PERSPECTIVES ON MILITARY MUSIC
Jack Kopstein
Chapter 1
Signs Of War
WHEN we read of “military music”, we instinctively visualize “the pomp and circumstance of glorious war”. It is true that the term strictly belongs to the music of the armed throng, but the expression in this sense, is almost a misnomer, since it has come to signify any combination of wood-wind, brass and percussion instruments, as distinct from the so-called “string band” or orchestra. Indeed, it has been claimed that the phrase “wind band” would be more acceptable because the brass band could also find inclusion under such a label. So nevertheless, the fact remains that the modern military band, in its wider significance, was cradled, nurtured and developed to its present perfection under the need and stress of martial array. Yet, strange as it may seem, we have no modern history of its development.
Over half a century ago, a well-known army bandmaster J.A.Kappey, pointed out how serious was this flaw in our histories of music. “While historians”, he wrote, “reveled in descriptions of the grandeur of ecclesiastic compositions, of the music of the princely palaces or the royal playhouses, the music of the people has been passed over with almost contemptuous indifference, and it seems as if they were, so to say, ashamed to mention the poor cousin who found inspiration in the open air, or went ‘a-soldiering’. “Since those days, our ideas of the military band have changed materially, and its music has, finally, come into its own. In feudal days, kings and those of a like estate took unto themselves the trumpet’s blast as a royal prerogative, and nobody save those of the courtly circle dared to sound the silver, snarling trumpets”. Thus trumpet bands were developed by the elect, and courts the world over used their brilliant fanfares, not merely as “sonorous metal blowing martial sounds”, but as a recognized part of regal insignia. The incisive flourish at a King’s oral proclamation became as confirmative an essential item as the impressed seal; upon an indicted royal decree. Those of lesser social dignity had to be content with the coarser-sounding horn. Needless to say, both of these instruments played an important part in time of war, where their potency In conveying signals and in daunting the enemy is often paraded in martial annals.
In castles and fortified towns, other military musicians kept watch from towers and blew horns when danger threatened. They were called “Waits” in Britain, a name that still survives in the nocturnal musicians who serenade at Christmas time. It was no different on the Continent. in the Netherlands we read that “die Wachter blaest sines horen”; in Flanders that the Wettes did a like duty; in Germany that the Turmer or tower-men sounded their horns at specific hours, which was precisely the function of the Waits in England.
In the actual military array proper of western Europe, only trumpets and horns were used until the eleventh century, and this is what we see with the Crusaders when they took the field against the Saracens. In the French Romans d’Alexandre (1180) we read of cors, buisnes and grailes. It was no better with the English, whose valiant king Richard marshaled his warriors to the sounds of the tuba, lituus and buccina. In the opposing Saracen army there was a much wider range of instruments in the trumpet (nafir), horn (buq), reedpipe (zamr), shawm( surnay), drum (tabl), kettledrum (naqqara), cymbals (sunuj), and bells (jalajil)). Further, their players were organized into a band which played unceasingly during the conflict for tactical purposes. As a result of the impingement of Oriental ideas on the Occident we find the latter adopting this new use of military music together with such instruments as the anafil, naker, and sonajas, whose very names tell of their Arabic origin.
As we have seen, it was only the king’s trumpets which sounded in battle, but now all kinds of shawms, reedpipes, horns and drums were employed separately as a military band. If the former conveyed the “signs of war”, it was the latter which inflamed the souls of the warriors and created fear and in the enemy.
Although Chaucer tells us that there were the instruments in the battle that “blew terrible sounds”, they were also used in combination by wandering minstrels who roamed through the countryside, and could be heard in courtyards and in castles and market squares.
It was in the hands of the minstrels that the entire aspects of music changed. They were the first “road bands” touring through many countries picking up exotic musical forms and fresh ideas for lyrics , the music, and the rhythm .Their work was met with a formidable foe in the church and state who became alarmed because their interests were undermined by the newcomers who provided popular music as opposed to secular. Out of this repressive order grew the music Guilds which eventually became the source for the various combinations of trumpeters, minstrel groups and town bands. In Germany the Guilds were very well supported by patrons. The members were trained in various musical duties and required special diplomas after four years of study to gain acceptance to the Guilds. The minstrel guild system played a very big part in the development of wind music and the wind ensemble.
The princely houses of Europe had very well defined instrumental combinations. For example King Edward III of England had as his “Musik”, 5 trumpets,2 clarions,5 pipes, 3 waits and a drum available for outdoor music. Under Edward IV court minstrels consisted of thirteen players, trumpets, shawms and small pipes. The trombone (sakbut) made its appearance later in the realm Henry VII where there were 9 trumpets, and shawms. The trombone was the natural bass instrument for this combination.
A brief review of “Military Music” attests to the influence of the Renaissance in Europe. The rebirth of the classical art of war led to the return of the ancient concept of martial music and the replacement of regal trumpets and leather-lunged minstrels with instrumentalists attached to units of cavalry and infantry. Military textbooks within the period of the Renaissance are abundantly filled with information as to what was required of military musicians.
The Swabian infantry of Maximilian had a drummer and fifer in each company of foot and a trumpeter in each troop of Horse. In the realm of Francis I of France there were two fifers and 4 tambourines allowed to every thousand men. In England the allocation was more generous as in 1557 a regiment of foot might have a drum and fife band of twelve players.
There was much in the pomp of war to keep such combinations busy. The playing of marches was a necessity and was described in Garrard’s Art of Warre(1591) when he said “According to the stroke of the drum,…so shall they go, just and even, with a gallant and sumptuous pace, for by doing so they shall be honored and commended of the lookers on, who shall take wonderful delight to behold them. This reference is the first notation on what is known today as a Ceremonial parade. Classical music contained several snippets of military music. The music heard in Jannequin’s Bataille 1515 contained French Cavalry calls. Many of the marches were unpretentious and were simple tunes and airs which had a spirited melody and with the addition of rhythmic figurations made them popular among troops.
The growth of military band music also had an impact on the rise of the town bands in Europe. As early as the fourteenth century the waits or watch-tower musicians were combining with the pipes to provide entertainment for the citizenry. This led to the pipers being termed “bandsmen” for the town bands and began to include, fifes, shawms, cornett and crumhorne (a double reed instrument ) trombone and drum. A drawing by Durer at Nuremberg of a town band at about 1423 shows a shawm, 2 bombards (very early Tuba) 2 trombones, a fife and a drum. In the Netherland we find 6 to 9 stadspipers.
