that leads to attribution allows students to value the previous and current work of others, continuing to “build on predecessors’ contributions” 136 while gaining insight into the historicultural factors that have shaped the style. 137 This type of attribution does not have to happen over the loud speakers at halftime; rather, it is something that must take place between band directors and performers—it is a piece of the teaching process. Examining the development of African American styles of marching band through the lens of historicultural development may lead to a reevaluation of attitudes regarding the aural and visual characteristics that are sometimes misunderstood by those outside of the tradition, making possible an appreciation of the style that is similarly held toward other styles of the marching arts. Research would be welcomed that further develops pedagogical methods for establishing authentic understandings, appreciation, and performances in ensembles.
A more sophisticated understanding of African American marching band style may also benefit adjudicators of school performance assessments. This research proposes that African American bands—specifically in high schools—cultivate a specific sound based on historical events and cultural aesthetics. Further research may improve the rubrics utilized at these assessments, especially when a multiplicity of styles is being assessed at one event. Finally, an increased proliferation of historical research into the exemplary teachers and band programs in the African American marching band tradition may increase awareness of the accomplishments of its exemplars in spite of historic segregation, and possibilities for further achievement. In general, an increased level of respect for the work and performances of African American bands could lead to an appreciation of the musical creativity and pedagogical innovation achieved in spite of tremendous inequalities. It seems that any research and examination toward that end would be beneficial to the music education community.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
1
Detailed descriptions of specific marching band styles can be found in numerous dissertations, journal articles, books, and instruction manuals. The following resources represent only a fraction of the available literature regarding marching band styles: William P. Foster, Band Pageantry: A Guide for the Marching Band (Winona, WI: Hal Leonard Music, 1968); Dale F. Hopper, Corps Style Marching: A Basic Approach to the Development of the Corps Concept for Band (Oskaloosa, IA: C.L. Barnhouse, 1977); Harry C. Patzig, “A Description of the Ten Southeastern Conference Marching Band Programs” (PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 1983); William Raxdale, The Marching Band Director: A Master Planning Guide (Milwaukee, WI: Jenson Publications, 1985); John A. Fuller, “A Descriptive Analysis of the Eleven Big Ten Conference Marching Band Programs” (PhD diss., Ohio State University, 1995), 9–11; Kusbol Gupta, The University of Pennsylvania Band (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006); Wayne Bailey, Cormac Cannon, and Payne Brandt, The Complete Marching Band Resource Manual: Techniques and Materials for Teaching, Drill Design, and Music Arranging (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).
2
3
A note on terminology used in this study: over many years, various terms in research have been used to describe Americans of African origin. For the purposes of this study, “black” and “African American” have been used unless quoting directly from a source. Additionally, the term used in this paper to describe American people of various Eastern and Western European ancestry is “white.” In both cases, the simplification of terminology has been undertaken to match appropriate contemporary social norms, while acknowledging that the subject of race and ethnicity can never be simplified to single, broad categories.
4
The transition of bands in predominantly white schools from “military” to “corps” style marching is a trend that has been documented since the mid-1970s. The influence of Drum Corps International (DCI) and increased participation in marching band competitions has been observed in “corps” style bands: J. Russell Laib, “The Relationship between Competition, Show Style, and Number of Shows Performed by North Georgia High School Marching Bands,” Journal of Band Research 19, no. 2 (1984): 51–53; George L. Rogers, “Attitudes of High School Band Directors and Principals toward Marching Band Contests,” Journal of Research in Music Education 33, no. 4 (1985): 259–60; Byron L. Dawes, “A Survey of Alabama Band Directors Regarding Marching Band Competitions and Music Performance Achievement” (PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 1989); Jeremy Thomas, “Military-Style Bands Fighting March to Obscurity,” Reporting Texas, December 4, 2014, 
.
5
These designations seem to be associated with specific historically black colleges and universities. For instance, members of the Marching 100 at Florida A&M University tend to describe their band as “traditional” while many of the HBCUs in Alabama use “show band” to describe their style.
6
Laurie D. Sneiderman, “Marching to Different Drummers: College Marching Bands Appear to Be Failing the Diversity Challenge,” Black Issues in Higher Education 17, no. 5 (2000): 28–33; Yulanda Essoka, “Beyond the Fifth Quarter: The Influence of HBCU Marching Bands,” in Opportunities and Challenges at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, ed. Marybeth Gasman and Felecia Commodore (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 137.
