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I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.

John Philip Sousa

There is much modern music that is better adapted to a wind combination than to a string, although for obvious reasons originally scored for an orchestra. If in such cases the interpretation is equal to the composition the balance of a wind combination is more satisfying.

The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man.

No nation as young as America can be expected to become immediately a power in the arts.

The average music-lover hears only the production under prevailing conditions.

John Philip Sousa

Music

Production

Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.

To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.

My success is not due to any personal superiority over other people.

My religion lies in my composition.

John Philip Sousa

Religion

Lies

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?

I think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality.

The movements which I make I cannot possibly repress because, at the time, I am actually the idea I am interpreting, and naturally I picture my players and auditors as in accord with me. I know, of course, that my mannerisms have been widely discussed.

John Philip Sousa

Time

Idea