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  • Mexican National Anthem

    The music to the Mexican national anthem, “Himno Nacional Mexicano,” was composed by Jaime Nunó, a Spanish-born composer. Nunó was a military bandmaster, who adapted an existing melody for the anthem in 1854.

    The lyrics were written by Mexican poet Francisco González Bocanegra. A legend around Bocanegra notes that he first entered the contest, but then declined to participate for some unknown reason. His fiancé then locked Bocanegra in a room with historical themes until he consented and wrote the lyrics.

    The work was officially adopted on September 16, 1854, and formalized by decree in 1943, with performance rules established in 1984.

    Youtube, long version

    El Heraldo de Brownsville,
    July 21, 1958 ·Page 4


    [Loose translation from Spanish to English]

    Anniversary of the Author of the Mexican National Anthem
    MEXICO CITY, D.F. — UPI —

    This Friday marked the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Don Jaime Nunó, a distinguished Catalan musician and author of none other than the music for the Mexican National Anthem.

    Don Jaime Nunó, achieved notoriety along with the inspired Mexican poet Francisco González Bocanegra, the author of the words to the patriotic song. Bocanegra was born in San Juan de las Abades, a town in the province of Gerona, region of Catalonia, Spain, after having lived in the New World, in Cuba and Mexico. He died in New York on this Friday, 1908, exactly 50 years ago.

    Don Jaime Nunó was living in Cuba when, for the third time, the government headed by Don Antonio
    Lopez de Santa Anna issued a call for entries to write the music and lyrics for the National Anthem.
    Nunó submitted the immortal music born of his inspiration to the competition, and his surprise was great and pleasant when he learned of the triumph that had been awarded to him, without dispute, unanimously, because no one like him managed to touch so strongly the emotional fiber of the Mexican soul or to provide a better framework for the practical and lofty verses of González Bocanegra.

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  • “Daughters of Texas” – Sousa March

    John Philip Sousa, known as the March King was in North Texas at the Denton, Texas College of Industrial Arts, an all female school now known as Texas Woman’s University. The famous conductor had come to the area in the fall of 1928 as part of his Golden Jubilee Tour and scheduled two concerts at the college in Denton. After one of the performances, Sousa was presented with a petition signed by 1,700 the students requesting that he compose a march just for them. Sousa agreed and asked the students to suggest names for the musical piece. As far as we know, he received no suggestions for the name but composed the march we now know as “Daughters of Texas.”

    Another wrinkle in the story is as follows. Sousa was nearing the end of his long career and he was also asked by Minnesota businessman Wilbur B. Foshay to bring his band to Minneapolis in 1929. The occasion was to be a four day celebration that would include the dedication of a structure to be known as the Foshay Tower. It was an office building that was to somewhat resemble the Washington Monument.

    Various accounts note that Sousa was in the process of composing his march for the Denton college but in the interest of time, he reportedly adapted his work in progress and used it for the Minnesota celebration. That piece was renamed the “Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March” and was performed there but never published. Sousa then composed a different march for the Denton school. Supposedly, early copies of both marches still exist in some form. The Minnesota trip took place and and the the Foshay Tower was dedicated. Now almost 100 years old, it still stands in Minneapolis today and is currently operated as a hotel.

    The Brattleboro Reformer,
    Brattleboro, VT, March 20, 1929

    The Denton Record-Chronicle reported that the new march named “Daughters of Texas” had been completed in the summer of 1929. The article below from the same newspaper notes that the first copies of the march were delivered to the College of Industrial Arts (C. I. A.) the following year.

    Denton Record-Chronicle,
    Denton, TX, April 29, 1930

    United States Marine Band playing “Daughters of Texas” (YouTube)

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  • America’s Brass Band Heritage – Brass Bands Mature in America

    by Larry Johnson

    When the Civil War broke out, all the elements necessary to provide Regimental Bands were in place. When recruiters raised a regiment, all they had to do was go into an area and muster in enough preexisting militia companies to form a regiment. No matter where the recruiters went, somewhere nearby was a town band which had probably been serving with the militia. The band already had military or marching instruments and instruments playing them. And they were nearly always willin gto enlist as a unit. Of course, this readiness to serve was prompted somewhat by the alternative, which was to be conscripted as an infantryman. But by and large the bandsmen’s motives were pure. They were aware of the contributions the bands made, and they felt that serving in a band was the patriotic thing to do. So enlisting in an intact band was no problem, there were plenty of them, on both sides, and the members were eager to join up.

