Country Band March

From the "out of tune" introduction to the pandemonium which reigns at the close, the Country Band March is a marvelous parody of the realities of performance by a country band. While the main march theme is probably Ives' own, the march features an impressive list of quotations that includes "Arkansas Traveler,” "Battle Cry of Freedom,” "British Grenadiers,” "The Girl I Left Behind Me,” "London Bridge,” "Marching Through Georgia,” "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground,” "My Old Kentucky Home,” "Violets,” "Yankee Doodle,” "May Day Waltz" and "Semper Fidelis." There is rarely anything straight-forward about the use of this material; the tunes are subjected to Ives's famous techniques of "poly-everything." Of particular interest is Ives's use of ragtime elements to enliven this already spirited march.)