or
for flutes in F, and for a small Turkish percussion ensemble of long drums and
cymbals.Instrumental music associated with the ceremonies, functions and duties of military organizations. The function of military music was threefold: to give signals and pass orders in battle; to regulate the military day in camp or quarters; and ‘to excite cheerfulness and alacrity in the soldiers’. Military music in the form of bugle and trumpet calls together with drum beatings could identify friend or foe before the general adoption of national uniforms.
The drum and trumpet, and latterly the bugle, were introduced to solve the problem of control in battle once armies had grown too large for control by the human voice to be effective. With the advent of the all-weather metalled road, it became possible for the large-scale movement of formed bodies of troops to be planned and performed to a timetable. For this a uniform and even marching beat was required and the military band, consisting of brass, woodwind (mainly reed) and percussion instruments, was evolved, supported by the drum and six-keyed flute (corps of drums) combination, and in Scottish regiments by that of the drum and bagpipe. This role has now disappeared with the increasing mechanization of modern war.
Before the days of radio and television military bands could be employed to project a positive image of the military in their relations with the civilian population, and were so used in the war-time recruiting campaigns that were a feature of the ‘nation in arms’ concept. This aspect has diminished in scope and appeal with the progressive reduction of armed forces, and today military music is only heard in connection with ceremonial occasions and, rarely, in public concerts given by service bands, while the use of music on the field of battle has been obsolete since the conclusion of the South African War of 1899–1902. (Pipers were used in World War I to play on the line of march to and from the trenches: the practice of playing attacking troops ‘over the top’ was stopped early on due to the high casualties among pipers.)
This article discusses the origins of European military music, and especially its use in Britain and North America. For more detailed discussion of the history, instrumentation and repertory of military bands, see Band (i); see also Feldmusik and Harmoniemusik; for military calls and signalling, see Military calls; Signal (i); and Tuck, tucket.
2. Europe from the Middle Ages.
JEREMY MONTAGU (1), ARMIN SUPPAN, WOLFGANG SUPPAN (2), D.J.S. MURRAY (3), RAOUL F. CAMUS (4)
In ancient times instruments – most commonly trumpets and horns – were used in warfare or other military contexts mainly for signalling or to frighten the enemy. A well-known example is the horrible noises made by the Celtic trumpets that are depicted on the Gundestrop cauldron in Judges vii. 16–22 refers to Gideon's night attack with shofarot (rams horns) and torches. There are many illustrations of Egyptian soldiers holding trumpets similar to those found in Tutankhamun's tomb, and Numbers x. 2–10 describes the manufacture and use of similar instruments. The few Mesopotamian reliefs which may depict military scenes show no instruments besides trumpets.
The only instrument shown in the hands of a soldier in ancient Greece is the salpinx, represented by a somewhat dubious instrument in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which resembles none of the ancient iconography and has no secure provenance, and by short pottery instruments, some 30 cm long, from the Archaic period in Cyprus. The Roman army used three different trumpets: long and straight (tuba) long and curved (buccina), and short and curved, made of oxhorn cornu, the J-shaped lituus seems to have been a civilian or cultic instrument. A very few of these trumpets have survived, along with a much greater number of mouthpieces. Because the two longer instruments were portrayed on mosaics together with the organ in the circus, it has been suggested that they were used in concerted music; however, it seems more likely that the trumpets signalled while the organ provided the musical elements.
There are extensive accounts, dating from Greek and Roman times, of military calls blown on trumpets, horns and other wind instruments (see Walser, 1972). Tacitus, for example, speaks of them in his Germania. Drums, commonly thought today to be the most essential military instrument, seem not to have been used by European armies until about the 13th century ce. However, the Roman salii, or military dancers, accompanied their dances by beating on their figure-eight-shaped shields, a custom which has been recorded among the Zulus and elsewhere. Vigetius (De re militari, c300 ce) and other writers testify that Roman soldiers, apparently unique among early European armies, marched with a step measured both in time and in length. There is no evidence for any Roman accompaniment to the march, though the men may have sung chants such as that still favoured by drill sergeants today. Military music was also used in Roman times to accompany ceremonial displays: for instance, a ceremony with musical accompaniment called the classicum was performed at the solemn conclusion of a festive day in front of the praetorium, or commander's lodgings.