    Once the War was underway, the Regimental Bands on both sides were of inestimable value. These units performed every type of service, in all weather, and under every imaginable condition. Bands were everywhere, at the front, at the rear, on the march, in camp, everywhere. They played for the entertainment of idle troops, and they played under fire to inspire men in battle. Bandsmen performed lively tunes for grand reviews and they produced somber tones for funerals. They played hymns for divine services and provided music for dances. Bands even played a part in military execution. In every facet of military life there was a role for bands and the bands served well.

    The Civil War was the culmination of the brass band movement. Some 600 bands served the Union cause. Confederate bands were fewer but there were probably more bands in Southern armies than previously thought. The federal army felt it had too many bands and in 1862 the Regimental Bands were discharged. Many of the members reenlisted as Brigade bands and for the remainder of this conflict nearly every brigade had a band. Confederate bands remained on the Regimental level and either served for the duration or until their enlistment expired. But there came Appomattox and the day it was finally over. Then all the bands went home and the heyday of the Brass Bands was over.

    Musical, not social, forces had brought about changes in the composition of bands. The over-the-shoulder instruments had served well in the field but they had been severely out of tune and were not acceptable for continued service once the bands returned to a concert role. Hence they were discarded and their day was ended. The importance of the clarinet had been rediscovered and bands began readmitting reed instruments as soon as the war ended. By the time of the Spanish-American War the conversion to mixed reed and brass instrumentation, led by a young John Philip Sousa, had been completed and the brass bands were heard no more.

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  • America’s Brass Band Heritage – Bands Come to America

    by Larry Johnson

    Military bands in America developed along the same lines as those in Europe. What few American bands there were at the time of our Revolution were clarinet and oboe-centered. These saw the introduction of keyed bugles in the very early 19th Century, and then converted to brass as soon as the valved brasses reached America. By the end of the 1830s a phenomena known as the brass band movement was underway, and before it was over it would have an enormous influence on the course of American military music.

    In the early 1800s American society was predominantly rural. Small towns and villages were the core of America, and much of our culture developed from them. Such was the case with brass bands. As towns grew, so did the need for music and entertainment for private and civic events. The only music available before recording was live music, so every town had a need for musicians. This need was filled by the creation of town bands, which, because they played outdoors, were usually composed of brass instruments. Town bands became popular and soon spread. By the 1850s nearly every town had a band, and larger towns and cities sometimes had several. The brass bands eventually found themselves at the center of a town’s social life and in this position it was only natural that the soon grafted into another social institution, the militia movement.

    Originally nearly every settlement in America had formed militias for the necessary purpose of protecting themselves from marauding Indians. But as the frontier steadily moved west, the need for militias passed. So with nothing of a military nature to do, the militias became social organizations. In many towns militia muster was a major social event, calling for music and entertainment. Naturally the town bands turned out for these musters, and it was inevitable that the bands became closely associated with the militia units. This association led to the need for the bands to march, and that in turn led to the next development in brass instruments.

    The saxhorns were first built either as upright or bell-front instruments. Trombones, which were widely used in brass bands, also had bells facing forward. This configuration projected the sound of the bands towards their front, which was desirable when playng concerts. But when bands were on the march, forward-projecting instruments became a liability because troops marching behind them could not hear the music, much less march to it. To remedy this situation, some now-unknown manufacturer produced a series of saxhorns with the bells facing ot the rear over the player’s shoulder. The Dodworth Band in New York City, which purchased a set of these over-the-shoulder instruments in the late 1830s, is believed to have been the first band to have used them. The rearward -facing design proved workable, and by the late 1850s a majority of the brass bands all over the country, in particular those that performed in conjunction with the various militia units owned a set of the over-the-shoulder instruments.

    Next time; Music of the Civil War and beyond.

