Seventy-Six Trombones: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:15, 30 July 2006

Revision as of 01:09, 27 September 2006

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:''With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand ...''

One of Willson's arrangements of the song seamlessly integrates other popular [[march (music)|marches]] at the time, such as "[[The Stars and Stripes Forever (march)|The Stars and Stripes Forever]]", "[[The Washington Post (march)|The Washington Post]]" by [[John Philip Sousa]] (with whom he played in his band), "[[National Emblem (march)|The National Emblem]]" by [[Edwin Eugene Bagley]] and "Second Regiment, Connecticut National GaurdGuard" by D.W. Reeves.

'Professor' Harold Hill uses the song to help the townspeople of 'River City' visualize their children playing in an enormous [[marching band]]. An average-sized high-school marching band might have 10 musicians playing the [[trombone]], and a large university band seldom has more than 30. The band that Harold is describing includes 76 trombones, 110 [[cornet]]s, "over a thousand reeds," and "fifty mounted [[cannon]]" (actually quite popular in bands of the time); if such a band actually existed, it would be over a mile long.