John Philip Sousa

Although he refused to perform on the radio because he preferred interacting with live audiences, Sousa was convinced to broadcast concert series in 1929 and 1931 because of overwhelming public demand. Sousa especially focused on encouraging young musicians. He accepted invitations to help amateur bands and supported the school music movement and the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.

Every year John Philip Sousa awards are given by high school band directors to talented band members. The John Philip Sousa foundation recognizes excellent high school, college, and community bands.

Sousa died on March 6, 1932, after a rehearsal at Reading, Pennsylvania. The last piece he conducted was "The Stars and Stripes Forever." The Marine Band played "Semper Fidelis" during his funeral procession. Buried at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., Sousa's gravestone was carved with a bar from "The Stars and Stripes Forever." His music library was donated to the University of Illinois. The movie Stars and Stripes Forever (also called Marching Along) premiered in 1952 with Clifton Webb playing Sousa, and Sousa's family and band members criticized the movie's inaccuracies. In 1957, George Balanchine choreographed the ballet Stars and Stripes. The Public Broadcasting Corporation televised the documentary If You Knew Sousa. The Sousa Stage was dedicated at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and other Sousa memorials include schools and band shells. Sousa's former band members belonged to chapters of the Sousa Band Fraternal Society. In 1997, the United States Postal Service issued a 32 cent stamp, "The Stars and Stripes Forever!," to celebrate the centennial of Sousa's most famous march.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 2002 Gale Group.