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  • America’s Brass Band Heritage – Ancient History

    by Larry Johnson

    It all started with Joshua. Or did it? The idea of making some kind of noise for the dual purposes of frightening the enemy and inspiring one’s own troops appears for the first time in recorded history at the time the ancient Israelites began the conquest of Canaan. But the practice is obviously much older. The earliest Egyptians are known to have used trumpets for military purposes, and there are indications that the most ancient civilizations in China and India had similar practices But Joshua’s use of a recognizable form of military music is the earliest instance in which such a practice was written down.

    What General Joshua chronicled was his use of the first military band at the siege of Jericho around 1400 B. C. The Bible clearly describes a band of seven trumpets at the head of his army while it marched around the city. This band, which was composed of Hebrew priests, was under the tutelage of a man who was dressed in all the finery of his time. His costume included an ephod, or breastplate, set with twelve gemstones. The hem of his robe was decorated with pomegranates. And on his head he wore a turban of the finest linen. While the Bible identifies this individual as the High Priest, he is instantly recognized by bandsmen everywhere as the original Drum Major. So all the elements of what would evolve into the modern military band were present at the time of this ancient campaign.

    In subsequent centuries there is only a single mention of a significant military-type ensemble, that of Nebuchadnezzar, until Greco-Roman times. Then the use of brass, reed and percussion instruments in close association with military activities reached a golden age.

    The Romans, who practiced the art of war profusely, were quite fond of brass instruments and developed several types of horns and trumpets for military use. They also combined trumpets with drums. The Roman Drum Major, or standard-bearer, wore a wolf skin over his upper body and carried a wooden pole topped by the imperial letters SPQR. Roman bands were not known to have played anything other than calls; acoustically their instruments were incapable of melody. Tub the presence of several types of brass instruments in relatively large numbers does create some interesting speculation as to whether Caesar’s legions developed a close relative of a modern day drum and bugle corps.

    The Greeks differed from the Romans in military music as widely as they differed in other areas. Athenian Greek armies placed melodic instruments (flutes, strings, reeds) at the head of their columns and reinforced them with tambourine-like percussion instruments instead of drums. Spartan Greeks utilized the double pipes and on several occasions refused to go into battle until they first heard the sound of them. (The precursors of Scottish traditions can be clearly seen here.) Trumpets were strictly signalling devices in Greek armies and were separate and apart from the musical establishment.

    The passing of the Greco-Roman world brought an end to the early military band prototypes. The trumpet reigned supreme on battlefields for a thousand years, usually in teh service of a monarch or nobleman, and almost always in the form of a single instrument. Organized ensembles did not reappear until the time of the Ottoman Turks. And then began the history of modern military bands.

    Next time: we’ll go from the Turkish traditions to Europe.

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  • United States Marine Band

    By Mike Magers

    The United States Marine Band is believed to be the oldest military band and the oldest performing organization in the country, having been authorized by an act of Congress July 11, 1798. This is the band known as “The President’s Own” because of its unique relationship to the President of the United States. Outgoing President John Adams had requested the band to perform at the Executive Mansion on New Year’s Day, 1801 and incoming President Thomas Jefferson requested that the band play for his inauguration.

    Since that time, the United States Marine Band has performed at every presidential inauguration since. President Jefferson gave the band the title “The President’s Own” in 1801.

    The band’s history is marked with many inaugural “firsts” including its participation in the first inaugural parade on the occasion of President Jefferson’s second inauguration ceremony. It also performed in what is believed to be the first inaugural ball for the inauguration of President and Mrs. James Madison in 1809, held at a Washington, DC hotel.

    Link: the Marine Band’s Inauguration History

    Alexandria, Va. – The Marine Band, conducted by Assistant Director Maj. Ryan J. Nowlin, performed the concert “Traditions” on Feb. 2, 2020, featuring wind band favorites and popular marches. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Brian Rust/released)

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  • Larry Johnson and the Gainesville Community Circus Band – Part 2

    By Larry Johnson, the band’s last director, October 6, 2018

    Gainesville, Texas and the Circus

    Gainesville, Texas, was a unique town. The circus billed itself as “The Only Show Of Its Kind In The World.” And it was. No one has ever been able to prove otherwise. There were at that time two small community-type circuses in Russia, but these were small, one-ring shows that couldn’t begin to compare to what Gainesville had. Gainesville stood alone, and the whole town reflected it.