7
D. Antoinette Handy, Black Conductors (London: The Scarecrow Press, 1995).
8
See the following for an account of the personal lives and teaching careers of Tennessee State University’s Frank T. Greer: Reginald A. McDonald, “The Aristocrat of Bands: A Historical Investigation of the Tennessee State University Instrumental Music Program and Its Directors” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 2009); South Carolina State University’s Reginald R. Thomas: Clifford E. Watkins, “The Works of Three Selected Band Directors in Predominantly-Black American Colleges and Universities” (PhD diss., Southern Illinois University, 1975); and Florida A&M University’s William Patrick Foster: Jacqui Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” The Black Perspective in Music 18, no. 2 (Spring/Fall 1990): 59–80; William P. Foster, The Man Behind the Baton (Tallahassee, FL: William P. Foster Foundation, 2001); Samuel L. Rowley, “William Patrick Foster and His Impact on African American Wind Band Conductors” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 2013); Richard L. Walker, “The Life and Leadership of William P. Foster” (PhD diss., Indiana State University, 2014). Foster also wrote a textbook that is considered the standard manual for “traditional” bands: William P. Foster, Band Pageantry: A Guide for the Marching Band (Winona, WI: Hal Leonard Music, 1968).
9
A study by William Richardson examined the professional organization of African American band directors in Florida, the National Association of Band Directors (NABD), during the years 1941–1966. This study illuminates the careers and accomplishments of several high school band directors active in Florida during that period: William L. Richardson, “A History of the Florida Association of Band Directors in Negro Schools: 1941-1966” (PhD diss., University of Southern Illinois, 1975). A recent study by Timothy Groulx provides a narrative history of the bands at segregated all-black high schools in Hillsborough County and Duval County, Florida. Drawing much of its content from oral histories, these studies focus on the effects of both segregation and desegregation on the band programs in Tampa and Jacksonville: Timothy J. Groulx, “Influences of Segregation and Desegregation on the Bands at Historically Black High Schools of Hillsborough County, Florida,” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 37, no. 2 (2016): 129–49; Timothy J. Groulx, “Influences of Segregation and Desegregation on the Bands at Historically Black High Schools in Duval County, Florida,” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 40, no. 1 (2018): 58–78.
10
George A. Cavanagh, “William D. Revelli: The Hobart Years” (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1971); Jess L. Gerardi, “Karl L. King: His Life and Music” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 1973); J. W. Hile, “Harry Begian: On Bands and Conducting” (PhD diss., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 1991); Rowley, “William Patrick Foster.”
11
William D. Lewis, “Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum: Performance Traditions of Historically Black College and University Marching Bands” (master’s thesis, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2003), 2; Rowley, “William Patrick Foster,” 16–18.
12
Lewis, “Different Drum,” 2–4.
13
Margaret S. Barrett and Sandra L. Stauffer, “From Story to Method,” in Narrative Inquiry in Music Education, ed. Margaret S. Barrett and Sandra L. Stauffer (Dordrecht: Springer, 2009), 7–9.
14
Barry Hartz, “The Emergence of Narrative Inquiry in Music Education Research,” Contributions to Music Education 39 (2013): 151–54.
15
Thomas Barone, Aesthetics, Politics and Educational Inquiry: Essays and Examples (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 214; Thomas Barone, Touching Eternity: The Enduring Outcomes of Teaching (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001), 162, 179.
16
David Whitwell, A Concise History of the Wind Band (Northridge, CA: Winds, 1985), 186.
17
Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History (New York: Norton, 1971), 15.
18
Kenneth E. Olson, Music and Musket (London: Greenwood, 1981), 9.
19
Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, Early Opera in America (Boston: G. Schirmer, 1915), 26.
20
McBain describes these musicians as initially being “brought back from the Crusades” and continuing for generations to serve as marching units: David McBain, “The Royal School of Music,” Musical Times 98, no. 1372 (1957): 311–12. See also: Olson, Music and Musket, 9.
21
An example exists at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where students were often accompanied by an enslaved person who lived in dormitories, attended classes and music lessons, and practiced instruments with their young masters. It was noted that one enslaved person could “play very well on the violin” and another played “extremely well on the French Horn.” Southern, Music of Black Americans, 25–28.
22
Ibid., 26.
23
Ibid., 27–28.
24
Gregory Drane, “The Role of African-Americans in the Integration of the United States Navy,” Music Educators Journal 101, no. 3 (2015): 63; Lewis, “Different Drum,” 1–2.
