A Corps of Drums is a type of military band A military band is a group of personnel that perform musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instrument. 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, which originated in European armies An army (from Latin armata "armed " via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine)), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps. Within a national military force, the word Army may also mean a field army, in the 16th century. The main instruments of a Corps of Drums are the drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as the membranous. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound. Other techniques have been used to cause and the flute The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as Edge-blown aerophones or fife 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 and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer. The word fife comes from the German Pfeife, or pipe, ultimately derived from the. Unlike full military marching bands A military band is a group of personnel that perform musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instrument. 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, Corps of Drums exists within an infantry Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies. Infantry units have more physically demanding training than other branches of armies, battalion A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,300 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel. Several battalions are grouped to form a regiment or a brigade. A Drum major A drum major is the leader of a marching band, drum and bugle corps, or pipe band. The drum major is usually positioned at the head of the band or corps and is the figure who stands out in the public eye. The drum major is responsible for providing commands either verbally, through hand gestures, or with a mace in the military or with whistle is the leader of a Corps of Drums. All Corps of Drums soldiers are called drummers (shortened to 'dmr') regardless of the instrument played, in a similar fashion to soldiers from the Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces. It is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer being referred to as sappers A sapper or combat engineer is an individual soldier who performs a variety of combat engineering duties. Such tasks typically include bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, and building, road and airfield construction and repair. He is also trained to serve as an infantryman when needed. A modern sapper's.[1]
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British Army
The British army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and was administered by the War maintains a Corps of Drums in each infantry battalion except for Scottish The Royal Regiment of Scotland is the senior and only Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, each formerly an individual regiment . However, each battalion maintains its former regimental Pipes and Drums to carry on the traditions of their antecedent regiments and Irish battalions, which have Pipes and Drums A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common.
Unlike army musicians who form bands and will usually be limited to medical orderly A medical orderly or orderly is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and/or nursing staff with various nursing and/or medical interventions. These duties are classified as routine tasks involving no risk for the patient duties in wartime, Corps of Drums drummers are principally fully trained infantry soldiers, with the recruitment into the Corps of Drums coming after training. A Corps of Drums will deploy with the rest of the battalion, and will often form specialist platoons such as assault pioneers, supporting fire or force protection Force protection or FP is a term used by the US military to describe preventive measures taken to mitigate hostile actions against Department of Defense personnel , resources, facilities, and critical information. Force protection does not include actions to defeat the enemy or protect against accidents, weather, or disease.
Historically, the drum was used to convey orders during a battle, as such the Corps of Drums was a more integrated feature of an infantry battalion. Later on when the bugle 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. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series. See bugle call for scores to standard bugle calls, was adopted to convey orders, drummers were given bugles, but maintained their drums and flutes.
History
It is known that by the early 1500s, each Company A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 75-200 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain or a Major. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure. Several companies are grouped to form a battalion or regiment, the latter of which is sometimes formed by of infantry soldiers would have a single drummer and a single fife player[2]. These two musicians would march at the head of the company, and when not providing uplifting marching tunes, they would be used by the company commander to convey orders, on and off the field of battle. The drummers would be more aptly described as signallers than musicians, as shouted orders were very hard to hear over the din of battle. Later, a bugle would become the preferred means of communication on the battlefield, and the drummers adapted, training on bugles and carrying them in battle, but retaining the drum and the title of drummer.
Drummers in the centre foreground, in their original battlefield role, close to the officer and wearing the distinctive drummers uniform described below.As time went on, the individual drummers and fife players in each company would be organised at battalion level, they retained their role in each company in battle, but would form one body of men at the head of a battalion on the march. It was necessary to appoint a Drum Major (the equivalent of a Sergeant Major, for the drummers) to be in charge of the drummers and to organise training in the emerging discipline of military drumming. The 'Corps of Drums' would group together when not on duty with each company, and carry out various roles within the battalion, such as administering military justice and ensuring soldier's billets are secured, thus, the Corps of Drums became attached to the battalion HQ and was organised at battalion level, as opposed to individual company level.
Current role
Eventually, as the use of musical instrument on the battlefield diminished, Corps of Drums looked to fill specialist roles within the battalion whilst still retaining their original role for ceremonial practices.
Several different strings of logic have seen Corps of Drums employed in many varied roles. Because the Corps of Drums would often be employed in support of the battalion, in areas such as delivering mail or designating billets, they are often given the role of Assault Pioneers or Supporting Fire (machine gun) platoons. The Corps of Drums role on the battlefield were used to signal orders, and therefore some Corps of Drums are organised into signal platoons, operating radios. Corps of Drums were also employed to march under the flag or parlé when officers of opposing sides would meet to discuss terms of surrender etc. Therefore some Corps of Drums fill a liaison role.
Corps of Drums are drawn from the whole battalion, and is attached to the battalion HQ. Above the Drum Major as the head of the Corps of Drums itself, the Corps is usually answerable to the Battalion's Adjutant Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Commonwealth Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.
Instruments
The main instrument of a Corps of Drums is the Side drum The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom side of the top (batter) head to make a "brighter" sound, and the Brazilian. These were originally a rope-tension design with wide wooden hoops and a wooden shell and an animal skin head. In the British Army, this model has been continuously upgraded, with the inclusion of snares, more modern metal rod-tension and plastic heads. The current British Army 97s pattern side drum also has nylon hoops.
