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| | David T. Little : composer | biography |
 | | Secondly, and how I first came to know the term, it is the nickname given to circus marches, generally taken at breakneck speeds and, in their original circus context, ending abruptly with a B-flat major chord as soon as the action in the ring had concluded. |
 | | Although John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” arguably the most famous American march, is not technically a screamer, it was, in fact, used in the circus in a fairly peculiar way. |
 | | Essentially, were the tightrope walker to fall and break his or her neck, or some other such horror occur, the Band would strike up the Sousa as a cue to “send in the clowns” to distract the audience while they attended to the injured performer. |
| www.davidtlittle.com /works/screamer-notes.php (389 words) |
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