The Klaxon | March by Henry Fillmore

[@Cljonesy1185]

I remember playing this my senior of high school in the All Conference Symphonic Band. I was second chair Euphonium.

[@thibbz]

I’m a horn player PLAYING THIS AT ALL-STATE (we will blast the trio)

[@raynbowmushr00m19]

RAAAAHHHHH FHORNSSSSS

[@alswords4445]

I "was" a horn player in high school and college, and this might be the very first march I ever learned once I entered HS, and I loved playing it. With that said, life in the Infantry called and I answered it and "may" occasionally pick up my mellophone every now and then with the college Alumni Band. Now, I am completely flabbergasted by the number of senior NCOs sitting in the Army Band. IT IS RIDICULOUS that anyone can rise above the rank of SSG while pursuing an Army career as A SOLDIER❗😡

[@ArmyFieldBand]

The MOS 42S is part of the Army’s Civilian Acquired Skills program which explains the rank you see here.

[@coreyadkins8775]

Awesome piece. The euphs are great my primary instrument. Played this in HS for the contest march as the only euph player. A wind ensemble @ grade 6 literature. Loved it.

[@Jay-fe8ye]

Playing this at my next concert, let’s hope it goes well

[@billandbraden1439]

I played this song at my concert as well! It was a cool experience

[@Michel1nGD]

My brother is in all-state honors band orchestra, after they were done, we got to listen to the concert band and they played this. We were wowed, the amazing call and response section made my jaw drop to the floor. You guys do a great justice with this song, keep it up!

[@meandmyEV]

They are haulin' the mail! I had to check to make sure my KZbin playback speed was set right. I love it at that tempo. I have also seen conductors that radically slow down the final passage and then accelerando back up past the original speed.

[@THall-vi8cp]

Fillmore was crazy. All his marches are supposed to be played at breakneck speed. I heard a recording of the University of Michigan Band do _The Circus Bee_ and I thought the low brass were going to have a collective heart attack.

[@hothobart]

This is like, the only march that has the French horns do something besides play offbeats in the trio. It’s also the reason I try to throw the horns something when I write a march.

[@raynbowmushr00m19]

I’m a Fhorn n this will ALWAYS b my fav march

[@manondumouchel5298]

Very nice March .. love this .. thank you The Army Field Band

[@ivangranger8494]

Always a joy, to listen too. A stand out group, that keeps the tradition going. Thank you! 🇺🇸🇺🇸 😊

[@ransome51]

Brilliant! Good to hear this old march.

[@ArmyFieldBand]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@heidymangione3913]

beautiful march, thank you all Army Field Band

[@stanislavafajfaric2846]

Bravo gospodo koja ljepota.od. vase glazbe.Briljant zvuk.daleko.se cuje..Hvala vam .Cestitam 9.3.2022.

[@IgnisConsumens]

The clarinets sure have the runs!

[@jesussoto6411]

Exelentes musicos felicidades la ejecusion intetpretasion majistral en hora buena musicos de tiempo completo..muy vien masters

[@mikesuss9513]

Superb dynamics!!

[@theclassicrock8644]

Really amazing. thanks for the videoes.

[@ArmyFieldBand]

Thanks for watching!

[@Gabe_tba]

Played this for Honor band back in December. Great song I had a ton of fun playing this piece. Great Job guys and love the video! #tubagang

[@dgetz101]

One of my favorites.

[@ArmyFieldBand]

Isn't it great?! Glad you liked it.

[@christinahess8775]

Merci, Army Bans. You are always a morale booster. Btw, klaxonner means to blow a car horn in French! Keep us encouraged in this serious times!

[@CaptainApathetic]

This March was written for a car show when klaxon horns were the standard in vehicles, and originally the horns were actually included in the performance

[@tapsbugler]

Awesome

[@yellowboot6629]

👍❣️ High Class

[@pulloutchamp]

Yeah Troy!!

