While I have done all-percussion arrangements of Sousa marches in the past, for this year, 2026, with America's 250th birthday being this July 4, I'm doing a select number of them again for regular concert band. This time, we're doing the country's national march, "The Stars and Stripes Forever," and John Philip Sousa wins my vote for the greatest American that ever lived, even if the reality is that it is George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. (It's a matter of whom you think deserves it.) I'm also doing this because today, March 4th, is National Marching Band Day. (Get the reference?)

For this one, I used a standard concert band template, so the instrument lineup is as follows:

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Piccolo
2 flute parts
2 oboe parts
2 bassoon parts
E-flat clarinet
3 B-flat clarinet parts
Bass clarinet
Saxophone section (2 alto, 1 tenor, 1 baritone)
3 B-flat trumpet parts
4 Horn in F parts (1 & 3 top stave; 2 & 4 bottom stave)
Trombones 1 & 2
Trombone 3 & bass trombone (they share the same stave)
Euphonium
Tuba
Double bass
Glockenspiel
Percussion 1 (snare drum and bass drum)
Percussion 2 (crash cymbals)

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IMPORTANT! MuseScore doesn't do this, but if you are playing this in real life, and you are playing either Flutes 1 and 2, Bassoon 2, B-flat Clarinets 2 and 3, Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax 1 and 2, Baritone Sax, Horn in F 3 & 4, Trombone 3 & Bass Trombone, or Double Bass, those instruments do NOT play the first time when the song gets to rehearsal marker E (when the fun piccolo countermelody begins). They only play on the second time; this is to allow the piccolo to have its glorious solo moment.

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This arrangement © me and me alone
Original music is now public domain

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The Stars and Stripes Forever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEAKSIsGClI (West Point Band performance)

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UPDATE: Now in scraps.