THE SOUSA BAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1146, 6 June 1911, Page 9

THE SOUSA BAND.

Some of tho instruments u?eil by the Sousa Hand are weird In a degree (says an Australian writer). One performer sits in the centre ot' a hupp silver instrument, which circles round him like an olfactionalt, boa-constrictor, and rears a huge head just-behind his own. Another gentleman spends a Rood deal of his time on his knees, where he vehemently hammers something with a lyoixk-u malld, shakes a long thin metallic shutter, or rubs together what appear lo be two sheets of saud-naper, and at intervals clashes together strange objects which look rather like cccoii-jiuts. The glockenspiel—which consists of ii framework hung with a dozen graduated metal pipes which when struck gives forfh clear b-e!l-!ike notes—is a more usual instrument, and wns effectively used in Rachmaninoff's "Bells of Moscow." Tho Federal March, composed by Mr. Sousa in honour of Australia, and named by Sir Goarge Beid, is spirited and melodious, and has all the nativo "go" of a Sousa march. The conductor himself is not tho least interesting item of the performance. His personal magnetism is marvellous—his very foot is expressive—-and he dominates not only every instrument under his baton, but every individual in the great hall. His air is suavity itself, yet everything is done with a military promptness and precision which penetrates the usual langour of a Sydney audience like an electric current of high voltage. At the openin? concert, with its double and treble encores, two dozen items were given in Iff? than two- and a half hours, among them sonio lengthy classical pieces.