Drums seem to have been equally rare in western Asia until slightly before the 13th century. The commonest military instruments were horns of various types: sometimes large S-shaped instruments, rearing above their players' heads like the trunks of elephants, sometimes C-shaped, and often straight. The use of drums and bells for signalling and giving orders, as well as for emblems of status, is attested in China from at least the 7th century bce. Not only were normal drums used but bronze skeuomorphs, instruments similar to the metal drums still associated with the Karen peoples of Myanmar and known from the Dong-son culture of South-east Asia, were awarded to successful generals.
Military bands, in the sense of a diverse group of instruments playing some form of concerted music, first seem to have appeared in India or the Middle East in the 12th century. This can probably be linked to the adoption of the shawm, the only melodic instrument of that period powerful enough to stand up to the groups of long trumpets and kettledrums portrayed in Moghul and medieval Persian iconography. While signalling was certainly part of their duties, the main function of these bands seems to have been to produce a loud, sustained noise which would encourage their own forces and perhaps disconcert the enemy. These bands were encountered, and then to some extent emulated, by the Crusaders, and this led to the establishment of town bands and Stadtpfeifers of later medieval Europe.
In his account of Richard I's crusade to the Holy Land, Geoffrey of Vinsauf wrote, in 1188: ‘The Turkish army appear around on every side with trumpets, drums, and horrid clang, ready to attack’, and in 1191:
In front came certain of their admirals, as was their duty, with clarions and trumpets; some had horns, others pipes and timbrels, gongs, cymbals and other instruments, producing a horrible noise and clamour. The earth vibrated from the loud and discordant sounds, so that the crash of thunder could not be heard amid the tumultuous noise of horns and trumpets. They did this to excite their spirit and courage, for the more violent the clamour became, the more bold were they for the fray.
Geoffrey's description of the battle for Constantinople dwelled on the drowning out of the city's alarm bells by the horns, trumpets and many percussion instruments of the advancing Turks. As late as 1526, at the battle of Mohács in southern Hungary, where the Christian army suffered a devastating defeat, their only musicians – the cavalry trumpeters and kettledrummers, and the infantry musicians playing fifes and drums – were solely employed in playing calls, while the Turks fielded a whole band playing trumpets, oboes, cymbals and drums so loudly that the sound rose above the din of battle.
The 13th century saw the introduction of more sophisticated wind instruments made of expensive metals, and of families of instruments in various sizes. In Arezzo in 1240, the German Emperor Friedrich II commissioned ‘four tubae and one tubecta’ to be made of silver. The tubecta was probably similar to the instrument known to Dante as the trompetta, but throughout the European Middle Ages there was some vagueness about the naming of instruments and their grouping in families of trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas. Wood and metal wind instruments existed in many hybrid forms. At the smaller European courts various wind and percussion ensembles, including the alta (see Alta (i)), provided music for ceremonies and entertainment, hunting and military purposes. By the time of Emperor Maximilian (1459–1519) the shawm family dominated German military music. Hans Burgkmair's woodcuts for Maximilian's triumphal procession (Triumphzug Maximilians I, 1526) show a variety of instrumental ensembles (fig.1). Henceforward the combination of fife and drum was referred to as the kleines Feldspiel; it began to be distinguished from the grosses Feldspiel (i.e. wind band) in the 19th century. The use of fife and drum by Swiss and German mercenaries in the early Renaissance as an aid to marching in step led Arbeau (Orchésographie, 1588) to calculate the number of drum patterns to the league and to emphasize the essential requirement that the rhythmic pattern, however complex it became, must always show clearly which foot was which.
No clear chronology can be drawn up for the institution of permanent ensembles and regionally standardized music for calls and ceremonials. The first guilds specifically for trumpeters and kettledrummers were founded under Emperor Charles V (1500–58). The introduction of gunpowder in Europe in the 14th century and the development of hand-held firearms increased the volume of sound in battle. In the cavalry the ‘instrument of command’ became the trumpet; in the infantry, the drum. A code of calls for the trumpet and beats for the drum was devised which covered most of the manoeuvres likely to be required in battle; other calls were designed to indicate the nationality of the troops concerned. Two trumpet calls feature in Jannequin's chanson La bataille. My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) contains imitations of what were presumably the usual trumpet calls of the time in England. Machiavelli in his Libro della arte della guerra (1521) and Zarlino in Le istitutioni harmoniche (i, 1558) cast light on the use of trumpets, kettledrums and flutes in Italian military music, and their function in providing a marching rhythm. The notes on calls and other musical pieces made by Hendrich Lübeckh and Magnus Thomsen (c1600) are of Danish provenance. Cesare Bendinelli's trumpet tutor Tutta l'arte della trombetta (1614) contains trumpet calls, as does Mersenne's Harmonie universelle (1636–7). However, these examples are by no means characteristic: military calls necessarily had to be kept secret, and new signals for specific events had to be devised so that they would be understood by the musicians' own side but not by the enemy.
