"Rolling Thunder" is the classic example of a "screamer" - an upbeat circus march intended to excite the audience during the show. Editor Richard Sargeant has produced this newly engraved score using the original parts issued by the composer's publishing concern Fillmore Brothers in 1916. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.

Of Fillmore's fifteen band pieces featuring trombones - popularly known as 'trombone smears' - "Lassus Trombone" is easily the most famous, though it was neither first or last in the series, which occupied their composer from 1908 to 1929. Along with the featured trombone glissandi (smears), the work has a distinctly ragtime character. Fillmore was a circus band composer, and slapstick aspect of the trombone smears were the perfect accompaniment to the antics of the clowns. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.

Fillmore composed a total of fifteen band pieces featuring trombones - popularly known as 'trombone smears' - between 1908 to 1929. Composed in 1911, "Teddy Trombone" was second in the series, which was launched three years before with Miss Trombone. Written in the ragtime style so popular at the time, the trombone 'smears' (glissandi) give the work a humorous charcter in keeping with the circus performances it was composed for. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.

Fillmore composed a total of fifteen band pieces featuring trombones - popularly known as 'trombone smears' - between 1908 to 1929. "Miss Trombone," subtitled "A Slippery Rag" was the first of the series. Written in the ragtime style so popular at the time, the trombone 'smears' (glissandi) give the work a humorous charcter in keeping with the circus performances it was composed for. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.

"Troopers Tribunal," a classic circus march, is one of the very earliest items from Fillmore. The title actually is a pun for "troupers" - as in a circus troupe. Fillmore joined a circus as bandmaster after his graduation from the Cincinnati Conservatory and used "troopers" to hide the circus association from his disapproving father. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.

Composed in February of 1908, The Circus Bee was Fillmore's first march to be published after leaving his father's music publishing firm in 1905 - over differences about the suitability of band music (Fillmore Brothers was founded by his father and uncles as a publisher of religious music) and Henry's running off to marry the 'exotic dancer' Mabel May Jones and joining the Lemon Brothers Circus. By 1908, the composer returned to Cincinnati with his new wife, rejoined the family business and launched a career as a composer of band music whose popularity was exceeded only by that of Sousa. This is a newly-engraved and meticulously edited score prepared by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr.

Fillmore composed a total of fifteen band pieces featuring trombones - popularly known as 'trombone smears' - between 1908 to 1929. "Slim Trombone," from 1918, was sixth in the series. Written in the ragtime style so popular at the time, the trombone 'smears' (glissandi) give the work a humorous charcter in keeping with the circus performances it was composed for. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.