[@jochanaan58]

That's a real quickstep tempo! Standard march tempo is 120 beats per minute; this is about 160 bpm. And they play it beautifully!

[@youngsub67]

Very nice

[@ArmyFieldBand]

Thank you!

[@youngsub67]

Thank you so much for giving me a great performance. Thank you very much for your dedication.👍👍👍🌟🌟🌟🙌👏👏👏👏👏

[@laytonhighband3601]

🔥

[@разныедоки]

👍👏🔝

[@Julesp573]

I’m playing this at MPA and I’m the youngest in my band

[@timbob6367]

Awoooga!

[@Gregbruh]

I’m a trombone player and we playing this at all district

[@Munjibunga]

Gee. Could you play it a little faster please?

[@ArmyFieldBand]

We can try…

[@cavalcadeofbobs3559]

I was listening for an old-timey "A-WOOO-GA" car horn the whole time, and I am sorely disappointed. But hey, at least the band was really good

[@Munjibunga]

People! It's a march. We don't want to march at 140 bpm. Try 120 next time, okay? (Yes, I know I've responded twice. It really bugs be. Bernstein does the same thing.)

[@ArmyFieldBand]

The Klaxon stylistically belongs to a sub-category of “quick step” marches that are often performed at a more brisk tempo-His Honor and Americans We come to mind. Circus marches (Circus Bee and Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite) are treated in a similar way. The march genre is actually quite diverse in tempo/feel if you include European composers as well!

[@BruceRichardsonMusic]

@Munjibunga When you get more into march history, you can look for hints about tempo in many places. First of all, the composer. In this case, it's Henry Fillmore...one of the more fascinating personalities to emerge as a composer for circuses. Circuses--that's the second hint. Fillmore had a very religious upbringing, and a controlling father. His mother was more sympathetic to his spirit. Henry sang, and played multiple instruments. He eventually became fascinated with the trombone , an instrument his father associated with sinful behavior. Once Henry graduated from conservatory, he joined his father's publishing company, but that was not long lived. He'd fallen in love with an "exotic dancer," further infuriating his father. He literally packed up and joined the circus, with his now-wife. Eventually he and his father reconciled. Fillmore also wrote under at least a half-dozen pseudonyms. He's one of the most--if not the most--prolific composers and arrangers in wind band history. And he was a titan of music education in his later years. The Klaxon is one of his more interesting marches. It was **not** written during his circus period. In fact, it was written for an automotive exhibition, and for that exhibition the trio melody was played with AUTOMOTIVE HORNS!! So, it's one of his more fascinating marches from that perspective alone. It's not unreasonable to interpret The Klaxon at almost any march tempo you could name. Most of Fillmore's marches sound great at all tempos. I've heard beautiful renditions of this march at the entire gamut of march tempos. But I do happen to enjoy it when someone plays The Klaxon as a "screamer," because the woodwind lines take on a heightened kinetic energy at that tempo. Bottom line, there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of marches that beg for quick tempos--almost the entire canon of circus marches (with the exeption of the "smears," a whole different category), but even Prokofiev's March Op. 99 is most alive at a full-blown galop. You mention Bernstein...his early sixties readings of the Overture to Candide are quick, for sure, but that was his original vision for the work!! He did record it at a slower tempo later in life, I think to wring a little more shape out of the "Oh, Happy We" theme. But that's always the challenge, right? To wring shape out of melodic lines at tempo. If I were going to critique this performance in any way, I found myself wanting more emotion out of the melody in the trio. I don't think a slower tempo is necessary to achieve that, so much as leaning into the diminished to dominant couplets, swelling the diminished INTO the dominant to give the melody more propulsion. But that kind of shaping takes rehearsal time. Many of my dear friends have been members of them over the years, and I know what their performance schedules are like. I imagine that's why they (and most bands) don't even attempt to recreate The Klaxon "gimmick" as it was originally performed. The Klaxon has become a serious march in its own right, sans gimmick, and this is a fine performance of it that lacks for nothing as a quick interpretation!!