A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world, dating from the 1200s [1].
The military band should be capable of playing ceremonial and marching music, including the national anthems and patriotic songs of not only their own nation but others as well, both while stationary and as a marching band. Military bands also play a part in military funeral ceremonies.
There are two types of historical traditions in military bands. The first is military field music. This type of music includes bugles (or other natural instruments such as natural trumpets or natural horns), bagpipes, or fifes and almost always drums. 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 or the saxhorn family of brass instruments, a second tradition of the brass and woodwind military band was formed.
The term "military band" is not, however, confined to military organizations, nor does it necessarily imply that the ensemble is a marching band. It is the correct term for a wind ensemble comprising both woodwinds, and brass, together with percussion, with an instrumental complement that was always typical in service bands. It is the inclusion of woodwind instruments that makes a military band different from a brass band, and the two terms should never be confused.
There is a certain amount of confusion between the terms 'military band' and 'concert band' (or 'symphonic wind band'). The latter may play music written for military band, but describes a larger (usually non-military) ensemble that includes all symphonic instruments, except for bowed stringed instruments.
During World War II, The Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra, better known as The Squadronaires, served to entertain troops and support morale.
Regular British Army musicians are all members of the Corps of Army Music. As a secondary role they are trained to work in NBC 'Casualty Decontamination Areas'. One exception to this are members of the Pipe bands in the Royal Regiment of Scotland who are all members of that regiment and are fully trained infantrymen as well as musicians.[2]
The oldest of all British military bands, is the Royal Artillery Band, which also has the distinction that its musicians are double-handers, performing on both stringed instruments and wind instruments. The orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in Britain, as both band and orchestra were formed in 1557 at the Battle of St. Quentin, and continue to this day. The Royal Artillery Band is the senior State band of the British Army, and an unusual detail to the ceremonial uniform worn by its musicians, is that each musician wears a sword. The band swords were presented to the band, by the Duke of Kent, father to Queen Victoria. The 'sister' bands of the Royal Artillery are, in order of seniority, the Band of the Royal Engineers, and the Band of The Royal Signals. These three bands are placed right of the line, and before those of the Household Cavalry, and the Guards Division.
The bands of the Royal Marines Bands Service take precedence over all bands because the Royal Marines (once belonging to the Army) now belong to the Royal Navy, and in the absence of navy bands, represent music in the Senior Service.
In the United Kingdom, massed military bands perform at Trooping the Colour, an annual ceremony held every June on Horse Guards Parade to mark the official Queen's Birthday celebrations. The Massed Bands and Massed Mounted Bands play a central role in this ceremony.
The term "Massed Bands" denotes the formation of more than one separate band performing together, whether belonging to one or more regiments, or indeed countries.
During the American Civil War most Union regiments had both types of groups within the unit. However, due to changes in military tactics by the end of World War I 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, 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 and college marching bands and concert bands.
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, the band is attached to the headquarters element and one of its duties is to provide security for the command post. Modern-day military musicians often perform a variety of other styles of music in different ensembles, from chamber music to rock and roll.
Bands in the Russian Federation are also of the headquarters element, and also provide musical support to the different units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The military bands here also provide musical support in civil and military events, in a wide range of groups and ensembles. Some can even continue the old Russian military band traditions by donning the old imperial military uniforms of the Russian Empire, especially the uniforms of the bands.
In military bands, the woodwind, brass and percussion instruments give composition and are important in military and civil parades, concerts and other events in which the band takes part. These are also important in sounding Fanfares and important music in military and civil ceremonies.
British Armed Forces bands, whatever service they belong, would have the following instrument formation formats depending on service affiliation:
Composition of British Army mounted bands
Since the 1903 Coronation Pageant, The Royal Marines Bands Service, as the representative military music service of the Royal Navy (as the Armed Forces' Senior Service) and the Corps of Royal Marines, use this band formation format, unique to the British Armed Forces military bands. Due to the absence of bands in the RN, these are the only remaining military bands in its service rosters. The 207-strong military band of the Duke of York's Royal Military School, the largest in the whole of the British Armed Forces, also uses this formation.
The various volunteer reserve bands in the British Armed Forces' three services used the above-mentioned band formations.
The various youth military uniformed services of the UK have their own bands using the very same formations mentioned earlier:
The British General bands format is also used by the Liberty High School Grenadier Band in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since 1967, adapted and made suitable for the American high school marching bands with the addition of Sousaphones, Mellophones, Baritone horns and fewer trumpets. The LHSGB also has a pipe band section and 12 herald trumpeters. This format is also used by several US high school bands. The format used by the RM and the DYRMS is the formation used by the Valley Forge Military Academy and College Regimental Band in Wayne, Pennsylvania, led and staffed by retired RMBS personnel, and by the United States Merchant Marine Academy Regimental Band, also modeled on the Royal Marines bands.
British style brass bands have the same positioning as the British Army bands as it is composed of only brass instruments, saxhorns and percussion, and sometimes have saxophones.