25
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 16.
26
Those identified include Barzillai Lew, drummer and fifer in a Massachusetts regiment band during the American Revolution, and Nero Benson, a musician who also served in a Massachusetts militia in 1723: Southern, Music of Black Americans, 74.
27
Jacqui Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African-American Dance (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 130.
28
Southern Music of Black Americans, 43.
29
Ibid., 42–45.
30
Civic bands began to abandon woodwinds in favor of brass and percussion for their adaptability to outdoor playing, durability over time, and their cost effectiveness: Margaret Hazen and Robert Hazen, The Music Men: An Illustrated History of Brass Bands in America, 1800-1920 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 1987), 6–9.
31
James Keene, A History of Music Education in the United States (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1982), 280–83.
32
Upon this is built a rationale for military training in the War of 1812 serving as the “first wave” of music education for African-Americans: Southern, Music of Black Americans, 67.
33
Carolyn Bryant, And the Band Played On, 1776-1976 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975), 10–12.
34
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 19.
35
William C. White, A History of Military Music in America (New York: The Exposition Press, 1944), 53; Erastus Brooks, “First Annual Meeting of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and The Highlands” (speech, Newburgh, NY, February 22, 1884), Archive.org publications and reference center for The Historical Society of Newburgh, NY: .
36
While the early part of the nineteenth century saw a proliferation of brass bands in New Orleans, it was not until after the Civil War, when the city was flooded with trained ex-military musicians and cheap surplus wind and percussion instruments were available, that brass bands became ubiquitous in the city: Hazen and Hazen, The Music Men, 8–10.
37
Goldman has noted two main purposes of marching bands throughout history—for military purposes or entertainment: Richard Franko Goldman, The Concert Band (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1946), 54.
38
There were 226 benevolent societies in New Orleans in 1890, and these societies hired bands to march and perform at funerals, outdoor social events, parades, dances, weddings, and political rallies: Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 180–81.
39
Matthew T. Driscoll, “New Orleans Brass Band Traditions and Popular Music: Elements of Style in the Music of Mama Digdown’s Brass Band and Younglood Brass Band” (PhD diss., University of Iowa, 2012), 18–19.
41
The Supreme Court case Plessy vs. Ferguson that legalized segregation began its litigation in Louisiana. Thomas J. Hennessey, From Jazz to Swing: African-American Musicians and their Music, 1890-1935 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994), 20.
42
Michael White, director of the Liberty Brass Band, has noted a revival in interest in brass band music in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, asserting that the natural disaster has caused greater concern regarding the preservation of New Orleans’s history and culture: Michael White, “Sneak Preview: New Orleans Brass Bands through the Streets of the City,” Smithsonian Folkways, November 12, 2014,
43
“The marching bands were started by Negroes, in imitation of the Napoleonic military marching bands of the white Creoles.” Leroi Jones, Blues People: Negro Music in White America (New York: William Morrow, 1963), 73.
44
The “Uptown” people of mixed race (African and European descent) were often segregated according to the concept of hypodescent (as “mulattos,” “quadroons,” “octoroons,” and “hexadecaroons”) while the “Downtown” people were exclusively of African heritage. Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 20–21; Hennessy, From Jazz to Swing, 20. Before the Civil War many “Uptown” blacks were free, while most “Downtown” blacks were enslaved. Generally, the term used in nineteenth-century New Orleans to describe those of mixed African and European ethnicity was Creole, though that term in modern times has come to represent various ethnic groups that emerged as a result of colonial-era occupation and policies. Further complicating this issue is a factor germane to New Orleans’ culture: the identification of both “black Creoles” and “white Creoles.” For an extensive discussion of the “black Creoles” of New Orleans, see Robin Cohen, “Creolization and Cultural Globalization: The Soft Sounds of Fugitive Power,” Globalizations 4, no. 3 (September 2007): 369–84; and Richard Campanella, “An Ethnic Geography of New Orleans,” The Journal of American History 94, no. 3 (2007): 704–15. The designation of “white Creole” existed before the American Civil War but was increasingly persistent during the Reconstruction Period, in which the “one drop” rule (i.e., “even one drop of African blood”) served as the metric for classification of persons under Jim Crow laws: “A section of whites determinedly continued to describe themselves exclusively as ‘Creole’ and authenticated this claim . . . that they were proud descendants of French and Spanish settlers, but born in the New World.” Cohen, Creolization, 376. Before the Civil War, those known as “Uptown” were fairer-skinned people of black descent (black Creoles), often the result of culturally condoned sexual relations between “white Creole” men and women of purely African or mixed ethnicity: “many (white Creole) males found black or so-called ‘light’ or ‘yellow’ mistresses, setting them up in the French quarter of New Orleans in bijou houses of their own.” Cohen, Creolization, 376. Richard Campanella provides a “relatively simple” explanation of the origins of social stratification across ethnicities in New Orleans thusly: “Locally born French-speaking Catholics, from various Francophone/Hispanic regions and racial backgrounds, were spatially intermixed throughout the city, with the enslaved living in close proximity to the enslaver.” In predominantly white Creole parts of town, the result was “three-tiered, multiracial social structures in which a class of marginal status and frequently mixed origin was inserted between blacks and whites.” Campanella, Ethnic Geography of New Orleans, 705, 706.