By the 17th century European armies distinguished between two types of musical units, the ‘field music’ and the ‘band of music’. The field music consisted of the company musicians of a battalion or regiment. When assembled, the field music was under the command of a drum-, fife- or pipe-major, who was part of the headquarters staff. Its principal function was to sound the signals and commands that governed military life. The band of music, on the other hand, served ceremonial and social functions. It was composed of professional musicians, often civilians, and was a separate unit under the control of a music master or bandmaster. Its members frequently were capable of playing a number of different string and wind instruments. In many cases military bands were paid by the officers' corps as their personal employees; this was true of military bandmasters in Austria-Hungary up to the beginning of World War I.
Hans von Fleming's Der vollkommene Teutsche Soldat (1726) gives the first clear account of the state of military music in Germany: when and for what purposes military musicians were employed, and which musical ensembles were attached to a unit. Fleming states that military music was necessary in both war and peace, to assist the order of marching in battle and in retreat (the cavalry tattoo), and to accompany ceremonies of mourning and rejoicing. Soldiers could be recruited with the aid of music (the Hungarian verbunkos dances of the time of Maria Theresa were famous in this capacity), and music helped to keep the men cheerful and ready to fight. According to Fleming the musicians serenaded their colonel in the morning and evening with marches, entrées and minuets. Besides the older groups of fifes and drums he mentions the ‘regiment's Hautbois and drums’, and three different kinds of trumpeters – court trumpeters, field trumpeters and ship's trumpeters. Of these, he says, some could read music, while some blew calls and trumpet pieces that they knew by heart.
In the 17th and 18th centuries clearly defined types of ensembles emerged in the West to play military music, influenced by the mehter – the wind and percussion bands of the élite janissary troops of the Ottoman Empire – encountered during the wars with the Turks. By the end of this period the concept of ‘Turkish’ music was well established in German-speaking countries, both as a type of composition (music alla turca and ‘Turkish marches’ by Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and other composers) and as the term for a military band comprising brass, woodwinds and ‘Turkish’ percussion instruments such as the Turkish crescent, cymbals and bass drum. Forms of military bands and wind bands (see Harmoniemusik) thus merged with ‘Turkish music’ (see Janissary music) to create the basis of the modern symphonic wind band (see Band (i), §II, 2(i) and §III).
During the first half of the 19th century the military band evolved from an ensemble serving a purely military function to one capable of performing a wide range of musical and cultural tasks, helping the army to make contact with the civilian population. This evolution was accompanied by a gradual growth in the size of bands, and by far-reaching developments in the design of brass and woodwind instruments. By the mid-1800s the band repertory included original works and arrangements by leading composers of the day.
In the days before the general adoption of national uniforms the identification of friend or foe was a perennial difficulty, and this gave rise to the composition of drum beatings and calls designed to indicate the nationality of the troops concerned, of which the English and Scots marches have survived.
The continental wars of the 16th and 17th centuries involved units of English and Scottish mercenaries. The fife, the ‘Almain whistle’ made famous by the Swiss and German Landsknechten (mercenaries), began to be heard in the British army. In the later years of King Charles II's reign it was gradually ousted in favour of the hautboy. From 1746, however, the fife began to return as the instrument of the infantry, and found a role accompanying the drum in signalling the four principal events of the soldiers' day: Reveille, Troop, Retreat and Tattoo.
On each of these four occasions the drums beat and the fifes played a prescribed sequence of tunes around the camp or through the streets. The tunes were laid down in The Drum and Flute Duty, the earliest edition of which appears to have been issued in 1759. At Reveille the soldiers lay in bed until the drums ceased. When the Troop was beaten, the soldiers paraded, the colours were trooped down the line, and the troops marched off to drill or other training. Retreat beating had to continue for at least 15 minutes to allow soldiers to make their way home before the roll was called and the camp gates locked. At Tattoo the drums beat and the fifes played for half an hour to allow the soldiers time to drink up and return to their billets before the music ended.
