Full Text of HR0761 93rd General Assembly
HR0761 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, America's music commands boundless artistic | 3 |
| reflections of this country's past and future legacies; and
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| WHEREAS, America's music transcends culture, gender, race, | 5 |
| class, and creed, and thrives freely as it is continually | 6 |
| reinvented, rearranged, transformed, and infused by a universe | 7 |
| of memories and imaginations; it draws on the personal | 8 |
| experiences of men and women and aspires to approximate the | 9 |
| complexities of humanity in all degrees of inelegance and | 10 |
| beauty; and
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| WHEREAS, America's music expresses our country's vital | 12 |
| cultural and social identities and empowers us to assert and | 13 |
| preserve our past for the future; it transforms our wondrous | 14 |
| and harsh experiences into potent messages that freely declare | 15 |
| democratic choice and freedom of expression; it inspires social | 16 |
| justice, enlivens collective action, and reflects our nation's | 17 |
| dynamic social movements; and
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| WHEREAS, John Philip Sousa's music embodies the unflagging | 19 |
| spirit of this nation; his music, a product of a renaissance in | 20 |
| American art and technology, affirmed our parents' contagious | 21 |
| patriotism and profound love of country even as they witnessed | 22 |
| the brutalities of a nation at war; his music was a fanfare | 23 |
| about and for all men and women of these United States; his | 24 |
| rousing melodies celebrated the best and worst of our diverse | 25 |
| cultures and emerging histories; Sousa's music, both now and | 26 |
| then, entertained and telegraphed our nation's indomitable | 27 |
| sense of spirit to the world; and
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| WHEREAS, John Philip Sousa performed over 275 concerts in | 29 |
| this great State; his band spread the wealth of his music and a | 30 |
| nation's spirit from the humble banks of Illinois' Wabash to | 31 |
| its mighty Mississippi, and from Chicago's Great Lake to the |
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| Ohio's "La Belle Riviere"; his profound devotion to America | 2 |
| moved him in May of 1917, at the age of 62, to enlist in the | 3 |
| United States Navy and serve as the coordinator of the music | 4 |
| program at Chicago's Great Lakes Naval Training Center; as one | 5 |
| of Illinois' most celebrated residents, Sousa championed music | 6 |
| education throughout the State as well as the nation; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, John Philip Sousa and his band served as the model | 8 |
| for the University of Illinois' innovative band program; the | 9 |
| university's vital band program eventually established the | 10 |
| standard for all college and university bands throughout the | 11 |
| United States; Sousa was named "Honorary Conductor" of the | 12 |
| University's Concert Band on March 20, 1930, and upon his death | 13 |
| in 1932, he bequeathed to the University his band's entire | 14 |
| performance library; he believed his music and legacy could be | 15 |
| preserved only through active performance by a band and its | 16 |
| director as capable as his own ensemble; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, Today the State of Illinois and the University of | 18 |
| Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are home to the single greatest | 19 |
| collection of original music compositions and arrangements by | 20 |
| John Philip Sousa; the university is also the residence of one | 21 |
| of this country's most recognized university bands and music | 22 |
| programs and the largest public university library in the | 23 |
| world; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 25 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 26 |
| declare the month of November American Music Month to celebrate | 27 |
| both John Philip Sousa's birth on November 6, 1854, and his | 28 |
| monumental contributions to America's and the State of | 29 |
| Illinois' music heritage; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That all forms of America's music will be | 31 |
| honored, celebrated, and preserved for future generations as | 32 |
| expressions of the democratic freedoms that John Philip Sousa |
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| so eloquently embodied through his music, and his music remains | 2 |
| a hallmark of this nation's indomitable spirit; and be it | 3 |
| further | 4 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 5 |
| presented to the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music | 6 |
| at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a memento | 7 |
| of the celebration of this month.
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