 In contrast, John Philip Sousa used practically seamless phrasing.The harmonic progressions of American march music are well-grounded in the archetypal harmonic techniques of the times in which they were written.In summary, most American marches use seemingly simple chord progressions for the sake of creating a melodically pleasing sound, however composers often complemented their marches with interesting chords and rapid chord changes—using chromatic harmonies, sevenths extensions, and secondary dominants.