World’s Smallest Marching Band

Make Music Day
Illustration by Daniel Greenfeld of a one-person marching band

Since 2011, dozens of Make Music Day celebrations around the country have featured the “Sousapalooza” – an invitation for hundreds of brass, wind, and percussion players to come together and sightread the music of The March King, John Philip Sousa.

In 2020, in lieu of these massive gatherings, Make Music Day explored the other end of the scale with The World’s Smallest Marching Band. Individual brass and wind players paraded through cities, by themselves, playing band repertoire to people listening from their homes or workplaces. These Pied Pipers (without rats or children) brought live musical joy in a year when parades are far and few between.

Here are a few examples of tiny marching bands that happened around the country!

Brooklyn, NY: Matthew Cain (Tuba) – Park Slope, on 9th street
Evanston, IL: Carey Farrell (Trombone) – southeast Evanston, between Lee Street and Dempster Street
Hartford, CT: Anthony DeQuattro and friends, Jackie Harris-Stone, and more!
Land O’ Lakes, WI Decade XS (Synth + Vocals) – various pop-up locations around town
West Jordan, UT: Aly Goodman (Saxophone)