John Philip Sousa for Monty Python's Flying Circus), "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post". Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. After departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and the writing of music. He eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band. Sousa aided in the development of
John Philip Sousa Foundation John Philip Sousa Foundation The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of band music internationally. The foundation administers a number of projects and awards supporting high quality band performance, conducting, and composition. The foundation is named for John Philip Sousa, a prominent composer of American band music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Successor to the Sousa Memorial Committee, the organization was reorganized as the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1980 with support from Louis Sudler, a Chicago real estate developer and arts patron for whom many of the foundation's awards are