I had the privilege of researching and discussing military music with Jonathan Crane and Kristina Teuschler of the West Point Music Research Center for a three part podcast.

https://westpointband.com/westpointmusicresearchcenter/podcast-1.html

References

“The repetition of stanzas as the dancers circled around and around with ever greater acceleration reinforced and deepened the spirit of familial attachment, drawing within the ancestral orbit slaves who may not have known either a father or a mother, their involvement being an extension of that of others, the circle symbolizing the unbroken unity of the community (Stuckey 1987: 29, 35).”

Stuckey, Sterling. 1987. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New York: Oxford UP.

“What Stuckey does not say, but which will be clear to readers familiar with black culture, is that from…burial ceremonies, the ring straightened itself to become the Second Line of jazz funerals, in which the movements of the participants were identical to those of the participant in the ring—even to the point of individual counterclockwise movements by Second Line participants…And the dirge-to-jazz structure of the jazz funeral parallels the walk-to-shout structure of the ring shout, where “the slow and dignified measure of the ‘walk’ is followed by a double quick, tripping measure in the ‘shout’ (Floyd 1991: 267).”

Floyd, Samuel Jr. 1991. “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry.” Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 11: 265-287.

“The first jazzmen’s conception of rhythm resulted from a combination of elements of the military march and the polka, and of the Negro’s sense of rhythm. By introducing the polka’s off-beats into marches and by syncopating the accents that traditionally marked the first three half beats in the polka, the Negroes made a timid but nonetheless decisive step toward rhythmic emancipation (Hodier 1956: 211).”

Hodier, Andre. 1956. Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence. New York. Grove Press.

“Although jazz is frequently considered America’s main contribution to the world’s musical heritage, an irony exists: much of the information written about jazz is incorrect. Mr. Hodier is either unaware of the facts or chooses to ignore that the “conception of rhythm” he speaks of is present in spirituals. Furthermore, it is known that all of the elements of syncopation have always existed, but sometimes the pupils influenced the teachers. This kind of influence can be noticed in the relationship between Fats Waller and James P. Johnson. Through listening to their individual recordings of “Carolina Shout” one can detect the influence of the student upon the master. Unfortunately, much of the written material on jazz seems to reflect only one aspect of the situation, and this leads to many false premises and assumptions (Taylor 1975: 6)”

Taylor, William “Billy.” The History and Development of Jazz Piano: A New Perspective For Educators. Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press.

Allen, W. F., Ware, C. P., & Garrison, L. M. (1995). Slave songs of the United States. Courier Corporation.

Kraaz, Sarah, M. (Ed.). (2019). Music and War in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.

Southern, Eileen, (1997). The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York, NY: Norton.

H. Wiley Hitchcock papers http://archives.nypl.org/mus/18246

Waza Trumpets of Sudan https://youtu.be/AjFiWHT-Hds

Haitian Rara https://youtu.be/elWgKHHoG-s

Jamaican Jonkanoo https://youtu.be/qGbQpgr5lj8

The United House of Prayer (Holiness) Church of the U.S. Carolinas https://youtu.be/d1QnzTnhcw0

New Orleans Second Line https://youtu.be/6NyzpMpbdzQ