    One way the circus’ presence influenced the town was how it affected the music program in the schools. In many schools, the band students view the Jazz Band as the elite because only the best players are selected to play in it. But in Gainesville, the highest musical honor was being asked to play in the Circus Band. Only the players who had reached the required level of proficiency could qualify, and this motivated the kids to practice. That never hurts a music program.

    For example, all of the cornet players selected Herbert L. Clarke solos for their contest pieces. “Bride of the Waves,” “From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific,” and Frank Simons’ “Willow Echoes” were especially popular. Other players selected comparable literature. This produced high school students who could play.

    Another positive effect of the circus on the high school was that the circus band included all instruments and was therefore open to anyone. Jazz Bands, on the other hand, are far less democratic because they exclude flutes, clarinets, horns, double reeds, baritones, and tubas. So in Gainesville saxophone, cornet and trombone players didn’t practice in order to get good enough to play in the Jazz Band; everybody practiced on all instruments to make it to the Circus Band.

    The Gainesville Circus began in 1929 as a fund-raising project to pay off a debt incurred by the Community Theatre. Its history is well documented from that point by the Morton Museum’s collection of scrapbooks, artifacts, and photographs. But the history of the band is murky, and some of it has to be inferred.

    In the early part of the 20th Century, Gainesville, like just about everybody else, had a town band. There is an undated photograph of it in a private collection that tells us it was an all male organization of 10 – 12 members and composed mostly of brass instruments. They are wearing uniforms that look suspiciously like those common to the 1890’s. It isn’t known when this band broke up but the fact it once existed establishes that there were brass players in Gainesville. Chances are that it was the remnants of this band that played for the first performances of the circus.

    While there are hundreds of photographs of the circus, there are only a few of its band. One of the earliest photos reveals mostly, if not all, adult players. But they are wearing uniforms borrowed from the High School band. To get access to these meant that the high school director also led the circus band, which he did, and/or there were high school players in the band.

    The Gainesville Community Circus was just that: A community circus. It’s policies required that all its members live in Gainesville and everyone had to make/furnish their own costumes. The one exception to this rule was the band, which borrowed from the local high school and never had uniforms of its own.

    In the mid-1950’s there occurred a series of events which all affected the band negatively. The first of these happened in 1953 when the local high school football team won its District for the first time in nearly a quarter century. Gainesville, being in Texas, went football crazy. As usually happens, funds were taken from the music program and diverted to athletics. The band director left, and in his wake was left an underfunded music program that never again produced players who consistently reached the level they once did. But the football team won District three more times in the next four years, while the music programs steadily grew weaker.

    The next year, 1954, a fire, which is still viewed as suspicious, broke out in the circus storage barn and destroyed the big top and much of the circus’ equipment. It was a disaster from which the famed show never fully recovered. Without a tent, sawdust, and all the ambience that went with it, the few adult players still in the band called it quits. The circus band was now reduced to a dozen or so of the best players from a high school whose music program was declining. But that was by no means the end of the band. The students who played in the circus band loved it, and younger students still strove to be in it. But by then the leader was no longer a stand-up conductor. He had “graduated” to being a circus bandleader by playing cornet with one hand and conducting with the other. Gee, did any other circus band leaders ever do that?

    By now the group of select high school students that comprised the circus band had played the music enough times that we knew it and played it a little better every show. It didn’t matter if we missed a note — there were plenty more. We learned how to find our place and come back in if we got lost. There was no stopping. We learned by doing, and that included mastering playing in five flats/ After we had played two seasons together we had become familiar with the music and were giving very credible performances.

    Then the local school district’s long-time superintendent retired. His replacement, as often happens, wanted to make changes. Trouble was, he didn’t know how things had come to be as they were and he didn’t seem to have any particular goal that his changes were intended to accomplish. One of the things he tried to do was sever the relationship between the circus and the schools. He didn’t realize the circus was the whole town, and his changes were destined to cause problems.

