Screamer (march)

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Troopers Tribunal (1905)

Henry Fillmore's Troopers Tribunal, a circus march for which Fillmore used a punning name – troupers, as in a circus troupe – in order to conceal whom he wrote the march for from his conservative father.^[1]

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A screamer is a circus march intended to stir up the audience during the show.

Screamers were mostly composed in a 60-year period (1895–1955). Circuses were in need of music that would stir the audience into a frenzy, as four-footed animals galloped across the ring. Because march music was a prominent part of American music at that time, and because it carried such a quick tempo, it was this that ringmasters demanded.

The Circus Bee

Fillmore's "The Circus Bee" performed by the United States Marine Corps Band

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Rolling Thunder

Fillmore's "Rolling Thunder" performed by The Ceremonial Brass of the United States Air Force

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Circus marches are faster than a normal military march, often 130 to 150 beats/minute. Although screamers tend to follow the march form, they are often abbreviated, and additions, such as a quick cornet call introduction to a new melody, are included. A typical screamer lasts a minute to three and a half minutes.

Screamers are a very demanding type of music, due to their extremely fast and advanced rhythms, especially the low-brass parts. Double and even triple tonguing is often required in order to play these rhythms. The trio in "The Melody Shop" is a good example of this.^[2] Many screamers have two prominent melodies playing at once. Although this is not unusual in a march, screamers tend to go further with this. The low-brass section can be playing a long, stately melody, while the woodwinds can be moving along with a phrase of 16th notes, or vice versa. Due to the circumstances in which screamers are played, dynamics tend to stay at a level forte. Unlike some military marches, piano is rarely used.

Composers of screamers included Karl L. King, whose work included "Barnum & Bailey's Favorite", Fred Jewell and Henry Fillmore. John Philip Sousa wrote "On Parade" and a few others, but his writing in the circus march style is not highly regarded.^[3]

• The ABA March by Edwin Franko Goldman
• Americans We by Henry Fillmore
• Barnum and Bailey's Favorite by Karl L. King
• Bennett's Triumphal by Melvin H. Ribble
• The Big Cage by Karl L. King
• The Billboard March by John N. Klohr
• Bombasto by Orion R. Farrar
• Bones Trombone by Henry Fillmore
• Bravura by Charles E. Duble
• Bugles and Drums by Edwin Franko Goldman
• The Circus Bee by Henry Fillmore
• Circus Days by Karl L. King
• Circus Echoes by Arthur W. Hughes
• Circus King by Charles E. Duble
• Coat of Arms by George Kenny
• Floto's Triumph by Fred Jewell
• His Honor by Henry Fillmore
• Invictus by Karl L. King
• In Storm and Sunshine by John Clifford Heed
• Klaxon by Henry Fillmore
• The Melody Shop by Karl L. King
• Onward and Upward by Edwin Franko Goldman
• Robinson's Grand Entree by Karl L. King
• Rolling Thunder by Henry Fillmore
• Sells-Floto Triumphal by Karl L. King
• The Squealer by Will Huff
• The Screamer by Frederick Jewell
• Smilin' Jack by Robert S. Keller
• Them Basses by Getty H. Huffine

• Entrance of the Gladiators (also known as Thunder and Blazes when played as a screamer) by Julius Fučík

• Circus music
• American march music

• Fennell, Dr. Frederick: Screamers (Circus Marches), Eastman Wind Ensemble.
• Whitmarsch, Richard: Sounds of the Circus (28 volumes of circus music)