45
Jones, Blues People, 73.
46
Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 180.
47
Jones, Blues People, 76.
48
Most of the military bands of both the Union and Confederate armies consisted of brass instruments and involved an estimated forty thousand men. In military bands, brass instruments were chosen over woodwinds for durability on the move: Olson, Music and Musket, 4–7, 24–29, 71; White, A History of Military Music in America, 67, 71.
49
The “Golden Age” of band was a time in which professional concert bands toured and recorded records for use in the home. Additionally, this time period produced star musicians, conductors, and composers such as John Philip Sousa and Patrick S. Gilmore. Gilmore and Sousa both served as band leaders of the “President’s Own United States Marine Band” as well as leaders of their own successful professional touring bands. See Frank L. Battisti, The Winds of Change (Galesville, MD: Meredith Music Publications, 2002), 9; Paul E. Bierley, Hallelujah Trombone! (Columbus, OH: Integrity Press, 1982), 41.
50
Approximately 185,000 African American men served in the Union Army’s various “colored” units, many of which had a band. Union Army officers commanding “Negro regiments” actively sought to acquire instruments and music instructors to organize bands: Southern, Music of Black Americans, 205–7.
51
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many civic bands were associated with community groups such as volunteer fire squads, fraternal lodges, and social clubs. These bands marched in parades and performed in bandstands for outdoor concerts, athletic competitions, political rallies, and picnics. William J. Schaffer, Brass Bands and New Orleans Jazz (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977), 8.
52
Patrick S. Gilmore organized large, successful music festivals for the 1864 inauguration of Louisiana governor Michael Hahn, the National Peace Jubilee of 1869, and the World Peace Jubilee of 1872. The inauguration of Hahn celebrated his election during Union occupation of Louisiana; the festival was held in New Orleans. The National Peace Jubilee of 1869 commemorated the end of the American Civil War and was held in Boston, Massachusetts. The World Peace Jubilee of 1872 was also held in Boston and celebrated the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War. Ibid., 52–56; Michael Hahn, “Inaugural Address” (speech, New Orleans, LA, March 4, 1864), Library of Congress, . These venues set up by Gilmore gave opportunities for performance to many of the professional and amateur African American musicians and ensembles. The Boston World Peace Jubilee of 1869 included many of the local African American brass bands as well as the Hampton Students and Fisk University Jubilee Singers, who participated in the mass choir at the festival: Southern Music of Black Americans, 253, 218.
53
Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 138–39.
54
Lewis, “Different Drum,” 4.
55
56
Armstrong was sentenced for nearly two years to a reformatory after he was arrested for firing blank shots from a .38 pistol into the air on New Year’s Eve of 1912. The home, run by a former military man named Joseph Jones, provided Armstrong with an education, military-style discipline, and the assurances of food, clothing, and shelter that were often unavailable to impoverished children. Additionally the home’s band, which Jones organized both for fundraising purposes and as an enriching activity for the boys, gave Armstrong his start in music, where he began in 1913 on tambourine and progressed to drums, alto horn, and eventually the cornet.
James L. Collier, Louis Armstrong: An American Genius (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 4–18, 34–35; Laurence Bergeen, Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life (New York: Broadway Books, 1997), 31, 89, 104; Scotty Barnhart, The World of Jazz Trumpet: A Comprehensive History and Practical Philosophy (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005), 25–26; James Karst, “What Became of the Colored Waif’s Home Band after Louis Armstrong Left?” New Orleans Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), January 21, 2018.
57
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 26–27.
