TwoJackLake
  • The lyrics to “America the Beautiful” were written by Katharine Lee Bates an English professor at Wellesley College near Boston, Massachusetts.
  • In 1893 she took a trip across the country to teach summer school at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. After a trip to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado she was so inspired by the view and from her cross-country trip that she put her experiences into a poem called  America the Beautiful.
  • Her poem, America the Beautiful first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. 
  • Several pieces of music were used to go with the poem but Samuel A. Ward’s hymn tune, “Materna” written in 1882 (nearly a decade before the poem was written) became the official music for America the Beautiful in about 1910 and is still the popular tune used today. Ward died in 1903, not knowing how famous his music had become.
  • Over the years there have been efforts made to use "America the Beautiful" in place of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the National Anthem because it is easier to sing, more melodic, and less connected to the idea of war.

PERFORMANCE TIPS

  • FLATS! FLATS! FLATS!  look out for the FLATS!!!!
  • If the notes seem too high or to low for you play the itty bitty notes; they work just as well.
  • 4X (Optional) means you can play it 4 times as there are 4 sets of Lyrics.  But you don’t have to.
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[Free Band Music]
[America The Beautiful]
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FINDING MUSIC FOR YOUR INSTRUMENT

  • Find your Instrument in one of the colored boxes.
  • Click on the box and the music for your instrument will pop-up.
  • NOTE:  You’ll need Adobe Acrobat to see, download, and print out the music.