    Next Installment, “Larry Becomes the Director”

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  • Larry Johnson and the Gainesville Community Circus Band – Part 1

    By Larry Johnson, the band’s last director, October 6, 2018

    Larry Joins the Circus

    Time was when every young boy dreamed of running away and joining the circus. I actually did it.  Sort of. Only I didn’t run away. There was a circus right there in my home town so I simply joined it. That’s still not quite right, so I’ll start at the beginning.

    It was the year 1949.  My family was then living in Ardmore, Oklahoma. That spring the Gainesville Community Circus performed in Ardmore. Later in the year, Ringling Bros. came to town.  Thus it happened that I saw both of these shows only a few months apart.  They were both quite good, and I remember only two differences between them.  The Gainesville Circus had only one elephant while Ringling Bros.had a whole herd of them. The other difference was that the Ringling Bros. band was a whole lot better. Well, duh! I had just heard Merle Evans and his legendary band of windjammers.  And I was captivated by the sound of it. Little did I know that ten years later I too would be leading a circus band.

    About a year and a half, and three grade schools later, my family moved to Gainesville. To me Gainesville was a thriving metropolis.  It had city busses (two of them!), three movie theaters, red lights in many places instead of one or two along a highway, a minor league baseball team, and a recently-closed WW II Army base whose remnants were everywhere.

    But Gainesville was famous for its circus. This was something other cities didn’t have.  I had already seen the circus and knew it was good, so it was only natural that I began to ask myself what I could do to be in it. Meanwhile, I couldn’t get the sound of that band out of my head.

    Then I entered the fifth grade.  My chance to enroll in band quickly came and I decided to learn to play the trombone.  My instrument was a hand-me-down G.l. horn that an older cousin had used.  I tried, but just couldn’t get the thing to make an acceptable sound.  Finally, at the beginning of my 7th grade year, the band director told me, “I don’t see how you play that clunker as well as you do, but you’re never going to get anywhere with it.  I want you to try this.”  Then he handed me a Sousaphone.

    It was a perfect match. Befuddled at first by the switch from slide to valves, I soon sorted it out and began to make rapid progress in learning a new instrument. By the spring of my 8th grade year, the director invited me to sit in with the Circus Band, which he also led, for the upcoming season.  The circus band! Wow! That was the ultimate musical achievement in Gainesville!  But was I ready for it?  No.

    The Circus Band’s tuba player was a graduating senior who would be gone at the end of the season.  A replacement had to be developed.  By having me sit beside him, listen to him play, and attempt to play along, the director hoped I would absorb enough familiarity with the music to carry the part for the next four years.  I did.

    And that’s how I joined the circus.

    Next Installment, “Gainesville, Texas and the Circus”

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  • Honoring the Nation with the Star Spangled Banner

    By Mike Magers

    The individual who wrote the lyrics to our National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” was Francis Scott Key (1779 – 1843), an American lawyer born in Maryland. He practiced law in Maryland and was well known in District of Columbia life. In addition to his law practice, he wrote poems, hymns and articles on legal topics. Key was an Episcopalian by faith. He was active in his denomination and his personal faith was reflected in his hymns and other compositions.

    A listing of his hymns would include the following(1):

    • Faith
    • If Life’s Pleasures Charm Thee
    • Lord, With Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee
    • L. M./God, Art Thou My Father?
    • Praise for Redemption
    • The Home of the Soul
    • The Bethel Flag
    • When Troubles Wave on Wave Assailed

    Some of his writing was posthumously published by his brother-in-law. Favorite topics of Key’s centered around patriotism, religious faith and related themes. His most famous work, however was “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

    The ultimate origin of the melody or tune is said to be unknown, though it is attributed to John Stafford Smith, (1750-1836). Smith was a British composer, organist, and musicologist best known for writing the melody for “The Anacreontic Song,” which later was paired with Key’s poem and adopted as the tune for the national anthem of the United States, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” in 1931.

    Key’s poem was written during the War of 1812 and specifically a battle in 1814 in which British forces bombarded Fort McHenry by British forces. Key was inspired by seeing that the American flag had endured the British naval attack.

