Answer:
The son of an immigrant Portuguese father and a German mother, Sousa grew up in Washington, D.C., where from the age of six he learned to play the violin and later various band instruments and studied harmony and musical theory first with John Esputa and then with George Felix Benkert. In 1867 he began to follow the career of his father as a trombonist, but later he took engagements as an orchestral violinist and served as a conductor. He also began composing.
