Circus music is any sort of music that is played to accompany a circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

, and also music written that emulates its general style. The most common type of circus music is the circus march

March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

, or screamer

Screamer (march)

A screamer is a descriptive name for a circus march, in particular, an upbeat march intended to stir up the audience during the show.- History :...

, which are marches played at very fast tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

s. Popular music would also often get arranged for the circus band, as well as waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

es, foxtrots and other dances. Such bands would accompany the acts, as well as giving a B-flat chord

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 as a stinger

Sting (musical phrase)

A sting is a short musical phrase, primarily used in television shows and films as a form of punctuation—for example at the end of a scene, or as a dramatic climax is imminent...

 (usually onomatopoeically rendered into English as "ta-daa") to signify a successful trick.

The two best known circus marches are Entrance of the Gladiators

Entrance of the Gladiators

"Entrance of the Gladiators" or "Entry of the Gladiators" is a military march composed in 1897 by the Czech composer Julius Fučík...

 by Julius Fučík

Julius Fucík (composer)

Julius Arnost Wilhelm Fučík was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands.Fučík spent most of his life as the leader of military brass bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 300 marches, polkas, and waltzes to his name...

 (known to some as Thunder and Blazes, or Entry of the Gladiators), and Barnum and Bailey's Favorite

Barnum and Bailey's Favorite

Barnum and Bailey's Favorite is a circus march written by Karl King for the circus of the same name in 1913.-Composition of the march:Barnum and Bailey's Favorite, often referred to as "The Granddaddy of Circus Marches", was composed by Karl King in 1913 and was published through C. L. Barnhouse...

by Karl King

Karl King

Karl L. King was a United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of Barnum and Bailey's Favorite.-Biography:...

. Also, 'Sobre las Olas

Sobre las Olas

The waltz "Sobre las Olas" is the best known work of Mexican composer Juventino Rosas . It "remains one of the most famous Latin American pieces worldwide," according to the "Latin America" article in The Oxford Companion to Music.It was first published by Rosas in 1888...

', or 'Over the Waves', is a popular waltz used during trapeze shows. Mistakenly thought to be a waltz by Strauss, it was written by Mexican composer Juventino Rosas

Juventino Rosas

José Juventino Policarpo Rosas Cadenas was a Mexican composer and violinist.-Life and career:Rosas was born in Santa Cruz de Galeana, Guanajuato, now renamed Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas. Rosas began his musical career as a street musician and playing with dance music bands in Mexico City...

. Many other composers were well known for writing screamers, among them Fred Jewell

Fred Jewell

Frederick Alton Jewell, born 1875 in Worthington, Indiana, was a prolific musical composer who wrote over 100 marches and screamers, including:*Battle Royal *Floto's Triumph *Quality Plus *E Pluribus Unum *Supreme Triumph...

 and Henry Fillmore

Henry Fillmore

Henry Fillmore was an American musician, composer, publisher, and bandleader, best-known for his many marches and screamers.-Biography:James Henry Fillmore Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio as the eldest of five children...

. One piece, however, that was never normally played was John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....

's Stars and Stripes Forever. Instead, it was used in emergencies, such as animals getting loose, to help signify to workers that something was wrong.

Music that imitates or evokes the sound of the circus has also been written, often showing up in film scores, some dedicated to the subject and some not. Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

 famously wrote a theme for the movie Gremlins

Gremlins

Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...

in such a style, which influenced the film makers to an extent.