    One hundred years later, the Austin American in its issue of August 2, 1914 carried the following article:

    State Program, Daughters of 1812

    In accordance with the proclamation that has been issued by Governor O. B. Colquitt to the people of Texas to celebrate the centennial of the Battle of Baltimore and the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner” by Frances Scott Key, a program has been arranged by the Daughters of the United States War of 1812 in Texas for that occasion.

    The proclamation was issued by invitation of the Governor of Maryland to the Governors of all the States to make the writing of our National air a National and State as well as local affair.

    It is earnestly requested by the tate committee Daughters of 1812, to whom Governor Colquitt entrusted the program for the celebration, that every city, every school and church will join in the celebration. The following is the program:

    Program

    Centennial celebration of the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” September 13, 1914, arranged by the United States Daughters of 1812 in Texas:

    Call to order and introduction by the Mayor.
    Invocation. minister.
    Song, “America,” audience and band.
    Song, “Lead. Kindly Light,” choirs of churches.
    Song, “Star Spangled Banner,” school children.
    Address, “Christian Citizenship,” minister.
    Lord’s prayer, audience.
    Music, “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” “Star Spangled Banner, band.

    All military organizations, navy. labor day committees and public at large are invited to assist.

    Committee: Mrs. E. P. Smith, chairman; Mrs. George Massie, Mrs. 0. B. Colquitt, Mrs. J. E. Howze, Miss Ethel Bowman, Miss Imogen Fulmore.

    (1) Hymnary.org

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  • Music in the 1860s

    By Larry Johnson

    At any Civil War re-enactment, participants can readily be found who are knowledgeable of weapons, uniforms, and equipment of the period. Most infantry re-enactors can discuss the difference between Enfield and Springfield rifles, and those who do cavalry impressions can competently compare Sharps and Spencer carbines. There are even artillerists who have sorted out the various throw-weight, diameter, and caliber nomenclatures of guns well enough to make sense of the subject. Medical impressions are also generally well done because they are often presented by actual physicians who are professionally trained and know their subject. Civilian portrayals, on the other hand, sometimes go astray. An 1870’s Western gunfighter, for example, is an anomaly on an Eastern theater Civil War field. So is a California gold miner, yet such things are seen.

    However, the most problematic presentations at most re-enactments are musical performances. These are often given by amateurs and hobbyists who are not schooled in music and lack adequate knowledge of the styles, repertory, literature, and performance practices of the period. Almost anything can be hem:d at re-enactments, little of which is truly authentic. (To wit: “Ashokan Farewell,” composed in 1986, is quite popular but definitely not authentic.) For the next few paragraphs, we shall discuss what would have been heard on a Civil War field, as well as what was not there.

    In the 1860’s, there was either live music or none. There were no boom boxes, mp3 players, cell phones, or any mechanical reproduction devices. Neither was there any such thing as electronic amplification. The only music available was provided by the military bands or it was made by the soldiers themselves. And here is where so many sins are committed at re-enactments.

    Camp music, which was made by soldiers when in camp, consisted primarily of group singing without accompaniment. Usually, one soldier with a strong voice led and the others joined. What few instruments that were present in the encampments were small, light, and portable enough that the soldiers could carry them while on the march. The most common instrument by far was the fiddle, which was present in large numbers in both armies. Second to the fiddle in popularity, and a distant second at that, was the wooden or folk flute. Other instruments included the concertina (squeeze box), harmonica, jaw’s harp, ocarina, and the banjo. Various percussion instruments, especially bones, were improvised.

    Contrary to its popularity at modern re-enactments, the guitar was not present in period camps. For one thing, it was too large and bulky to be carried. For another, the guitar was not a popular instrument at that time and not very many people played it. Period photos do reveal guitars present at fixed installations such as heavy artillery forts and supply depots where the soldiers were stationary rather than actively campaigning. Guitars were also found one here and one there aboard ships. When seen, guitars appear in the photos as isolated, single instruments – never in multiples. But there is scant if any evidence that guitars were ever found in a period infantry encampment.

    Whenever a re-enactment is being planned, an individual or committee is charged with selecting music for the event. This person may be a seasoned re-enactor, but in nearly every case, he has no knowledge of period music. In such circumstances, the results are always the same: the person in charge of music will select music he personally likes. Since Country and Western music is popular among re-enactors, the band most likely to be engaged to perform at events, particularly at dances, is one that sounds like a Country and Western band. While this style of music may be popular, it is anything but authentic.

