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Charles IvesCharles IvesCharles IvesCharles IvesCharles IvesBorn: October 20, 1874Born: October 20, 1874Born: October 20, 1874Born: October 20, 1874Born: October 20, 1874Died: May 19, 1954Died: May 19, 1954Died: May 19, 1954Died: May 19, 1954Died: May 19, 1954

Charles Ives was born inDanbury, Connecticut just nineyears after the end of the CivilWar. All members of the Ivesfamily were successful businesspeople except for Charlie’s fatherGeorge. George Ives was a banddirector and music teacher wholoved to experiment with sound.He once tried to reproduce thesound of two different marchingbands in a parade—one comingdown the street towards thecrowd, the other moving away inthe opposite direction. Anothertime, he placed band membersaround the town square and skedthem each to play a differentsong. Young Charlie was on handto help with these experiments,which had a big influence on themusic that he composed later inlife.

Charles was a gifted musician.His father taught him how to playthe organ, piano, drums and

Country Band Marchcornet, and at the age of 14 he was hiredto be the church organist. He laterattended Yale University, where hestudied composition while earning adegree in business. However, he did notbecome a professional composer. Instead,he was a highly successful businessmanin the early days of insurance. However,he spent his nights and weekends doingwhat he really loved, writing music.Since he didn’t care whether anyoneheard his pieces or not, he never tried toplease anyone else with his music andwrote as he liked. As a result, his worksare very individualistic and different fromwhat other composers were writing at thesame time.

The Country Band March is aboutamateur musicians trying to play theirbest. Some of the players haven’t hearnedtheir parts very well and can’t alwaysstay in tune, so they start playing a tunethat they do know instead. The result is acrazy hodge-podge of sound that includesrecognizable tunes such as “LondonBridge” and “Yankee Doodle” along withpassages in which the marchers get out ofstep and lose their places. Listen at theend for the saxophone player who forgets

to cut off with everyone else!

The songs in Green are NOT in the “Country Band March”

We Love a Parade!Charles Ives included twelve popular tunes in the Country Band March. Circle the ones that you hear.

“London Bridge” “Spice Girls” “The Girl I Left Behind Me”

“Arkansas Traveller” “Sing” “Marching through Georgia”

“Spy Kids” “Semper Fideles” “My Old Kentucky Home”

“Violets” “Yankee Doodle” “The Battle Cry of Freedom”

“This Old Man” “Star Wars” “The British Grenadiers”

Charles Ives

WGUC sincerely thanksThe Charles H. Dater FoundationThe Charles H. Dater FoundationThe Charles H. Dater FoundationThe Charles H. Dater FoundationThe Charles H. Dater Foundation

for its sustaining support since theinception of

Classics for Kids®.

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Crossword CrazeName the instrument or the person in the marching band below. Fill your answers into the puzzle.

The music that Charles Ives wrote wasgreatly influenced by his father, George.From the time he was a kid, Ives heardhis father experiment with sound. GeorgeIves always told Charlie to “stretch hisears,” and Charlie did that with everypiece of music he wrote.