58
John Rublowsky, Music in America (New York: Crower-Collier Press, 1967), 133.
59
Ibid., 133.
60
Leaving some “white” areas assured the audience that they were witnessing a performance by a white person impersonating a black person. The tradition of blackface performance pre-dates the existence of the United States to Medieval Europe in the form of mummers’ plays, carnivals, peasant festivals, and even to some early versions of Santa Claus. Dale Cockrell, Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 2–18, 38–42.
61
The largest and most successful included the Hicks & Sawyer Minstrels, the McCabe & Young Minstrels, and Richards & Pringle Minstrels. Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 54; Southern Music of Black Americans, 255.
62
W. C. Handy, Father of the Blues (New York: Macmillan, 1947); David Robertson, W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).
63
Handy, Father of the Blues, 37–38.
64
Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 54.
65
In other traveling shows, such as circuses and rodeos, similar practices were observed with the band accompanying performances and promoting the shows through marching in parades. An example is the circus “bandwagon.” Bandwagons would play an increasingly important role toward the end of the nineteenth century for the circus. When the circus came to town, a daily parade would serve as advertisement for the show and would prominently feature the band. Bierley, Hallelujah Trombone!, 41.
66
Handy, Father of the Blues, 35–38.
67
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 25.
68
This is similar to the description of the model of Frank Johnson’s bands, which were active in the early nineteenth century. Bryant, And the Band Played On, 10–12.
69
Handy, Father of the Blues, 37–38.
70
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 29–31.
71
Handy, Father of the Blues, 63; Southern, Music of Black Americans, 301; Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” 64.
72
By “American music,” Handy is implying the new, contemporary music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, being composed and performed primarily by African American musicians—specifically ragtime and early forms of jazz. Handy, Father of the Blues, 61.
73
At about the same time, John Philip Sousa’s bands were beginning to program ragtime. David Blanke, The 1910s (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2010), 183; Paul E. Bierley, John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon, rev. ed. (Miami, FL: Alfred Publishing, 2001), 18–19, 136, 142. Bierley credits Sousa as having made a significant contribution to jazz not as composer but as concert programmer: “He contributed to its acceptance . . . correctly gauging the public’s grasp of jazz, he went on to incorporate jazz tunes . . . sometimes presenting nearly half an hour of jazz on their programs in the mid-1920s.” Bierley, John Philip Sousa, 19.
74
Handy had previous experience with this piece because he had performed it with Mahara’s Minstrels. It was written by an African American composer from Detroit, Michigan, named Fred Stone. Handy, Father of the Blues, 60.
75
Handy, Father of the Blues, 60–61.
76
Lewis, “Different Drum,” 5.
77
Handy, Father of the Blues, 65; Fennell, Time and the Winds, 46; Keene, A History of Music Education in the United States, 291–93.
78
Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 54.
79
Ibid., 64.
80
The band received an invitation to perform at Paris’s Theatre des Champs-Elysées in 1918. Lewis, “Different Drum,” 6.
81
J. E. Szwed and M. Mark, “The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites,” Dance Research Journal 20, no. 1 (June 1988): 29–36.
82
Ralph Ellison, Shadow and Act (New York: Vintage Books, 1964).
83
Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” 59.
84
Fennell, Time and the Winds, 38, 48.
85
John Brubacher and Willis Rudy, Higher Education in Transition: A History of American Colleges and Universities, 1636-1968 (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 37–41.
86
Edward Bailey Birge, History of Public School Music in the United States (Philadelphia: Theodore Presser Co., 1937), 301–4; Fennell, Time and the Winds, 46.
87
In response to the quick formation of new band units during World War I, General John Pershing ordered a greater number of military music schools to be organized. Though Pershing’s motive was initially to improve the state of American military bands, a secondary result was that highly qualified band directors entered the teaching force postwar. Keene, A History of Music Education in the United States, 290–93.
88
Fennell, Time and the Winds, 54.
89
The language of that act required states that received federal land grant money to either open admission to schools for both blacks and whites, or to designate separate (“but equal”) schools segregated by race. Brubacher and Rudy, Higher Education in Transition, 146–54.
90
Especially at land-grant institutions for black students, many of which were either “A&M” or industrial schools, the bands were military-style groups attached to the ROTC programs. Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 26–33.
91
Lamar K. McCarrell, “A Historical Review of the College Band Movement from 1875 to 1969” (PhD diss., University of Florida, 1971).
92
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 26–33.
