Sousa ranked as one of the all-time great trapshooters and was enshrined in the Trapshooting Hall of Fame.
 He organized the first national trapshooting organization, a forerunner to today's Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA).
He also wrote numerous articles about trapshooting.
He was a regular competitor representing the Navy in trapshooting competitions, particularly against the Army.
Records indicate that he registered more than 35,000 targets during his shooting career. "
Let me say that just about the sweetest music to me is when I call, 'pull,' the old gun barks, and the referee in perfect key announces, 'dead'."

In his 1902 novella The Fifth String, a virtuoso violinist makes a deal with the Devil for a magic violin with five strings.
The first four strings excite the emotions of Pity, Hope, Love, and Joy, but the fifth string, made from the hair of Eve, will cause the player's death once played.
The violinist wins the love of the woman he desires, but out of jealous suspicion, she commands him to play the death string, which he does.
He published Pipetown Sandy in 1905, which includes a satirical poem titled "The Feast of the Monkeys".
He wrote a 40,000-word story entitled "The Transit of Venus" in 1920.
He also wrote the booklet "A manual for trumpet and drum", published by the Ludwig drum company with advice for playing drums and trumpet.
An early version of the trumpet solo to "Semper Fidelis" was included in this volume.

Sousa held a very low opinion of the emerging recording industry and he derided recordings as "canned music", a reference to the early wax cylinder records that came in can-like cylindrical cardboard boxes.
He argued to a congressional hearing in 1906:
These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country.
When I was a boy… in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs.
Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day.
We will not have a vocal cord left.
The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.

Sousa's antipathy to recording was such that he did not conduct his band when it was being recorded.
Nevertheless, the band made numerous recordings, the earliest being issued on cylinders by several companies, followed by many recordings on discs by the Berliner Gramophone Company and its successor the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor).
The Berliner recordings were conducted by Henry Higgins (one of Sousa's cornet soloists) and Arthur Pryor (Sousa's trombone soloist and assistant conductor).
Sousa claimed that he had "never been in the gramophone company's office in my life".
Sousa did conduct a few of the Victor recordings, but most were conducted by Pryor, Herbert L. Clarke, Edwin H. Clarke, Walter B. Rogers (who had also been a cornet soloist with Sousa), Rosario Bourdon, Josef Pasternack, or Nathaniel Shilkret.
Details of the Victor recordings are available in the external link below to the EDVR.

Sousa also appeared with his band in newsreels and on radio broadcasts, beginning with a 1929 nationwide broadcast on NBC.
In 1999, "Legacy" Records released some of his historic recordings on CD.
Sousa ranked as one of the all-time great trapshooters and was enshrined in the Trapshooting Hall of Fame.  He organized the first national trapshooting organization, a forerunner to today's Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA). He also wrote numerous articles about trapshooting. He was a regular competitor representing the Navy in trapshooting competitions, particularly against the Army. Records indicate that he registered more than 35,000 targets during his shooting career. "Let me say that just about the sweetest music to me is when I call, 'pull,' the old gun barks, and the referee in perfect key announces, 'dead'."
In his 1902 novella The Fifth String, a virtuoso violinist makes a deal with the Devil for a magic violin with five strings. The first four strings excite the emotions of Pity, Hope, Love, and Joy, but the fifth string, made from the hair of Eve, will cause the player's death once played. The violinist wins the love of the woman he desires, but out of jealous suspicion, she commands him to play the death string, which he does. He published Pipetown Sandy in 1905, which includes a satirical poem titled "The Feast of the Monkeys". He wrote a 40,000-word story entitled "The Transit of Venus" in 1920. He also wrote the booklet "A manual for trumpet and drum", published by the Ludwig drum company with advice for playing drums and trumpet. An early version of the trumpet solo to "Semper Fidelis" was included in this volume.
Sousa held a very low opinion of the emerging recording industry and he derided recordings as "canned music", a reference to the early wax cylinder records that came in can-like cylindrical cardboard boxes. He argued to a congressional hearing in 1906:
These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy… in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.
Sousa's antipathy to recording was such that he did not conduct his band when it was being recorded. Nevertheless, the band made numerous recordings, the earliest being issued on cylinders by several companies, followed by many recordings on discs by the Berliner Gramophone Company and its successor the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor). The Berliner recordings were conducted by Henry Higgins (one of Sousa's cornet soloists) and Arthur Pryor (Sousa's trombone soloist and assistant conductor). Sousa claimed that he had "never been in the gramophone company's office in my life". Sousa did conduct a few of the Victor recordings, but most were conducted by Pryor, Herbert L. Clarke, Edwin H. Clarke, Walter B. Rogers (who had also been a cornet soloist with Sousa), Rosario Bourdon, Josef Pasternack, or Nathaniel Shilkret. Details of the Victor recordings are available in the external link below to the EDVR.
Sousa also appeared with his band in newsreels and on radio broadcasts, beginning with a 1929 nationwide broadcast on NBC. In 1999, "Legacy" Records released some of his historic recordings on CD.
John Philip Sousa