This march was awarded first prize in the 1930 American Golden Jubilee National Music Competition and was published the same year in the first edition of the American Festival Series. It was subsequently re-printed in the General Series of 1984. Soderstrom’s imaginative use of syncopation and chromatic harmony brought a new, American sound to the Salvation Army march. For example, he took the old Salvation Army fight song Hark, hark my soul written and changes its metre from 6/8 to 4/4 while also syncopating it!
