 Most marches follow a fairly strict structure known as the march music form, the origins of which appear to be derived from the sonata form, as these two forms share similar ideas of contrasting sections.The period of early development of the true march music form denotes the start of the march music era in the US by the 1850s; eventually the form was standardized by John Philip Sousa.While the form varies among different styles of march music, all marches have these common elements