The first date in England for a military oboe band (with horns or trumpets) has not been established, but horns were usual by the mid-18th century. Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) illustrates the scoring and orchestration then possible for an open-air wind ensemble (24 oboes, 12 bassoons, nine trumpets, nine horns and three timpani). In 1762 the Royal Artillery raised a ‘Band of Musick’ consisting of eight men playing ten instruments: pairs of trumpets, horns and bassoons, and ‘four hautbois or clarinetts’. Such ensembles were the predecessors of today's military bands. The officers financed the bands themselves by subscribing to a fund from which musicians were engaged and instruments purchased. As the musicians were not enlisted soldiers, they could, and often did, refuse to play for an event that fell outside their contract. In 1783 the officers of the Coldstream Guards wished their band to accompany an ‘acquatic excursion’ to Greenwich. The musicians resigned en bloc; a replacement band was recruited from Hanover, organized on German lines and consisting of enlisted musicians playing clarinets, horns, oboes, and bassoons. Other regiments were quick to follow the example of the Coldstream in recruiting German musicians.
The
raising of volunteer regiments at the end of the 18th century much increased
the number of small bands, which usually consisted of two clarinets or oboes,
two horns, two bassoons (often played from one part), one trumpet and commonly
a serpent. Their repertory comprised marches and quicksteps varied by an
occasional military rondo, often composed by local bandmasters. Much of this
music was published at the time. Haydn, who was the first Harmoniemusik
conductor at Eszterháza castle in Eisenstadt, wrote marches for this
combination on his first visit to London. Sometimes there were extra parts for
small flutes in B or
for flutes in F, and for a small Turkish percussion ensemble of long drums and
cymbals.
In 1844 it was conceded that ‘the formation of a band of music [was] essential to the credit and appearance of a regiment’ (The Kings Regulations, 1844). By then the invention of the valve had released the brass instruments from the restrictions of their natural harmonic range, and the appearance of the tuba and its associated family of instruments in 1835 had further increased the musical potential of the band. The cost of the band was still borne by the officers, to whom the new instruments meant additional expense. One way in which they could obtain some return on their outlay was by hiring the band out for paid performances. To secure these the band had to play to an acceptable standard, and it thus became customary to engage a civilian musician, frequently from Germany, to train and conduct the band. Not until the establishment of the Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, Twickenham, in 1857 was the army able to produce its own qualified bandmasters.
In the mid-18th century the British army adopted the cadenced step, and marching music was therefore required. Although marches were being composed in the 17th century, and illustrations of the period show troops marching in step, the scarcity of level areas on which troops could manoeuvre, together with the total absence of metalled roads, would seem to indicate that such music was restricted to formal ceremonial occasions. Even in the 18th century the size of parade grounds was limited and so marches did not need to be very long. Most marches of the time consisted of two simple sections in common time played at 72 beats to the minute, the ‘ordinary step’ of the British army, the Parademarsch of the Prussian, and the pas ordinaire of the French.
The situation changed radically with the appearance of the macadamized road surface in the first decade of the 19th century. It was now possible for columns of troops to march in time and step for long distances, and music became essential to ensure that an even rate of progress was maintained. Longer marches both for the band and for the fife and drum combination began to be composed, with the ‘trio’ now an integral part of the march. The rate of marching was also increased to 108 paces to the minute, the ‘quickstep’ of the British, the Geschwindmarsch of the Prussian, and the pas redoublé of the French. The improved instrumentation available to the military band also enabled more ambitious concert pieces to be performed, and selections from popular operas and operettas as well as arrangements of classical and symphonic music came to feature regularly in band programmes.
The concept of the regimental march, that is a marching tune associated with one particular regiment, is common to most armies. The British army is unique, however, in that the tunes which its regiments and battalions played when passing in review order, when entering barracks and at the end of every band programme tended to be arrangements of folksongs associated with the counties and districts to which regiments were linked in 1881, although a few played marches specifically composed for them by their bandmasters.
During the 19th century the keyed marching flute evolved from the simple six-holed fife. By 1868 flutes and piccolos in different keys were being issued to the Corps of Drums, as well as bugles which had taken over the role of ‘instrument of command’ from the drum at the beginning of the century. This enhanced flute component permitted a wider range of music to be played, and marches on the same melodic scheme as those of the military band began to be composed. On the line of march, the band and the Corps of Drums played alternately, but the beating of Reveille, Retreat and Tattoo remained the province of the Corps of Drums until the custom lapsed in the years between the two world wars.