Although not a military marching band, attached to a regiment in the British Army, Christ's Hospital band is the foremost school-based Military Marching Band in the UK. All instrumentalists are between the ages of 11 and 18, and are currently students at the school. The band is run by Terry Whittingham, a former Band Master for the Queen's Royal Highlanders, and is always lead by the Band Captain, who is always the most dedicated musician in the final year at Christ's Hospital. The band performs annually at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, and also in the Lord Mayor's Show as well as in a St. Matthews day parade through the City of London. The band has also played at The White House, Twickenham Stadium, and many other world famous areas. The band also performs a Beating the Retreat ceremony at the end of each academic year, and the school's concert band, professional Big Band, and many other musical ensembles perform in many concerts at the school in West Sussex.
Malaysian military bands are led by the percussion (snare drums either slung or mounted, bass drums, single and multiple tenor drums, cymbals and sometimes glockenspiels), and followed by the brass and woodwinds (with the addition of trumpets, mellophones, marching baritone, contrabass bugles and sousaphones), following a formation format that is similar to the Royal Marines and French military bands.
Formation of Malaysian military bands
Until the 1990s the Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Police Force band formations was similar to the Royal Marines Band Service. In the beginning of the 21st century this was changed to a format similar to British Army and Royal Air Force military bands. In effect, they use the general formation format.
Even though American military bands inherited the British military traditions, there is no doubt that the US has its very own military band traditions. Composers like John Philip Sousa developed the American military band sound that has become a worldwide sensation since the 19th century.
Ever since the American Revolution ended in 1781, American military bands march to the fast tempo of French military bands, owing to their fast marching pace as compared with the slow marching pace of British bands. The instrumental positioning, even though inspired by the British, is also a mix of other influences, including French and German influences. An uniquely American type of military band still remains to be the Ancient Fife and Drum Corps and only the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps is the only band of this type.
The largest military marching band in the world is in the United States, that of the "Fightin' Texas Aggie Band" of Texas A&M University. It is entirely composed of ROTC cadets from the university's Corps of Cadets[3] and subdivided into two bands: the Infantry and Artillery bands of the Corps.
For American military bands, the formation formats is as follows:
1st Formation
2nd Formation
France has a long established military band tradition and is reflected mostly on the instrumentation of these bands what somewhat mirror the British Royal Marines and American military band traditions expect it is uniquely French. These bands are led by a conductor and a drum major.
There are four types of military bands today in France: military marching bands (subdivided into marching and mounted brass bands), Corps of Drums (only in the French Foreign Legion), Fanfare bands (attached to the marching band or as separate marching bands) and Pipe bands (more known in Brittany). Examples of these are the Marching and Fanfare Bands of the French Republican Guard, the Mounted Band of the French Republican Guard and the Central Band of the French Foreign Legion, the only remaining French military band to use the fife.
Instrumentation of French military bands
Military marching bands, Fanfare bands and Pipe bands
Mounted brass bands
German and Austrian (and South/Central American) military bands have two or more components depending on instrumentation. Military bands in Germany's Bundeswehr today only comprise of a Military band and a Corps of Drums while Military bands in Chile have the same instrumentation with the addition of Sousaphones and Bugles on the Corps of Drums, the same thse with military bands from the Spanish-speaking South American countries, with a few unique additions. Argentine military bands have field drummers and occasionally buglers and fifes (as is the case with the Tacuari Drummer military band of the Regiment of Patricians, which has two fifers) accompanying the main band while bands in Peru and Ecuador have the percussion on the front and the woodwinds and brass behind them.
Other distinguishing features are the presence or absence of the Turkish crescent in the military bands when they are on parade and the band's conductor being assisted by a Drum major and in Chile and Mexico by a bugle major. Another key feature, seen in some military bands in Brazil and in the Pipe band of the Colombian Navy's Naval Academy "Admiral Jose Prudencio Padillia", is the presence of bagpipes in the bands, and as seen in the Marching Band of the Brazilian Marines, the use of more bugles types like baritones and mellow phones. In Bolivia, the use of the Turkish crescent with the addition of vertical banners and standards is standard practice in its military bands.
In types of ensemble, these bands are called as:
Instrumentation
Military Band, Regimental Band and Bugles, Mounted Band, Mounted Fanfare Band
Corps of Drums, Fanfare Band/Section, Bugle Section, Pipe section
The Alto Peru Fanfare Band of the Argentine Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers is an all-brass mounted band using the same brass and percussion instruments mentioned. Other mounted bands like the Mounted Fanfare Band Company of the 1st Mechanized Cavalry Regiment "Glorious Junin Hussars(Peru's Liberators)" of the Peruvian Army, the Mounted Band and Bugles of the 1st Cavalry Regiment "Grenadiers" and the Band and Bugles of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment "Hussars" of the Chilean Army and the Mounted Band of the Ecuadorian National Police use both brass, woodwinds and percussion, and also utilize bugles.
In the days of the Imperial Russian Armed Forces, military bands followed the German style military bands, with the addition of the chromatic fanfare trumpet. Some but not all Russian marches then were made in Germany as the rest were locally composed military marches. They would usually have a conductor, and a drum major using his mace or a bugle major playing the chromatic fanfare trumpet.
