The Band of the Grenadier Guards is the oldest of all of the bands in the British Army, with a history dating back over three hundred years. In 1685 Charles II allowed the band to maintain 12 Hautbois players. His death in 1685 was so significant for the band that until the Second World War the Bass Drummer (known officially as The Regimental Timebeater) wore a black armband in mourning of the King's passing.
The size of the ensemble has changed over time, starting off with between twelve and nineteen players, in the 18th Century to a peak in numbers by the end of the 1970s with seventy musicians. Today there are 42 band members.
In 1872, the Band of the Grenadier Guards were the first British uniformed soldiers to enter the United States of America since the War of 1812. They last toured the United States of America in 2003, when they gave performances over a period of three months, at over sixty venues, visiting forty states. The Band often tours overseas and has visited Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Bosnia, and Australia.
The Band was given the freedom of the City of Lincoln on 8th May, 2008.
"March King" John Philip Sousa was the most famous band leader in the United States during his lifetime, a former U.S. Marine Band leader who composed and conducted some of the most well-known marches in the world. His professional career began as a violinist in travelling orchestras, but his first fame came as the leader of the U.S. Marine Band from 1880 until 1892. Sousa composed the official song of the Marine Corps, "Semper Fidelis" at the request of President Chester A. Arthur (who was looking for a song to replace "Hail to the Chief," or so the story goes). In 1892 he started a civilian band that became internationally famous and hugely popular (in 1910 they toured the world). The band was known especially for marches that Sousa composed, notably "Stars and Stripes Forever," designated in 1987 as the National March of the United States.
Sousa also wrote operas and other pieces of music, as well as novels and poetry... In 1917 he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve (at the age of 62) because of World War I.
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