The National Fencibles: Concert Band, Conductor Score

The word "fencible" describes an army regiment raised in Great Britain or in the United States whose duties entailed defense against invasion. The National Fencibles of Washington, D.C., for whom John Philip Sousa composed this march, were organized on June 21, 1887, by a number of young men who had been members of the National Rifles' Cadets and later of the National Rifles. THE NATIONAL FENCIBLES MARCH was carefully edited by Sousa scholar Loras John Schissel to reflect Mr. Sousa's own unique performances of this work. The edition was initially prepared for the superb Copperas Cove (Texas) High School Band and its conductor, Randy Kelley, and this new published edition is dedicated to this outstanding conductor and to Cove bandsmen, past, present, and future.