Edwin Franko Goldman (1878-1956) was one of America’s premiere bandmasters.  He was born in Lexington, Kentucky to a musical family.  They moved to New York in his youth, where he studied composition with Antonin Dvorak and later began his career playing trumpet in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.  In 1911, he formed the organization that would become the Goldman Band, a professional concert band that played outdoor concerts in New York City.  He also founded the American Bandmasters Association, an important and exclusive professional organization for band directors.  Through these groups, Goldman would commission and premiere numerous new works that are now standard repertoire for wind bands.  He was also a composer in his own right, with over 150 original works to his name.

On the Mall was a Goldman Band signature, and may be one of the most recognizable marches in the repertoire. In a revised edition from 2004, Edward Lisk provides the following program note:

On the Mall, Edwin Franko Goldman’s most popular march, was composed in 1923 for the dedication of the splendid new bandstand in New York City’s Central Park, where the famous Goldman Band had given its summer concerts for many years. This concert version is the one used by Dr. Goldman in his own renditions at the Mall concerts.

The march derives its name from the Park’s spacious Mall or Promenade, where the bandstand is located, and where thousands of New Yorkers gathered to stroll or listen to the strains of melodious music.

On the Mall is a musical suggestion of the enthusiasm and spirit of the huge audiences, which attended these concerts. Its animation and cheerfulness are direct and spontaneous and it never fails to arouse in the auditors a mood of brisk alertness – a definite indication of a truly great march.

The enjoyment derived from joining in the singing and whistling refrains has further endeared this march to millions of music lovers. The march enjoys enormous and deserved popularity.

Here is the Goldman Band, led by the composer, playing a recorded version of On the Mall.

Here is another recording, done by Frederick Fennell with the Eastman Wind Ensemble:

Even though you do not hear them in either of these recordings, there are lyrics to the trio section of On the Mall, written by Goldman’s wife, Adelaide Maibrunn:

On a peaceful summer evening when the sun has set,
And the care of the day linger yet,

Don’t be sad and don’t be tired, there’s a place to go
Where there’s rest brought by sweet music’s flow;

‘Neath the trees with shadows dark the starry sky above,
There is calm, there is peace, there is love,

There, forgetting work and trouble, all may claim a share
Of Joy, Hope, and Courage rare.

The astute listener may also have noticed differences in the two performances of this march. Christian Wilhjelm, the last conductor of the Goldman Memorial Band, provides an insight into that band’s performance traditions with On the Mall, as they had been passed down since Goldman’s lifetime. (Measure numbers refer to the 2004 Lisk edition):

On the Mall is played as written for the most part until the trio, with the exception of two minor details:

  1. Measure 27; the cymbal should let it ring on the first best.
  2. Measure 43; beat 2: the trombones and euphoniums should bring out their answer figure and play the downbeat of m. 44 long with a tenuto over the note.

The trio contains extensive changes that will enhance the effectiveness of this charming tune:

  1. First time through the trio, at m. 58: the euphonium soloist should play only those answer phrases marked “solo.” Otherwise, only the tubas and horns and essential percussion play, everyone else sings the melody on “la” with the audience. All of the flute players take piccolos and prepare to play the second strain (to the end of the march).
  2. Second time through the trio at m. 58: the euphonium soloist plays the obbligato part provided. As before the tubas, horns, and percussion perform their printed parts. All piccolos stand and play the tunes while all other band members whistle with the audience.
  3. On the final strain when the trio melody is played a final time (m. 103) the full band plays for four measures then the entire band sings “la” for four measures (no one plays – no exceptions, with the slight exception that the tubas play the descending line starting on the “and” of one in m. 117). This trading of playing four/singing four continues until the pick-up to m. 127 when the full band plays to the end, but the conductor encourages the audience to sing the last four-measure phrase of the melody.

Read more about Goldman and his band.  If you’re looking for more information on the Goldman Band, look at print sources like Frank Battisti’s The Winds of Change or Richard Hansen’s The American Wind Band: A Cultural History. The websites that do exist (goldmanband.org and goldmanband.net) are relics from the Band’s acrimonious last days in 2005 (and have not been updated since), and they contain little in the way of history.