March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John Philip Sousa and the martial hymns of the late 19th century. Examples of the varied use of the march can be found in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, in the Marches Militaires of Franz Schubert, in the Marche funèbre in Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor, and in the Dead March in Handel's Saul.

Description

Marches can be written in any time signature, but the most common time signatures are 4
4, 2
2 (alla breve , although this may refer to 2 time of Johannes Brahms, or cut time), or 6
8. However, some modern marches are being written in 1
2 or 2
4 time. The modern march tempo hovers around 120 beats per minute; however, many funeral marches conform to the Roman standard of 60 beats per minute. The tempo is meant to match the pace of soldiers walking and remaining in step. Both tempos match the standard rate of 120 steps per minute.

Marching Song (Esben and the Witch song)

"Marching Song" is a song by British Gothic rock band Esben and the Witch as the first single from their debut studio album Violet Cries, released on a limited number of 300 on 12" vinyl.

Reception

Drowned in sound said "It has to be said, that with Marching Song, Esben And The Witch don't quite do enough to shatter any cynicism around their assumed acclaim. But they'll keep people interested, and at this stage, that'll do" and the line of best fit said "The fact that not everything can be clearly deciphered straight away is one of the most appealing factors here though. Esben, alongside the likes of The XX and Zola Jesus are forging a path to inject a little mystique back in to pop music, drawing on the despair and theatrics of gothic culture to create songs which are stirring, atmospheric and adventurous whilst still maintaining an accessible edge".

Music video

A video was made for "Marching Song". It features head-shots of the band members depicting them being gradually beaten up. Rachel said about the idea for the video “It was an idea I had quite a while ago, and something we spoke about and developed between the three of us. Confrontation, strength, resilience: all emotions we wanted to convey simply and effectively, and we’re really happy with the way it turned out”. It was directed by David Procter and Peter King.

Marching Song (play)

Marching Song is a 1932 play about John Brown, co-written by the young Orson Welles and his mentor and former headmaster Roger "Skipper" Hill. It is most notable for it's device of piecing together a man's life through scattered, contradictory recollections; a device Welles would famously return to in Citizen Kane.

References