    Country and Western music originated in the 1930’s and with it came the idea of guitar bands. Prior to that time, guitars were used almost exclusively as single instruments to accompany singers. Civil War Era string bands, which were small, consisted of fiddles often supplemented by a flute. A cornet might also have been included. The tenor banjo, which was deeper sounding than the modern version, made frequent appearances as well. But guitars did not. Guitar bands, so common today, did not exist in the 1860’s.

    The documentation for the composition of the period string bands comes from a collection of instrumental music written by none other than Stephen Foster and published by Firth, Pond, and Co. in 1854. This work, which was titled The Social Orchestra, was a compilation of pieces written for the ensemble which was in use at that time to play for social events (dances). Its instrumentation was a flute, two violins, and a bass instrument, preferably a cello. Foster wrote and arranged numerous pieces for this four part period dance band, then added others for three instruments. He went on to include duets for two players and finally solos for one instrument, which were obviously intended for single fiddle. All of these pieces could be used for dancing, even the solos, and indeed Mary Boykin Chestnut mentions balls accompanied by a single fiddler.

    Corroboration  of the widespread use of the fiddle-flute combination lies in a notebook of sketches drawn by Confederate John Omenhausser while a P.O.W. at Point Lookout. One panel depicts prisoners staging a variety show accompanied by their ad hoc orchestra of flute, two fiddles, and a banjo. Attached was an improvised period percussion section of a tambourine, triangle, and the ubiquitous bones. The drum set, which developed concurrently  with silent movies, was unknown in the 19th Century and should be neither seen nor heard at a re­ enactment.

    Thus far, we have shown that Civil War instrumental music relied on the fiddle as the primary instrument and that guitars were little used. Now, we shall take up the case of vocal music.

    In the 19th Century, singers had to sing. Amplification was not available in those days and thin, breathy voices never made it to the concert stage. Successful singers were those whose who had studied with a voice teacher and had learned to project the voice. They could fill a concert hall with sound and be heard without microphones and speakers. When Jenny Lind toured the United States in 1850, she was booked into the largest venues available – auditoriums, concert halls, churches – and drew capacity crowds wherever she performed. In some instances, windows were opened so people who couldn’t get tickets could stand outside and hear her. And they could. Patrick Gilmore staged his monster National Peace Jubilee concerts in 1869 for which a special pavilion was constructed that housed 11,000 performers and an audience of nearly 40,000. He engaged a renowned European soprano named Madame Parepa-Rosa to sing at the event and contemporary accounts attest that her voice was equal to the challenge. Only Gilmore could upstage Gilmore and, in 1872, he produced his even larger World Peace Jubilee. This time, the coliseum housed nearly 100,000 performers and listeners. Several vocal soloists, including American Clara Louise Kellogg, were featured. They were heard, though faintly, in even the farthest seats. And all of this was several decades before the development of amplification technology.

    Granted, there was far less noise pollution in those days and audiences were much better mannered than they are today. But singers still had to project their voices and only those who had been trained could succeed in any venue larger than that domain of amateurs, the parlor. Yet, re-enactments persist in featuring amateur vocalists singing “old”songs into a microphone and not to the audience.

    “Old songs”- therein lies another problem. A quick glance at a song’s publication date will cut to the core of this issue in a hurry. Far too often, amateur singers who have done no research plug in their microphones, twang their guitars, and sing, what to them, are old songs; some of which date back as far as the 1920’s. Other performers draw material from movies, television, and recordings. The folly of that approach should be obvious, but apparently, it isn’t. One hears music from the folk revival of the 1960’s, old hits by the Sons of the Pioneers, and songs recorded by Bobby Horton, et al, being passed off as period. Some of these tunes actually are authentic, but care should be taken with the texts. Numerous songs became obsolete when the war ended and their words were altered or replaced entirely with the passage of time. (Aura Lee/Love Me Tender). Thus, before a singer performs what he thinks is period music, he should first research both the publication dates and the original texts.