Pipers were first authorized for highland regiments in 1854, although they had been a feature of these regiments since their first raising in the 18th century. Over the 19th century the fife gave way to the highland bagpipe in all the Scottish regiments, and the band of bagpipes and drums replaced the Corps of Drums, except in the Scots Guards, by 1918. An essential step toward standardization of the military bands of the British army was taken at the Instrumentation Conference held on 7 December 1921 at the Military School of Music. It was agreed to take the tenor horn out of use and introduce the saxophone. Well-known composers were encouraged to write original works for military band, following the example of Holst's Suites nos.1 and 2. The challenge was taken up by Vaughan Williams (English Folk Song Suite, 1923; Toccata marziale, 1924) and Gordon Jacob (William Byrd Suite, 1923). Holst also wrote Hammersmith (1930).
The altered conditions of the second half of the 20th century led to the abolition of the military band in the infantry and cavalry regiments of the line. However, representative bands were formed for the infantry and the Royal Armoured Corps, infantry units retaining their Corps of Drums and pipe bands.
In North America, as in Europe, armies distinguished between the ‘field music’ and the ‘band of music’. The principal function of the field music was to sound the ‘camp duties’, a system of musical signals and commands which all personnel were expected to recognize and instantly obey, and which regulated military life. The drum was used in the infantry, while mounted units used the trumpet. During the colonial period British signals were used; in the Revolutionary era the basis for American practice was Friedrich von Steuben's Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States (1779). This ordered nine ‘beats’ of the drum into use: ‘The General’, ‘The Assembly’, ‘The March’, ‘The Reveille’, ‘The Troop’, ‘The Retreat’, ‘The Tattoo’, ‘To Arms’ and ‘The Parley’. Also included were 12 signals that were not regulated by the clock, or did not apply to the whole army. (For a full explanation of these and other calls, see Camus, 1976.) As the Regulations contained no music, the Continental Army's musicians depended on British practices and on the teachings of the army's Inspector of Music, John Hiwell, and regimental drum-majors. The drum beats gave the signals and command, with fife melodies added by the last third of the 18th century to make the signals more easily recognizable. In ex.1 an interpretation of the ‘Drummer's Call’ is combined with a fife melody found in a manuscript of Giles Gibbs (1777).
The first printed drum manuals in America appeared in the early 19th century; in these, as in early manuscripts, drum beats were not notated conventionally, but rather described. David Hazeltine, in his Instructor in Martial Music (1810), described the ‘Drummer's Call’ as ‘a ten and a stroke, a flam and a stroke, and one flam, twice over; then a ten and a stroke, then a flam and a stroke, five times over; then one flam’. Comparison with contemporary British and American works shows that his ten-stroke roll more often consisted of seven or nine strokes, and by the time of the Civil War it had become an 11-stroke roll. (For a listing of fife tutors of this period, see Warner, 1967.)
The fife and drum were used to sound the camp duties until well after the Civil War. The orderly drummer would beat the ‘Drummer's Call’ to assemble the company drummers and fifers for one of the day's routines, such as Reveille, Troop, Retreat or Tattoo. By the end of the 19th century, when the bugle supplanted the fife and drum, a new set of signals was developed. US Army manuals of 1957 list 20 calls and four ceremonial compositions, but except for ‘Taps’, which is still played at funerals, these have fallen into disuse.
The colonial field music evolved from English models. Each infantry company included one or two drummers and fifers, and each troop of horse had a trumpeter. An American infantry regiment with eight line companies might have a field music of as many as 16 drummers and fifers. Irish and Scottish settlers sometimes used bagpipes instead of fifes, and bugles were later used by light infantry and detached mounted parties. Black Americans, required to serve but in many colonies forbidden to bear arms, were often musicians. Field musicians, who were paid and ranked as corporals, were usually given rudimentary rote training by the battalion's drum- or fife-major. While primarily signalmen, they were required to do duty as soldiers. In battle the drummers remained with their companies, beating signals as required, and normally marching immediately behind the advancing line. The musicians were expected to attend the wounded after battle, and were responsible for carrying out punishments. Boys, especially the children of soldiers or widows, were taught the fife and drum (for one such veteran's fascinating reminiscences, see Meyers, 1914). Because of their importance as signalmen, military musicians in the 18th century were usually dressed in the reverse colours of the regimental uniform (the musician's coat being the colour of the regimental facings). This enabled their commanders to locate them quickly in the smoke and confusion of battle.
