What is March (music)?
[[Image:Welsh guards band on the Mall.JPG|thumb|300px|right|The Band of the Welsh Guards of the British Army play as guardsmen march up the Mall to change the guard at [[Buckingham Palace]]]] In music a '''march''' is a piece of music with a strong marching rhythm. Marches are often written especially so that [[soldier]]s can march to them. Other marches may not be intended for marching, but they still have a strong, regular beat so that people could, if they wanted to, march to the music. Marches are usually 2/4 time (One - two - one - two - left - right - left- right) or 4/4 (the same as two [[bar (music)|bars (measures)]]) although other [[time signature]]s are possible. Marches can be slow marches or quick marches. A slow march may be a [[funeral]] march. [[John Philip Sousa]] was a composer whose marches became extremely popular In [[classical music]] many [[composer]]s wrote marches which are not intended to be marched to, but still give the mood of a march. Some famous examples of funeral marches include the second [[movement (music)|movement]] of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|''Eroica'' Symphony]], the ''Marche funèbre'' (Funeral March) in [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s ''Piano Sonata in B flat minor'', and the ''Dead March'' in [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s [[oratorio]] ''Saul''. [[Gustav Mahler]] often wrote marches in his [[symphony|symphonies]]. Marches often occur in [[opera]]s (e.g.[[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] ''[[Aïda]]''), [[ballet]]s (e.g. [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev's]] ''[[Romeo and Juliet (ballet)|Romeo and Juliet]]'') or, indeed, any kind of music. Music composed for marching uses instruments that soldiers play in marching bands, such as [[brass instrument]]s, [[woodwind instrument]]s including [[fife]], [[snare drum]] and [[bass drum]]. Composers writing marches in classical music may imitate the sound of military bands by using these instruments. March music is often composed for special ceremonial occasions such as [[coronation]]s. [[E