    And now, a special word of caution pertaining to hymns. As a general rule, the hymn writer composes only a poem; the tune comes from a variety of sources. One of these is preexisting melodies to which the poem was written to fit or with which it was eventually matched. But one must be discreet when selecting old hymns with tunes whose sources are not documented because some of these tunes have unholy pasts. To be candid, many were originally bawdy songs. Songs in this category flourished during Colonial times, thanks to the British, and their melodies were well known, especially in the taverns. One of them, Anacreon in Heaven, became our National Anthem. Many others wound up as hymn tunes and are still in use. Therefore, one should be wary of performing hymns whose tunes have vague origins because the words sung to those tunes in the 1860’s may have been, shall we say, “inappropriate for polite company.”

    In recent years, there has been a proliferation of bagpipes at re-enactments. When questioned, the pipers invariably reply they “just know” that there were pipers among the Scottish and Irish troops. That statement is true. There were, in fact, soldiers who could play the bagpipes within various regiments of both armies. But they did not have their instruments with them. Bagpipes were not part of the American military traditions and American soldiers had no appreciation for them. Besides that, pipes were valuable. Some of them had been presentation pieces and/or family heirlooms, and the silver fittings which came with the more expensive sets of pipes made them a tempting target for thieves. In an environment that left bagpipers no role to play within a soldiery that had no regard for .pipes, pipers chose to leave their instruments at home rather than risk them being damaged or stolen.

    The author of this article has been reading Civil War history {with an eye towards references to music) since the 1950’s and in more than fifty years, he has seen bagpipes mentioned exactly once. That one case involved the 79th New York. This was an early war short-term regiment formed from Scottish immigrants who wore bonnets, doublets, and kilts imported from Scotland. The 79th had pipes and frequently paraded with them. They fought one battle, First Manassas, (wearing ordinary blue uniforms at the time), and in it their colonel, James Cameron, was killed. Soon afterwards, their enlistment ran out and they all went home, taking their pipes with them.

    While there is no historical mention of pipers on American Civil War fields except in the case mentioned above, it is certainly possible that lone, isolated pipers made unrecorded appearances at widely separated times.and places. But these were rare cases, if they happened at all. By and large, the presence of bagpipes at a re­ enactment is in the main an attempt to re-create something that was never actually there.

    The most authentic musical groups that appear at re-enactments are the brass bands. They are composed of musicians with many years of training and a fair percentage of them hold degrees in music. They are not amateur hobbyists, but instead, are skilled performers whose musical knowledge is sufficient enough to avoid transposing the 21st Century on top of the 19th. They know the historical roles of the brass bands and re-create them well.

    In their time, which was before electronic amplification, the brass bands had filled a definite need. Their predecessors, known as oboe bands, had served 18th Century armies in the same capacity as army bands today, but they were inadequate for the duties required of them. Military activities, for which the bands provided music, took place outdoors and this created a need for enough volume that the soldier could hear the music and march to its rhythms. It was just this quality of the brass bands, that is, the ability to play outdoors and be heard, that made them particularly suitable for military purposes. They were also adept at providing music for balls because their volume of sound could fill even the largest halls. True period dance orchestras, which relied on fiddles, could not project enough sound to be heard in the larger venues. Meanwhile, re-enactments continue to stage balls in large rooms which feature music provided by amplified guitars. These groups may be popular, but only brass bands are authentic in such settings.

    And finally, a word about bluegrass bands. This type of ensemble is a variant of Country and Western bands which inserts and/or substitutes banjos and mandolins for some of the guitars. Bluegrass music was developed by Bill Monroe {1911-1996) who began his career in the 1930’s. This music has a quaint, happy, “old-timey” sound about it that makes it popular in some circles and also helps pass itself off as folk music. Unfortunately, Bluegrass is neither folk nor old. Such bands are heard – normally amplified – at re-enactments solely because the person or committee in charge of selecting music likes Bluegrass. It is not even close to being authentic.

    This article was written in order to provide some guidelines as to what is and is not authentic in attempts to re­ create music from the 1860’s. It is hoped that event organizers will pay more attention to the considerable differences between popular and period music. Even better would be music planners doing research into the era rather than basing their decisions on personal tastes. After all, re-enactments are supposed to be first and foremost historically correct.

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