By the time that the Russian SFSR (and later Soviet) Armed Forces came into being in 1918, military bands began to change for the better. With the establishment of the NKVM Central Military Band by Semen Chernetskiy in 1927 came the birth of today's Russian and ex-Soviet Union military band culture. In the 1930s the typical Soviet Massed military bands that perform on May 1, November 7 and from 1945 onward, May 9, would be composed of a Military band and a Drummers Band and later a Corps of Drums marching past and until the 1970s would later join the military band in place.
Soviet military bands in the 1930s and 1940s tend to have a drum major, a conductor and an optional two to three deputy conductors in the front of the band.
Instrumentation and positioning of Soviet Military bands in the 1930s-1940s
The Soviet military bands of the pre-war days played not only on May Day and Revolution Day, but in the National Sports Day parades at the Red Square, the various sports competitions and other occasions and after the Second World War, at Victory Day celebrations across the USSR. In the 1930s, the Turkish crescent holders were shaking during the sports parades, but in the 1940s, they were not shaking them.
By the 1950s, Soviet Military bands evolved in instrumentation. Their positioning, especially in the Moscow bands, changed for the better as newly composed Soviet Military marches soon created the Soviet military band sound common to Westerners during the Cold War days.
A conductor and one to four drum majors and several bandmasters led the military bands of the Soviet Union into a new decade of progress for Soviet military music.
Instrumentation and positioning of Soviet Military bands of the late 1940s-1950
Instrumentation and positioning of Soviet military bands from the 1960s - 1970s
1965
1977
Same instruments, but with the addition of a single Sousaphone in the Moscow military bands.
1981 onward
Under the leadership of Major General Nikolai Mikhailov from 1976 to 1993 as Overall Director of Music of the Military Bands Service of the Ministry of National Defense of the USSR, what would become the modern military bands of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Russian Federation were born and rose to greatness and international appeal.
The military bands in the last 10 years of the USSR and the first 2 years of the CIS would be composed of:
Beginning in 1981 through the collapse of the Soviet Union, field drummers were added to the massed bands during the famous Red Square parades in between the chromatic fanfare trumpeters. Parades in other Soviet cities only used the chromatic fanfare trumpeters in file formation in front of the bands.
Instrumentation and formation of Russian Military bands in the 1990s-2000s
1995
With the advent of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Military Bands Service, Major General Mikhailov's term as its first Director of Music ended in 1993, and was replaced by Lieutenant General Viktor Afanasbev, who was later replaced by the current Sr. Director of Music, Lt. Gen. Valery Khalilov, who was then a Colonel, in 2002.
The 1995 Victory Day Parades at Red Square and Moscow's Poklonnaya Hill created the modern Russian Military band we know today. The Afanesbev band formation in the 1990s is as follows:
In 2000, the formation setup was partially revised so that the field drums and fanfare trumpets are now clearly separated, with the fanfare trumpeters at the sides and the field drummers now holding the center of the band, with the Directors of Music in between the two groups of field drummers. This is the formation used today in Moscow, but in other Russian cities band formations tend to differ in usage.
Formation of military bands in St. Petersburg today
Inspired by British military bands, military bands in Thailand play uniquely Thai military marches. Especially during the Trooping of the Colours ceremonies in Bangkok every December 2 since 1953, Royal Thai Armed Forces military bands perform at every military function attended by the Royal Family and other military officers and local executives, together with the general public.
Thai military bands' formations closely follow either that of the Royal Marines Band Service, being that the percussion are at the front rather than the middle, followed by the main band itself or that of the British Army's Household Division Foot Guards Bands, being that the percussion are at the middle of the main band. But another formation followed is that of the Brazilian military bands, wherein the percussion are in front of the brass and winds, with the bass drums as the lead instruments.
1st Formation
In both parts of the Korean Peninsula, military band formations differ in the two Korean countries' armed forces.
The bands of the Korean People's Army and the Korean People's Security Forces follow the general instrumental setup of Daechwitas, the Korean traditional military bands.
Instrumental formation
Although patterned after American and British military bands, the bands of the Republic of Korea are also inspired by the daechiwtas of the old Korean kingdoms.
Chinese military bands both in the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan play a mix of foreign and native marches and musical pieces.
During the Boxer Rebellion, the xenophobic Chinese General Dong Fuxiang who commanded the Muslim Kansu Braves, refused to allow his troops to play western musical instruments, making them play traditional Chinese instruments such as the Sheng Jia.[4]
Military bands in Hong Kong (save the Band of the PLA HK Garrison), although now having to play Chinese and international marches, still retain the British and Commonwealth influences and the band formation is one such proof, as well as the use of pipe bands. They use the format for the bands in the British Army.
Even through inspired by Soviet military music from the very start of the nation, the military bands of the People's Republic of China (either belonging to the People's Liberation Army or the People's Armed Police) play indigenous and locally composed military marches, during official ceremonies and other events as called for
Instrumental Positioning
Military bands of the R.O.C. can trace their origins to the 1911 revolution. Existing units including the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, the Army Band, the Navy Band, and the Air Force Band.[5]All these bands are inspired by American and German military band traditions.