During the colonial and Revolutionary periods the military drum was a snare or side drum between 38·1 and 45·7 cm in height and diameter. A two-headed cylindrical wooden shell with two or more gut cords stretched across the bottom membrane, and the drum was normally emblazoned with the arms or crests of the king or colonel, later the American eagle. When not in use it was suspended from the shoulder by means of a plaited cord, or drag rope. The bass drum, adopted by European bands near the end of the 18th century with the vogue for janissary or Turkish music, did not become a part of the American field music until the early 19th century. Kettledrums were rarely included in the field music, but mounted regimental bands could use timpani instead of snare and bass drums.
The
early fife was a one-piece, wooden transverse flute about 60 cm long; it had
six finger-holes and was pitched in D. In the late 18th century C and B fifes became standard, but
most military music continued to be written in the keys of G and D. The
trumpet, a cylindrical tube made of brass or silver, usually had two rings to
which an emblazoned banner could be attached. Early trumpets were in D, but by
the Civil War the regulation trumpet was in F. Confined to the natural harmonic
series, its range for military purposes was from the 3rd to the 9th or 10th
partial. The bugle horn, a short, curved, wide-bore horn, was used in the late
18th century by light infantry and dismounted units to differentiate them from
the line infantry. In the early 19th century the conical tubing was lengthened
and coiled, resulting in an instrument pitched in C or B. The bugle or field trumpet gradually
replaced the fife and drum, and by the end of the 19th century was the principal
military signalling instrument; at this time it was pitched in G with a
tuning-slide to F for use when performing with bands.
Technological advances in the 20th century relieved the field music of the duty of sounding signals, and with some exceptions the units were disbanded. Some vestiges of earlier practices remain: the US Army Band's Herald Trumpets, for example, open ceremonies and announce the arrival of the president and other dignitaries. Many traditions of the field music are carried on in revived ‘ancient’ fife and drum units, pipe bands, and modern drum and bugle corps. The Company of Fifers and Drummers in Ivoryton, Connecticut, coordinates the activities of more than 150 traditional fife and drum corps throughout the USA and Canada, and maintains a research library and museum. The US Marines maintain a drum and bugle corps, and Canada supports ten pipes and drums bands.
For a general discussion of the development and instrumentation of the band of music, see Band (i), esp. §III, 4, and §IV, 4. Each branch of the US armed services (the army, navy, marines, air force and coast guard) has a special band, often with its own traditions. The US Marine Band is the oldest in continuous operation (since 1798); the army and navy also have special academy bands. These bands, which may have as many as 165 members, frequently comprise one or more marching units, several small groups, a chorus and a chamber orchestra, as well as the full symphonic band. In addition, in the late 1990s there were 38 regular army, ten navy, 13 Marine Corps, 16 air force, 19 army reserve, 55 National Guard and 11 Air National Guard bands.
Canada maintains four 45-piece Regular Force professional brass and reed bands. Canada also has seven Regular Force voluntary brass and reed bands, five naval reserve bands, 42 land forces reserve bands and three Air Reserve bands. Every military band is required to function as a concert as well as marching band, and to provide small jazz, rock and popular combos for social occasions.
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T.E. Warner: An Annotated Bibliography of Woodwind Instruction Books (Detroit, 1967)
H. Powley: Turkish Music: a Historical Study of Turkish Percussion Instruments and their Influence on European Music (diss., U. of Rochester, 1968)
R.F. de Latore: Antología de la música militar de España (Madrid, 1972)
