BANDS IN BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 102, 4 May 1929, Page 21

BANDS IN BATTLE

MILITARY 3IUSIC

A ROMANTIC STORY

At 11m- JJnCli- „( y.ns;,, : o, Wellington hail suiiie anxious moments; his troupa were dead beat, terribly hungry, and luird pressed by the i'rench. Suddenly he ordered the regimental bands to | go forward and play the National Anjflicin. The effect was electrifying; a ll ranks went about their duty with fresh vigour, fatigue disappeared, hunger was forgotten, and victory secured. At lalavera two bands were entrenched in a ravine, and with their stirring strains the'vic'torv "° illco"sidcraWe part to One of the earliest accounts of tho employment of bands in the field occurs -nn L Ciunese B°ok of War, written i,, th ;m V", tCSi lajl<r T- J- Edwards, „ t c ; rI!V Telt S™ P h.» According to ba- J. Gardner Wilkinson, martial music occupied an important' place in Egyptian affairs about 1600 B C Polybius tells us that when the Romans first came to Britain tho sounds of horns and trumpets terrified the myaders. A few centuries later we find m "Beowulf": They away hurried bitter and angry si"t fant they llMrd tho wS-hora According to Tacitus, the music, of the Britons was not all of the "offence type, and when William the e,c "nlled with music," and one of * nnnstrels led the van of the Battle « i , V' gs Sl"S'"g the "Song o f Belaud." A fillip was given to milltary music later by the crusaders sumo definite formation in the sixteenth century, and a uniform system ot s.gnals by m Usic £ot fic]fl '*£* c ans. lho trumpet, drum, and bagperiod Vei'C instruments at this

Towards the end of tho scvetitenth" Army tlie kcttl^rums of the Eoyal Art llery_ were not carried on horseto Crfrv aY S 4. ° CUStOm in mou>lted bands to-day, but on a grand chariot, drawn Viw ■Vhl, t? borses- According to S> ln "L« Travanx de Mars" (1601) much was expected of the kettledrum men- He "should be a man of courage, preferring to perish in the fight than allow himself and his drums to be captured. H e should have a pleasing motion of the arms, and accurate ear, and take delight in divertinj: bis master by agreeable airs." It is to Frederick the Great that bands,_ as wo know them to-day, owe their inception. H e saw in them a means for making soldiering popular, in addition to their value in rousing the martial spirit. In 1763 he ordered Mat bands were to consist of two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons. The guards' regiments m I'ranco adopted a similar band organisation in 17(3-1, and those in Austria about 1700. It was not until about 1777 that these bands were introduced into England. Gradually they grew in size by the addition of new instruments such as the serpent and the trombone.

Black men as drummers appeared ia Lntisli military bands in the middle of the eighteenth century. Scott, however, introduces these "sable" musicians into "Old Mortality," which gives the impression that they wereemployed much earlier. They were usually dressed in elaborate uniforms and performed extraordinary contortions and evolutions while beating their drums. They also carried the "Jingling Johnnie-"—an ornamental pole, surmounted by a crescent in polished metal, from which bells depended., The black men ceased to be employed in. 1843. A survival of their employment is to bo found in the infantry drummer's leopard skin, still worn, and tha "swinging of the sticks." The French Revolution gave- a great impetus to military music, and under Napolcoti military bauds made great strides, the influence of which was felt in our own army. The militia and volunteers were also affected, and eminent local musicians came to 'be iv charge of their bands. By 1523 bands had become so necessary to military life that the "War Office ordered ail officers to contribute towards the support of a regimental band. Valve instruments were introduced into England in IS3O, first of all as a "great secret." Lord Cathcart, then. British Minister at St. Petersburg, being much impressed by the playing of the band of the Imperial Guards, ascertained that their trumpeters were using a new contrivance. His commendations so pleased the Emperor that lie promised Cathcart a present of a s3< of these- "chromatic trumpets" ou condition that lie kept tho idea secret. Cathcart was colonel of the 2nd Lif« Guards, and as they played in publio a. good deal it was impossible to keep the secret long. Soon after this the cornet was invented, and in 18-15 Adolphe Sax patented his "Saxhorns." by which military bands were soon augmented.