"The Stars and Stripes Forever." It's the official march of the United States and it's John Philip Sousa's most famous composition. You've probably heard it before, even if you don't know it by name.

All of his life, John Philip Sousa loved music and loved America, so it's no surprise that he wrote this patriotic classic. Sousa grew up in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. As a kid, he enjoyed hearing the Civil War military bands that filled the streets of Washington as well as the sounds of his father's trombone. His father played in the U.S. Marine Band and Sousa quickly followed in his footsteps. Sousa first enlisted in the Marine Band as an apprentice violinist and later became the bandleader. When Sousa wasn't playing with a band, he was writing music, like "The Stars and Stripes Forever." By the 1890s he had written enough popular marches to be nicknamed the "March King."