Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1901 — Sousa’s Great Tact in Pleasing His Audiences. [ARTICLE]

Sousa’s Great Tact in Pleasing His Audiences.

It is a remarkable fact, almost invariably noticeable in every part of the country, that to open the doors upon a Sousa concert means a packed house and the happiest of audiences. A Sousa audience is never solicitous, but gloriously expectant. It is simply a question of the arrival of the moment when Sousa shall raise his baton and real enjoyment begins. The public everywhere long learned by experience that whatever Sousa gives is the right thing, just the sort they most wished for, selected more for their taste than if they had made the choice themselves. John Philip Sousa is much the master of pro-gramme-making as of the baton, and therein lies one of the secrets of his marvelous success. To suit the temperament and desires of a concourse of people of vastly varying degrees is a most difficult thing to do, but the famous leader is possessed of rare perceptive powers, and, having long made a close study of the people of every part of this continent he knows exactly what to present in order to please them best. As Sousa himself once said. “I am best pleased when my audience is best satisfied,.” which is a key to his purpose to give the people just what they want. The latter recognize the fact and are, naturally enough, ready to pour into any place thrown open to a Sousa concert, knowing they will be served with delicious things from first to last. These concerts have grown into their wonderful popularity as much through Sousa’s amiable tact in pleasing as through their technical brilliancy. The only Sousa concerts at Indianapolis this season will occur on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings, Sept. 18th and 19th, at the State Fair Grounds, and Sousa goes from there direct to London for his English tour of three months. He Will play his new march “The Invincible Eagle*’ for the first time at Indianapolis.