The side drum was increasingly decorated throughout the 19th century, until it bore the fully embellished regimental colours of the battalion, including its battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. As such a regiments drums are often afforded respect.[citation needed]
The second instrument of a Corps of Drums was originally the fife, but has been replaced in the modern era by a flute with keys in the British Army. There is a wide variety of flutes used by Corps of Drums ranging in pitch. The fife and later the flute has been favoured as a war-like instrument due to its shrill pitch and thus the ability to be heard above the noise of battle. Many tunes such as The British Grenadiers are traditionally played by military flutes.
The bugle replaced the drum mid-way through the 19th century as the most common means of communication on the battlefield. These duties were carried out by the battalion's Corps of Drums, and as such all drummers now carry a bugle.
As the musical role of a Corps of Drums became more ceremonial in the 19th and 20th centuries, more instruments were added to make the Corps of Drums more musically complete. A modern Corps of Drums will thus have a rank of percussion instruments consisting of a bass drum A bass drum is a relatively large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The bass drums are of variable sizes and are used in several musical genres (see usage below). Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished: the large orchestral bass drum, the smaller 'kick' drum, and the pitched bass drums. The type usually, tenor drums In a symphony orchestra's percussion section, a tenor drum is a low-pitched drum, similar in size to a field snare, but without snares and played with soft mallets or hard sticks. Under various names, the drum has been used by composers since the mid-19th century. It is particularly noticeable in scores by 20th century English composers such as and cymbals Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note . Cymbals are used in many ensembles.
Uniform
A Corps of Drums of the Duke of Wellington's regiment (since amalgamated into the Yorkshire Regiment The Yorkshire Regiment (Abbreviated: YORKS) is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire, North), showing crown lace tunics, a leopard skin on the Bass Drummer, and rod tention side drums without wooden hoops, or flautists.Drummers originally wore distinct uniforms so as to stand out on the battlefield. This usually consists of lace Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th, used liberally all over the uniform, in varying patterns. Many early patterns consisted of a "Christmas Tree" pattern in which the chest was covered in horizontal lace decreasing in width downwards, and chevrons of lace down each sleeve. The modern infantry pattern in the British Army is of 'crown-and-inch' lace sewn over the seams down the sleeves, around the collar, and over the seams on the back of the tunic. The crown-and-inch lace itself is about half an inch thick with a repeating crown pattern. The Guards Divisions The Guards Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the administration of the regiments of Foot Guards drummers have the old style "Christmas tree" pattern, with fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis is a stylized lily (in French, fleur means flower, and lis means lily) or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry. It is represented in Unicode at U+269C (⚜) in the Miscellaneous Symbols instead of crowns.
Whilst Corps of Drums in the British Army often parade in combat uniforms The Army Combat Uniform is the current combat uniform worn by the United States Army. It is the successor to the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU) worn during the 1980s and 1990s. It features a number of design changes, as well as a different camouflage pattern from its predecessor. The ACU and its component materials and other forms of dress, they will usually parade in the full dress uniform For a civilian, during the Victorian and Edwardian period, this corresponded to a frock coat in the day, and white tie at night. When morning dress became common, it was less formal than a frock coat, and even when this was phased out, morning dress never achieved full dress status. In the 21st century, full dress therefore unambiguously refers to as above, and as such are one of the few formations which regularly wear full dress in the British Army.
In some regiments, it has become custom for the percussion rank to wear leopard skins over their uniform. This has the dual purpose of protecting the uniform (cymbals have to be muffled against the chest, and therefore would leave vertical marks on a bare tunic) and protecting the instruments themselves (the bass drum can be scratched by uniform buttons). Modern "leopard skins" are made from synthetic fur. Other regiments opt for a simple leather or cloth apron.
Drummers have traditionally been armed with "drummers swords", a shortsword with a simple brass hilt bearing the Royal Cypher. The practice of wearing swords has been discontinued by some regiments, though many still do, whilst some use an SA80 bayonet A bayonet is a knife-, dagger-, sword-, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear. It is a close quarter battle combat or last-resort weapon as a modern alternative.
The Corps of Drums of the Royal Logistics Corps
The Royal Logistics Corps also maintains a 'Corps of Drums', in the form of several side drummers and is made up of Royal Logistic Corps soldiers who serve a short tour as drummers before returning to a field unit. This is not a conventional Corps of Drums, however, as it has no flautists only drums and is not in an infantry battalion and comes under the command of the Royal Logistics Corps band. These drummers stem from drummers placed on the Royal Wagon train in 1799[3].
Royal Marines
Royal Marines Bands are led by 'buglers', who are trained on the side drum and the bugle, this section of the band is referred to as the Corps of Drums. Whilst similar to Army Corps of Drums, these are Royal Marines musicians, and not the infantry soldiers that Army drummers are. These 'buglers' have a similar history to Army 'drummers' in that they were used to convey orders on a ship, and would then mass onshore into 'Corps of Drums', though they were still expected to work as individuals[4].
Civilian and Cadet Corps
As well as Army Corps of Drums, in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land there are also cadet A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family; see article "Cadet " for etymology and history and civilian Corps who base their music on the military tradition.[1]
References
- ^ a b "History of the Corps Of Drums Where did it all start?". The Corps of Drums Society. http://www.royalmarinesbands.co.uk/reference/FS_drums_hist.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ History of the Corps Of Drums
- ^ Corps of Drums
- ^ Fact Sheet - The Drums of the RM
External links
- Regimental Band of The Royal Welsh, Corps of Drums website
- Corps of Drums Society
- Corps of Drums of the Royal Logistics Corps
Categories: Musical groups This category contains musical ensembles. For individual musicians, see Category:Musicians. See also Category:Categories named after musical groups | Marching bands | Military bands | Combat occupations | British military bands