W. Suppan: Lexikon des Blasmusikwesens (Freiburg, 1973, 4/1994 with A. Suppan)
S. Strand: Militärmusikern i svenskt musikliv [The military musician in Swedish musical life] (diss., Stockholm U., 1974)
J.M.M. Imrie: The Military Band in South Africa (Pretoria, 1976)
P.C. Marten: Die Musik der Spielleute des altpreussischen Heeres (Osnabrück, 1976)
E. Rameis: Die österreichische Militärmusik von ihren Anfängen bis zum Jahre 1918 (Tutzing, 1976)
J. Eckhardt: Zivil- und Militärmusik im Wilhelminischen Reich (Regensburg, 1978)
A. Iwanow: Die Militärorchester in Bulgarien (Sofia, 1979)
D. Whitwell: Band Music of the French Revolution (Tutzing, 1979)
E. Brixel and W. Suppan: Das grosse steirische Blasmusikbuch (Vienna, 1981)
F. Pieters: Van trompetsignaal tot muziekkapel (Kortrijk, 1981)
N.A. Trubnikov: Voyenno-dukhovaya muzïka v sisteme ideyno-ėsteticheskogo vospitaniya sovetskogo voina [Military music in the eduction of the soviet soldiers] (diss., U. of Moscow, 1981–2)
E. Brixel and others: Das ist Österreichs Militärmusik (Graz, 1982)
P. Karch: Pest-Buda katonazenéje 1848-ban [Military music of Pest-Buda in 1848] (Budapest, 1983)
F. Rathner: Die bewaffnete Macht Österreich-Ungarns (1618–1918) in ihren Märschen (Kierspe, 1983)
W. Suppan: Blasmusik in Baden (Freiburg, 1983)
Z. Barcy and P. Karch: Hangászok, Hangszerek, Hangjegyek: trombita- és dobjelek az osztrák-magyar hadseregben és haditengerészetnél, 1629–1918 [Trumpet and drum signals in the Austro-Hungarian empire, 1629–1918] (Budapest, 1985) [with Ger. summary]
G. Duthaler: Trommeln und Pfeifen in Basel (Basel, 1985)
A.O. Sollfelner: Die österreichische Militärmusik in der 1. Republik 1918–1938 (MA diss., U. of Vienna, 1985)
A. Freundesberger: Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte der österreichischen Militärmusik von 1851 bis 1918 (diss., U. of Vienna, 1986)
P. Tuglaci: Mehterhane'den bando'ya/Turkish Bands of Past and Present (Istanbul, 1986)
A. Hofer: Studien zur Geschichte des Militärrmarsches (Tutzing, 1988)
R. Müller and M. Lachmann: Spielmann – Trompeter – Hoboist: aus der Geschichte der deutschen Militärmusik (Berlin, 1988)
G. Mössmer: ‘Funktion und Bedeutung des Feldspils der Landsknechte zur Zeit Kaiser Maximilians I’, Musik und Tanz zur Zeit Kaiser Maximilian I: Innsbruck 1989, 47–58
C.M. Dall: German Military Music during the Third Reich, 1933–1945 (diss., Ball State U., 1990)
E.A. Ingskog, ed.: Norske Musikkorps (Oslo, 1990)
A. Masel: ‘Zur Geschichte der Harmonie- und Türkischen Musik im bayerischen Heer bis zum Jahre 1826’, Mit klingendem Spiel, xiii (1990), 185–217
T. Polomik: ‘Quellen zur Erforschung der Tätigkeiten und Rollen von Militärorchestern in Bosnien und Herzegowina zur Zeit der österreichisch-ungarischen Regierung (1878–1918)’, Musica Pannonica, i (1991), 111–36
F. Pieters: Blaasmuziek tussen gisteren en morgen (Wormerveer, 1992)
A. Griebel and H. Steinmetz, eds.: Mililtärmusik und ‘Zivile’ Musik: Uffenheim, 1993
B. Habla: ‘Das Repertoire von Militär-Blasorchestern vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg’, Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Wolfgang Suppan, ed. B. Habla (Tutzing, 1993), 349–76
H. Jüttner: Die österreichischen Märsche in der Preussischen Armeemarsch- und der Deutschen Heeresmarsch-Sammlung 1817–1945 (MA diss., U. of Vienna, 1994)
L. Marosi: Két évszázad katonazenéje Magyorországon, 1741–1945 [Two centuries of military music in Hungary, 1741–1945] (Budapest, 1994)
W. Biber: Von der Bläsermusik zum Blasorchester: Geschichte der Militärmusik und Blasmusik in der Schweiz (Lucerne, 1995)
E. Brixel: Anmerkungen zur Geschichte der Militärmusik im Südosten der Donaumonarchie (Graz, 1995)
F. Anzenberger: ‘Die Kapellmeister der Hoch- und Deutschmeister bis 1918’, 300 Jahre Regiment ‘Hoch- und Deutschmeister’, ed. M. Senekowitsch (Vienna, 1996, 2/1999), 79–101
E. Brixel: ‘Musiksoziologische Aspekte im kulturellen Wirkungsbereich der altösterreichischen Militärmusik vor 1918’, Blasmusik-Kongress: Mainz 1996, 59–103
B. Höfele: ‘Das öffentliche Militärkonzert im 19. Jahrhundert’, Blasmusik-Kongress: Mainz 1996, 49–57
