American Patrol

American Patrol is a march originally written in 1885 by Frank White Meacham, and was later composed for wind bands in 1891 by Carl Fisher. It contains songs such as "Dixie", "Yankee Doodle" and "Columbia, gem of the ocean". It is to be noted that the 1885 and 1914 piano copies of the piece do not contain the song "Dixie".
The format of this song, as well as other Patrol pieces, is to represent a military band marching down a street. For example, it usually starts with a dynamic such as piano or pianissimo, grows louder as the peice progresses, until eventually a recapitulation of the theme plays again and the music fades out to a paino, pianissimo, or even quiter as the band "walks" away.
==Notable Preformances ==
This piece has been played in many small or not well known bands over the years but the most notable include Glen Millers band, Halle's band, a Marine band and many others.
The first major band to preform this song was on July 2, 1892 was the Marine Band, in Portland Oregon. It was followed up in 1893 by Clauder's Exposition band. It was then preformed again at the 1893 annual meeting of the American Street-Railway Association. It was also preformed in 1893 at Conterno's band and orchestras concert in Paradise Park. It was also preformed in 1896 for a fourth of July celebration by Halle's concert band in Winthrop Park, as well as on the television show Gilligan's Island in episode 6, "Music hath charm"
The most famous performance of this piece was with Glenn Millers Band. It was originally recorded on April 2, 1942 while he and his band were filming the musical film "Orchestra Wives". This Big Band arrangement was published by Jerry Gray, who added the song "The girl I left behind". It was published by the Mutual Music Society and was released as a Victor 78 single. 
== As depicted in Sound! Euphonium ==
It is included in Disc 2 of Sound! Euphonium 2 Original Soundtrack: Ongaku Endless as track #8.
Category:Music