Facts & Photos

A Band with a Mission
In its dedication to playing great marching band music, the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band has remained seated since 1984. This spirited 40-piece brass and wind band plays rousing classics from the golden age of band music: 1890 to 1945. The infectious enthusiasm and good will of this community band never fails to put a smile on its listeners' faces.

A Fearless Leader
Liz Dreisbach, the band's founder and director, is an accomplished clarinetist and saxophonist with a masters degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. She has played and taught at festivals across the United States, England, and Hong Kong. Liz plays Yiddish and Sephardic Jewish music with the Kosher Red Hots. She also programmed the Northwest Folklife Festival for seven years where every year she put nearly 1200 music, dance and story telling performances on stages.

A Sedentary Majorette
Majorette Edith Farrar has literally caused audience members to leap to their feet while admiring (and avoiding) her fabulous twirling trickery.

Who's in this band, anyway?
The cast (more or less) of characters and the instruments they play.

Repertoire
Some of the terrific music favored by the band:

• The Stars and Stripes Forever (John Philip Sousa)
• The Washington Post March (John Philip Sousa)
• The Liberty Bell March (John Philip Sousa)
• The Thunderer (John Philip Sousa)
• The Circus Bee (Henry Fillmore)
• His Honor (Henry Fillmore)
• The Squealer (Henry Fillmore)
• Barnum & Bailey's Favorite (Karl King)
• Under the Double Eagle (Josef Franz Wagner)
• Amparito Roca (Jaime Texidor)

The Ballard Sedentary Drill Team
We are often joined at our concerts by an enthusiastic drill team made up of audience members, under the leadership of our Sedentary Majorette. To find out more about this, you'll have to see us in concert.

The Big Shows
There are certain times and places where you can always expect to find the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band:

• The Ballard Syttende Mai (May 17th) Parade, honoring Norwegian Independence Day. (The band rides on a flatbed truck.)
• The Northwest Folklife Festival (late May)
• The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks summer concert series
• The John Philip Sousa Birthday Bash (Early November)

Check the concert schedule for exact times and places of these and other events.

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