V. Valeš: ‘Die Militärmusik-Elevenschule Prag’, Mitteilungen der Österreichishen Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft, no.30 (1996), 68–74
V. Valeš: ‘Die Prager Militärmusikschule und ihre Bedeutung für das kulturelle Leben Prags in der 2. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts’, Blasmusik-Kongress: Mainz 1996, 105–13
H. Lackner: Militärsignale in der symphonischen Musik (diss., U. of Vienna, 1997)
The Compleat Tutor for the Fife (London, c1759)
T. Simes: The Military Medley (London, 1768)
British Bandsman (1887–1900)
Orchestral s and Military Band Record (1901–6)
H.G. Farmer: Memoirs of the Royal Artillery Band: its Origin, History, and Progress (London, 1904)
I.H.M. Scobie: Pipers and Pipe Music in a Highland Regiment (Dingwall, 1924)
J. Mackenzie-Rogan: Fifty Years of Army Music (London, 1926)
A.E. Zealley and J.O. Hume: Famous Bands of the British Empire (London, 1926)
C. Malcome: The Piper in Peace and War (London, 1927)
P.L. Binns: A Hundred Years of Military Music (Gillingham, 1959)
L. Winstock: Songs and Music of the Redcoats: a History of the War Music of the British Army, 1642–1902 (London, 1970)
I. Kendrick: Music in the Air: the Story of Music of the Royal Air Force (Baldock, 1986)
M.J. Lomas: ‘Militia and Volunteer Wind Bands in Southern England in the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, lxvii (1989), 154
D. Whitwell: ‘Brief History of the BBC Wireless Military Band’, Kongressberichte: Oberschützen 1988 and Dobbiáco 1990, 79–86
J. McCormack: One Million Mercenaries (London, 1993)
D. Murray: Music of the Scottish Regiments: Cogadh no Sith/War or Peace (Pentland, 1994)
G. and A. Turner: The History of British Military Bands (Staplehurst, 1994–)
M. Byrne: ‘The English March and Early Drum Notation’, GSJ, l (1997), 43–80
F. von Steuben: Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States (Philadelphia, 1779, many later edns)
A. Meyers: Ten Years in the Ranks, U.S. Army (New York, 1914/R)
Field Music (Washington DC, 1940) [US War Department pubn TM 20–250]
W.C. White: A History of Military Music in America (New York 1944/R)
The Band (Washington DC, 1957) [US Department of the Army pubn FM 12–50]
The Marching Band (Washington DC, 1957) [US Department of the Army pubn FM 12–50]
A.T. Luper, ed.: ‘Civil War Music’, Civil War History, iv/3 (1958) [whole issue]
S.V. Anderson: American Music during the War for Independence, 1775–1783 (diss., U. of Michigan, 1965)
K.A. Bernard: Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War (Caldwell, ID, 1966)
F.A. Lord and A. Wise: Bands and Drummer Boys of the Civil War (New York, 1966/R)
F. Fennell: ‘The Civil War: its Music and its Sounds’, Journal of Band Research, iv (1967–8), no.2, pp.36–44; v (1968–9), no.1, pp.8–14; no.2, pp.4–10; vi (1969–70), no.1, pp.46–58
R.F. Camus: The Military Band in the United States Army Prior to 1834 (diss., New York U., 1969)
D.C. McCormick: A History of the United States Army Band to 1946 (diss., Northwestern U., 1970)
K.W. Carpenter: A History of the United States Marine Band (diss., U. of Iowa, 1971)
K.E. Olson: Yankee Bands of the Civil War (diss., U. of Minnesota, 1971)
W.A. Bufkin: Union Bands of the Civil War (1862–65): Instrumentation and Score Analysis (diss., Louisiana State U., 1973)
R.F. Camus: Military Music of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, NC, 1976/R)
B. Lambert, ed.: Music in Colonial Massachusetts, 1630–1820 (Boston, 1980–85)
F.F. Mathias: G.I. Jive: an Army Bandsman in World War II (Lexington, KY, 1982)
E.K. Kirk: Music at the White House: a History of the American Spirit (Urbana, IL, 1986)
R.F. Camus, ed.: American Wind and Percussion Music (Boston, 1992)
R.M. Gifford: ‘The American March: the Development of a Genre from the Eighteenth Century to the Present’, Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Föderung der Blasmusik: Abony 1994, 189–203
H. Powley: ‘The Drum Tablature Tradition of American Military Music of the early Nineteenth Century’, JAMIS, xxi (1995), 5–29
For further bibliography see Band (i); Signal (i).