EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor was selected by the President’s Own United States Marine Band to compose a new fanfare for Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration ceremony Wednesday.
Professor of Composition Dr. Kim Archer works in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences Department of Music. She named her composition “Fanfare Politeia” which is translated from Plato’s Greek term for “Republic.”
“This is an incredible honor,” Archer said. “If you had told my 20-year-old self that someday the Marine Band would play my music, much less for a presidential inauguration, I would never have believed it.”
Fanfare Politeia celebrates the United States’ traditions of a free and fair election, and of a peaceful transfer of power.
When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ motorcade made their way to the inauguration, Archer’s composition was the soundtrack to the moment.
“This trumpet fanfare in my ear sounds a lot like John Williams but these trombone parts here which don’t look like much on the screen, they sound like Roman trumpets,” Archer said. “Or Roman fanfare. A little bit like a conquering general coming down the main drag in ancient Rome.”
When she received the news from the United States Marine Band Jan. 2, she began crafting a composition. Days later, the Capitol was ransacked.
Archer’s Fanfare Politeia was performed by the United States Marine Band often referred to as the President’s Own.
Archer’s movement for the 46th President is three minutes of a musical story in modern day America.
“There was a moment when they were playing and they showed Joe Biden’s motorcade coming up and I thought, ‘Wow, the soundtrack to the inauguration’,” Archer said.
Archer’s musical work will be distributed by Murphy Music Press, a Cleveland based music publishing company, which will make the composition available for purchase after the Inauguration.
