Military band

Military Band

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Military band

2007]] A military band is a group of personnel that perform musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors....
. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments with a few Brass instruments. The conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster

Bandmaster

A bandmaster is the leader and conducting of a band , usually a military band or marching band....
or Director of Music

Director of Music

A Director of Music may be:*The head of the music department in a school*The co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college ...
. Ottoman military band

Ottoman military band

Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of Military band marching band in the world. Though they are often known by the Persian language-derived word mahtar in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band....
s are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world. The military band should be capable of playing ceremonial and marching music, including the national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotism musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people....
s and patriotic songs of not only their own nation but others as well, both while stationary and as a marching band.

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Military Bandmaster

Encyclopedia

2007]] A military band is a group of personnel that perform musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces

Armed forces

Conducting

Bandmaster

A bandmaster is the leader and conducting of a band , usually a military band or marching band....
or Director of Music

Director of Music

A Director of Music may be:*The head of the music department in a school*The co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college ...
. Ottoman military band

Ottoman military band

The military band should be capable of playing ceremonial and marching music, including the national anthem

National anthem

Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony marking a person's death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour....
ceremonies. There are two types of historical traditions in military bands. The first is military field music. This type of music includes bugle

Bugle (instrument)

The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch....
s (or other natural instruments such as natural trumpet

Natural trumpet

A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series .The natural trumpet was originally used as a military instrument to facilitate communication ....
s or natural horn

Natural horn

The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day Horn , and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell....
s), bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reed fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes have historically been found throughout Europe, and into Northern Africa, the Persian...
, or fifes

Fife (musical instrument)

A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in Military band and marching bands....
and almost always drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
s, the latter two being organised into Corps of Drums

Corps of Drums

A Corps of Drums is a type of military band, which originated in European Army in the 16th century. The main instruments of a Corps of Drums are the drum and the flute or Fife ....
. This type of music was used to control troops on the battlefield as well as for entertainment. Following the development of instruments such as the keyed trumpet

Keyed trumpet

The keyed trumpet is a brass instrument that, contrary to the traditional trumpet, uses keys. The keyed trumpet is rarely seen in modern performances, but was relatively common up until the introduction of the valved trumpet in the early nineteenth century....
or the saxhorn

Saxhorn

The saxhorn is a valved brass instrument with a tapered bore and deep cup-shaped mouthpiece . The sound has a characteristic mellow quality, and blends well with other brass....
family of brass instruments, a second tradition of the all brass military band was formed.

During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
most Union regiments had both types of groups within the unit. However, due to changes in military tactics

Military tactics

Military tactics are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an Enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics....
by the end of World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
field musical had been mostly phased out in favor of the brass bands. These performed in a concert setting for entertainment, as well as continued to perform drill and martial events. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, these bands were increased in instrumentation to include woodwinds, which gives us the modern military band in the United States, as well as the basis for high school

High school

High school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides all or part of secondary education. The term originated in Scotland and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop the...
and college

College

File:Government college for Women Dhoke Kala Khan.JPGCollege is a term most often used today to denote an education institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of collegialitys, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals....
marching bands and concert band

Concert band

A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, or wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family and percussion instrument family....
s.

Field music is still popular at ceremonial functions, with many organizations such as police, fire, and veterans groups maintaining pipe and drum, fife and drum, or drum and bugle corps.

In the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
, the band is attached to the headquarters element and one of its duties is to provide security for the command post. Regular British Army

British Army

The British Army is the Army branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707....
musicians are all members of the Corps of Army Music

Corps of Army Music

The Corps of Army Music is a corps of the British Army. It was formed in 1994 as an umbrella organisation, centred on the Royal Military School of Music, to oversee the 29 new permanent military band formed following Options for Change, although each band continues to wear the capbadges and Full dress uniforms associated with the corps or re...
. As a secondary role they are trained to work in NBC 'Casualty Decontamination Areas'. Modern-day military musicians often perform a variety of other styles of music in different ensembles, from chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber....
to rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
. During World War II, The Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra, better known as The Squadronaires

The Squadronaires

The Squadronaires was a Royal Air Force band which began and performed in England during and after World War II. The official title of the band was The Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra, but it was always known by the more popular title "The Squadronaires"....
, served to entertain troops and support morale. In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, massed military bands perform at Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour is a military ceremony performed by regiments of the Commonwealth of Nations and the British Army. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments for centuries and it was first performed during the reign of Charles II of England....
, an annual ceremonial held every June on Horse Guards Parade

Horse Guards Parade

Horse Guards Parade is a large Parade off Whitehall in central London, at British national grid reference system . It was formerly the site of the Whitehall Palace's tiltyard, where tournament s were held in the time of Henry VIII of England....
to mark the official Queen's Birthday celebrations.

The term "military band" may also be applied to civilian marching bands that play military-style music, march in mostly straight-line formations and have similar instrumentation. The beat of the marching band is typically between 116 and 120 beats per minute, the normal military marching pace.

External links

- Information Website
- Traditions and Customs (Corps march and song)

Military band

See also

External links