Sketcher.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 378, 6 August 1903, Page 2

Sketcher.

; BANDS. S| John Philip Sousa j <*&;: early history of music fit Vague Jjilo and indefinite, but it has existed r&Ls ?rom time immemorial, and the origin of the military band tales us back to the most remote antiquity. Every nation in - olden times had its peculiar instruments a;id its national so'sgs. The Romans took cities to the sound of the trumpet and the bora'";"the Egyptians, Arabians and ancient Germans met in combat to the music of the .flute; the drum, toe cymbal and the clarion , while the Chinese war-music employed bells and triang ' ei,* '"*"'"*" " - - .-, Instruments of percussion, such as drums, cymbals, etc, which were doubtless ..taken from the clapping of the hands, are the oldest. Wind instrumented" said to have been suggested by the.blowing of the wind through reeds and bushes, came next in order, and, lastly, camVthe string instruments,': which" i\ro comparatively modern inventions. The drum seems to have been employed in all kinds of primitive music, and was. familiar in the east from the remotest ages, whan savage tribes used them sin their religious rites. In ancient times' each •-instrument had its peculiar distinction!' With the Ramans,the cornet called the : tim'a;. of decampment,', the bugle announced the coming of; the general, the trumpet indicated the assembling of the troopV and the horn sounded the signal of retrWati" - \' i The Hibrews also employed military music from an early date, and the Bible •refers to the comet, flute, , sftckabut, psaltery and dulcimer. ' The' cornet of biblical times was nothing lika the; modern instrument of : the same- name, but was fashioned with a curved tube about three feet long, increasing in diamater. The sackbut was the predecessor of the modern trombone, which it somewfcaViesembled. *.. . * ■ • * •.-', Alter the ."fall of the Roman empire, , military music seemed to lapse andiitt was not until about the.middle of the 14bt: century that it was reviyed among the Italians, and soon extended itself among the nations of Europe.; At th'eWnd of the 15 ch century, they began to use regular band music in the army. In 1535, the Sriea introduced into Prance the fife, which served to accompany the drums, and the instrument has retained, its place in military service to the pr. sent day. In the Vi ch. century, the Germans evolved the. hautboy from the ancient cornet. From Hungary came the kettle-drum and the bassoon; the modern, horn from Hanover, »nd the cymbals,, and big drums from Turkey. The adoption of the cymbals, bass drUm and the kettle-drum at one time gave the nama of Turkish music to the military band. The combination of these instruments with the trumpet constituted, at the beginning of the 18ch century,, practically the entire scheme of military music. The clarinet, which was invented by Johann Christopf Banner of Nuremburg in 1690, was not received into the military band until 1765, having been followed by the serpent, the triangle (which> was the cymbals of the Middle Ages), and the trombone. Daring the reign of Louis XVI. ef France military bands were regularly organised and appointed to. each regiment in the French, army, and Fiederick the Great also took a lively interest in military music. It is related that the band of the Coldstream Guards of the British household troops in 1783 consisted of '24 men and three negroes with tambourines and crescents.' It is only since the beginning of the last century that military music has been truly developed. The introduction of many improvements in the manfacture of instruments and the invention of various new instruments made a the military harmony bj- augmenting- .the resources and adding power to the effect, of the wind band. To Adolph ; Sax, a Frenchman, and William Wieprecht, a Garman, more than to any other men, is due the credit for the development of the military band, S x and his father are largely.; responsible for the introduction of valves in wind instrument?, and they also invented a number of improved methods of making clarinets. Six invented several entire families'of brass instruments, such as the saxhorns and saxophones, Saxhorns, including the alto and baritone, the euphonium and bombardon, added greatly to;the compass, richness and flexibility of the military brass and reed hands. The saxophones ate of great value in military combinations, r.b they reproduce on a magnificent scale the 'cello quality of tone and give great sustaining power to the full chorus of brass instruments. To William Wieprecht is due the evolution of the serpent and ophicleide into the modern tuba, ■--■-■

Military music having attained a high degree of excellence, it began to develop along the lines of concert music, which necessitated a rearrangement of the in r strumentation of military bands for concert purposes. Criticß at home and abroad, daring my various tours,- have teen good enough to say that the band I have conducted lor the last 10 years may be accepted as the ideal wind- orchestra because of the richness and variety of its tone color and the artistic nuances of which it is capable, and it may, therefore, be interesting to note the instrumentation I employ. The arrangement of my forces is modelled upon the orchestral formation, a great body of clarinets taking the place of the first and|ecpnd violins and violas' of the string band. The instrumentation of the Sousa band includes 12 B-nat clarinets, one E-ftat, one alto and one brass clarinet, two bassoons, two oboes, one sorrusophono, four flutes and piccolos, one English horn, four saxophones, four cornets, two trumpets, one fluegelhorn, two euphoniums, four trombones, four French horns, four tubas and three drums (tympani, small drum and bass drum ) Miny of these instruments are. of s'range shapes, and the purposes and use are unfamiliar to most lovers 'of band music , . .. The various reed instruments extend, like the strings, over the whole compass of the orchestra The clarinets and saxophones are played with a single reed, while the oboes, bassoons, <dic., omploy a double reed. No other wind instrument possesses in the same degree as the clarinet the power of graduating its tone. Any nuance from double forte to double piano is possible upon it, and for this reaeon the clarinet is regardedjthe most valuable member of the wind orchestral force. The tone of the clarinet blends excel!' lently with ail other wind instruments The Bb clarinet is the principal member of the reed family in the military concert band, while the Eb, or petit clarinet, is to be found only in the military instrumentation, not being' adapted for orchestral work. The alto clarinet is a perfect fifth below the whila the member of the family, the bass clarinet, is an octave in pitch below the I ordinary Bb, r