93
As previously stated, examples of former military musicians who were recruited to lead bands at historically black colleges include Major Nathaniel Clark Smith, who joined the faculty of the Tuskegee Institute in 1907, and Captain Frank Drye, who came to Tuskegee in 1918. Smith was a product of the traveling minstrel shows as well as military training while Drye was a former member of James Reese Europe’s “Harlem Hellfighters” military band. Another practice for recruiting faculty to HBCUs was to pursue members of professional bands. W. C. Handy was hired to lead the band at Alabama A&M in 1900 from his position as band leader and cornetist with Mahara’s Minstrels. Handy, Father of the Blues, 37–38; Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 29–31; Walker, “The Life and Leadership of William P. Foster,” 1–5, 8; Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 145.
94
Foster, Man Behind the Baton, 87, 92.
95
Ibid., 90.
96
Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” 59.
97
Scotty Barnhart, in a narrative history of the development of jazz, credits both historical influences and African cultural ingenuity as components. In early jazz, he writes that “the unmistakable elements of the blues, field hollers, spiritual chants and songs, and rhythms of African origin would be among the first notes played by an African American.” He also refutes assumptions that rhythms, such as syncopation, are the primary contributions of African aesthetic to Western music—he asserts that this assumption is mistakenly made because of the prevalence of African drumming in world music education and also its oft-emphasized status in jazz history courses (for instance, its dominant role in descriptions of Congo Square in New Orleans.) He advocates for an equal historical significance of African melodic and harmonic contributions to Western music: “African-Americans were well aware of melody and harmony when they began to create blues, ragtime, and later improvised jazz. This fully explains their innate and natural use of ‘blue notes’ and other daring harmonic constructions found in all music pioneered by African-Americans that went against the ‘rules’ of Western harmony.” Barnhart, The World of Jazz Trumpet, 12; 10–11.
98
Southern Music of Black Americans, 15.
99
Prior to his time at the Colored Waifs’ Home, Armstrong sang with a quartet on the streets of New Orleans. At the boys’ home he was admitted into the band but played percussion and alto horn before being given a bugle. After being discharged from the boys’ home, Armstrong worked to support his mother and sister during the day. Though no longer playing in a band, he regularly went to hear music at night, especially that of Joseph “King” Oliver, who eventually became one of his important mentors: Barnhart, The World of Jazz Trumpet, 25–27.
100
Lucy Green, How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016), 22–26.
101
As previously noted, historian LeRoi Jones has made this very argument: Jones, Blues People, 76.
102
Southern, Music of Black Americans, 364.
103
“The music played by members of these early plantation brass bands were based on song—they blew singing horns.” Fredric Ramsey, liner notes to Music from the South: Field Recordings Taken in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, Volume 1, Various Performers, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, CD, recorded 1954, copyrighted 1962.
104
Music arranging techniques practiced at certain schools have an impact on ensemble sonority. Freamon McNair has provided an analysis of both (arranging techniques and concepts of ensemble sound) for HBCUs in various regions of the United States: Freamon McNair, “Teaching Marching Band in Urban Schools” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2017), 7–8.
105
The typical form of an HBCU-style halftime show is (1) drum major entrance, (2) precision drill/downfield march, (3) dance feature, (4) concert selection, (5) full band dance routine, and (6) field exit and/or “sideline blowdown.” McNair, “Teaching Marching Band in Urban Schools,” 9.
106
Kenneth R. Guthrie, “Changing Marching Styles: Traditional Marching Band to Drum Corps Styles” (PhD diss., University of Arkansas, 1983).
107
Battisti, The Winds of Change, 54.
108
Some examples: repertoire of the Grambling State University “Tiger Marching Band,” playing at the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, included Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever, Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and The Gap Band’s Early in the Morning. Ronald Roach, “Playing for the President, Grambling Marching Band to Return to Washington,” Diverse Issues in Higher Education, January 14, 2013, https://diverseeducation.com/article/50661/. The Florida A&M “Marching 100” performed a medley of songs by Aretha Franklin, selections from Star Wars by John Williams, and school songs in the 2019 Orange Bowl Parade. Byron Dobson, “Florida A&M Marching 100 Takes off For the Rose Parade,” Tallahassee Democrat, December 25, 2018, https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/12/25/florida-m-marching-100-takes-off-rose-parade-and-more-california/2381725002/. The North Carolina A&T “Blue & Gold Marching Machine” won the Honda Battle of the Bands in 2014, closing the show with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. “Blue & Gold Marching Machine Becomes First Official Winner at Honda,” North Carolina A&T State University, (accessed March 30, 2018).
109
The innovations made at Florida A&M University by William P. Foster included the combination of visual appeal provided by precision drill and aural appeal of a varied repertoire. Walker, “The Life and Leadership of William P. Foster,” 183.
110
111
The “glide” or “roll” step consists of placing the foot down heel first and rolling forward in a “heel-toe” motion. In this manner, the foot remains on the ground for most of the step as opposed to entirely picking the foot up and placing it on the ground. Kenneth R. Guthrie, “Changing Marching Styles,” 18–23.
112
Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” 61–70.
113
Ibid., 71.
114
Ibid., 71–72.
115
These include styles of tap dance, the “cakewalk,” the “buck-and-wing,” and various other “struts.” The “cakewalk” seems to have been especially associated with entertainers in minstrel shows. Mark Knowles, Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2002), 46–48; Constance Valis Hill, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 33–36.
116
Encyclopedia of African-American Popular Culture, s.v. “Tap Dance.”
117
Zora N. Hurston, The Sanctified Church (Berkeley, CA: Turtle Island, 1981), 54.
118
Malone, “The FAMU Marching 100,” 62.
119
Ibid., 61.
120
Recall an earlier footnote regarding Bill “Bojangles” Robinson serving as drum major for the 369th Infantry “Hellfighters” under the direction of James Reese Europe. Robinson was known for a style of tap dance known as “stair dance” in which the emphasis was on the toes rather than the heel (i.e., “flat footing”). Robinson as drum major provides evidence of the intersection of popular dance and military band marching and performance. Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture, s.v. “Tap Dance.”
121
Watkins, “Works of Three Selected Band Directors,” 73–114.
122
Rublowsky, Music in America, 133.
123
For examples, see the following for schedules of marching band competitions: “Competitions,” National Show Band Association, http://www.nationalshowbands.com/high-schools (accessed October 27, 2017); “Full Fall Schedule,” Music for All, (accessed October 27, 2017).
124
Business management researcher and social psychologist Steven Sommer identifies “informal competition” (or “social competition”) as outcomes that use “social comparisons to evaluate performance.” On the difference between “informal” and “formal” competition, he notes that “the main difference between formal and informal competition seems to be the focus of participant attention. Informal contests direct attentions towards behaviors, performances, and their comparisons. Formal competition directs the focus onto outcome issues such as prizes, allocation of scarce resources, and the justice of the allocation procedure.” Steven M. Sommer, “Social Competition: Identifying New Perspectives and Strategies for Task Motivation,” The International Journal of Conflict Management 6, no. 3 (1995): 239; 244–45.
125
Angularity and Asymmetry are capitalized here as they represent original ideas proposed by Hurston. Zora Neal Hurston, The Sanctified Church, 54–56.
126
Jennifer A. Cayer, “Roll Yo’ Hips, Don’t Roll Yo’ Eyes: Angularity and Embodied Spectatorship in Zora Neale Hurston’s Play, Cold Keener,” Theatre Journal 60 (2008): 38–39.
127
Péter Gaál-Szabó. “Zora Neale Hurston’s Cultural Space and African American Spatiality,” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies 17 (2011): 87.
128
Cayer, “Roll Yo’ Hips,” 39.
129
Edward Green and Evan Spring, The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 240–41.
130
Anthea Kraut, “Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham,” Theatre Journal 55, no. 3 (2003): 445–46.
131
“Historicultural” has been adopted as an approach to examine art as “patterns of culture,” the result of a combining of historical events and the creative work of individuals and groups. According to a theory of Geistesgeschichte, German historians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries viewed works of art as products of specific time periods and cultures. The term Zeitgeist or “spirit of the time” was often used in this school of thought. For this study, a historicultural approach is proposed in order to understand African American marching band as an art form rooted in historical events and cultural ingenuity, with unique characteristics interpreted as “patterns of culture.” Further, neuroscientist, psychologist, and philosopher Antonio Damasio has examined the interconnected roles of history and emotion as motivators that, working with genetics, form the biological bases of human culture. His work represents history and culture as working hand-in-hand as humans “create narratives and meaning, remember the past and imagine the future. . . . In their need to cope with the human heart in conflict, in their desire to reconcile the contradictions posed by suffering, fear, anger, and the pursuit of well-being, humans turned to wonder and awe and discovered music making.” Peter Burke, What Is Cultural History?, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008), 7–9; Antonio DaMasio, The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures (New York: Pantheon, 2018), 8, 9–27.
132
Charles Mills, “White Ignorance,” in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, ed. Shannon Sullivan and Nancy Tuana (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2007), 35.
133
In an analysis of district band festival ratings in Florida immediately following the merger of the Florida Association of Band Directors with the Florida Bandmasters Association (1966-1967 school year), Timothy Groulx found that mean ratings of marching and concert performances for black bands were just more than one point lower than those of primarily white bands. Timothy Groulx, “Segregated Schools at the First Integrated Festival: A Comparison of Florida High School Band Participation and Ratings in 1966,” Journal of Band Research 53, no. 1 (2017): 1–16. Rather than implying racial bias or unfair treatment by adjudicators, Groulx asserts inequalities between white and black schools as a possible cause of the average differences between judges’ ratings: “deficiencies in teacher preparation, equipment, resources, and facilities . . . and deficiencies in student attendance and preparedness for academic success.” Groulx, Segregated Schools at the First Integrated Festival, 9. Though he notes that some individual band directors expressed concerns about unequal treatment at integrated events (5–6), he concludes that there is no evidence of such treatment in the study for the following reasons: (1) the assumed harmonious relationships between members of the FABD and FBA that led to the voluntary merger of both organizations, (2) the reality that the adjudicators of integrated festivals in 1966–1967 had previously served on the panels for both FABD and FBA events prior to the merger, (3) a 0.93 measure of reliability between adjudicators for all bands at marching festivals, (4) because Dr. Patrick Foster (of Florida A&M University) was the only black adjudicator on any panel that year it was not possible to make reliable statistical comparisons by race of adjudicators, and similarly (5) reliable results could not be concluded from statistical analysis by race of school because of the low number of black schools performing that year (n = 55) in comparison to primarily white schools (n = 315.) Groulx, Segregated Schools at the First Integrated Festival, 10–12, 15–16. The data pertinent to Groulx’s study are now more than 50 years old, and a replication would be made difficult by the more complicated demographics of integrated schools. Additionally, it would be naïve to assume that historical events over the last fifty years would have no effect on perceptions of equality. However, the results and conclusions made by Groulx, based on data that were recorded in the midst of significant social upheaval, provide a lens of positivity with which to view the subject of adjudication: subjective and human as it is, we must assume that the professional behaviors of music educators engaged in adjudication will result in a process that is fair and rigorous, and strives to be as objective as possible and free of bias. Like the conclusions of Groulx, this paper does not seek to imply broad, nor rampant, nor even subtle bias in adjudication based on race. Rather, it strives to point toward possibilities of how consideration of specific historical practices and cultural aesthetics may enhance the feedback given by adjudicators to bands performing in African American traditions. Having said all of this, an attempt at replication of Groulx’s study would be a worthwhile undertaking in order to assess the one-point ratings “gap”—whether it still exists, has improved, or worsened—between bands of schools whose populations consist of majority white students and those with primarily minority students.
134
Charles Mills has described “epistemologies of ignorance” that function over a historical progression. Initially, a dominant race works to “civilize” another race. Often seen as an act of “good will,” this process of civilization erases and obscures traditions of the subservient race. Over time, the dominant race adopts a position of “colorblindness” whereby a “refusal to recognize the long history of racial discrimination” leads to continued dominance and inability to perceive privilege. Charles Mills, “White Ignorance,” 17–18, 25–28.
135
“Authentic” performance stands in contrast to emulating the performance of an “exotic other” and is anathema to performance as parody. “Musical appropriation . . . brings into sharp relief the power imbalance between ‘us’ as hegemonic force and ‘them’ as dominated others.” Jay Keister, “Seeking Authentic Experience: Spirituality in the Western Appropriation of Asian Music,” The World of Music 47, no. 3 (2005): 35–36.
136
John S. Ehrett, “Fair Use and an Attribution-Oriented Approach to Music Sampling,” Yale Journal on Regulation 33, (2016): 661.
137
Ideally, this leads to a level of understanding that one is not doing something to be “cool” or “fashionable” but instead develops a sense of appreciation and respect for a style that has developed over time as a result of both cultural and historical factors. Henning Arman, “Speaking ‘the Other?’: Youths’ Regimentation and Policing of Contemporary Urban Vernacular,” Language and Communication 58 (2018): 55.