George Barrett Bruce

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George B. Bruce was an American Army

Daniel Decatur Emmett.[1]

George Barrett Bruce
BornGeorge Bruce Barrett
1815 or 1816
Baltimore City, Maryland
DiedJune 23, 1884
Baltimore, Maryland
OccupationAuthor, Drum Major, Union Army Soldier, Silversmith, Printer
NationalityAmerican
PeriodAmerican Civil War
GenreDrum and Percussion Instruction
Notable worksThe Drummers' and Fifers' Guide

Career

George Bruce, real name George Barrett, was taught to play the drum by drum major Riggs in the

7th Regiment N.Y.S.M. (National Guard) Band [6] and he is also listed as the Principal Drum Instructor at Bedloe's and the U.S. Army at the Eastern School of Practice on Governor's Island in New York Harbor.[7] See Controversy section below. Bruce was a player of the drums, banjo, violin and mandolin.[8] Bruce served as the drum major for the 22nd New York Infantry Regiment[9] in 1863 and as the drum major for the 5th Maryland Infantry Regiment.[10] He died in 1884 in Baltimore City, MD at the age of 68.[11]

His work influenced

Moeller Method of drumming, in the publisher's note of Moeller's own book he speaks highly Bruce's method of drum instruction, and indeed, Moeller's book has some similarity to Bruce and Emmett's The Drummers' and Fifers' Guide, in that both have lengthy treatments of the rudiments,[12] and many of the pieces in Bruce's book also appear in Moeller's.[13] Moeller is quoted as having said that Bruce and Emmett, "saved American drumming."[5]

Controversy

George Bruce's resume and qualifications have been questioned by some modern groups,[14] and he appears to have regularly interchanged his middle name with his surname, though many publications on rudimental drumming adhere to Bruce's own fictitious account of his qualifications. Bruce's birth name was George B. Barrett (b. 1815 or 1816 in Baltimore) and he changed his name [15] after deserting his post in Maryland's 2nd Regiment of Dragoons in 1836.[16] He was later "apprehended" in 1842.[17] A soldier named George Barrett served in the 7th Regiment N.Y.S.M. as Bruce had claimed to do,[18] but this was unlikely to be the same man as the age and rank of the potential soldier are incorrect. Bruce served under his new name as a drum major in the 22nd Regiment N.Y.S.M. in 1863,[9] though his post with the 22nd is not listed in his book. The drum and fife instructors on Governor's Island during the Civil War were known to be Sergeant Henke and Sergeant Michael Moore,[19] of the eponymous Henke-Moore Manuscript,[20] and not George Bruce as he claimed.[21] Moore had been at Governor's Island since 1841.[22] Fort Wood on Bedloe's Island, now known as Liberty Island, was an ordinance depot during the Civil War.[23] George's position with the 5th Regiment was under the name Barrett, even though the Regiment acknowledged that he was the author of the book written under the name Bruce. After his military career, all references to him, including his obituary, use the name Barrett.[24] The question as to Bruce's backstory had been raised in the 1920s but was largely ignored by contemporary drummers.

References

  1. ^ Snell and Kelley, pg. 30
  2. ^ https://companyoffifeanddrum.org/images/Members/AT-Past-Issues/2000-2009/Issue105.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ Maryland 2nd Dragoons Enlistment Records
  4. ^ "Bruce and Emmett's Drummers and Fifers Guide".
  5. ^ a b Beck, John H. Encyclopedia of Percussion. Routledge, 2013.
  6. ^ Bruce, G. and Dan Emmett. The Drummers’ and Fifers’ Guide. New York, W.A. Pond, 1865.
  7. ^ "Bruce & Emmett - the Drummer's and Fifers' Guide".
  8. ^ Music for Fife and Field Drums
  9. ^ a b Wingate, George W. History of the Twenty-second Regiment of the National Guard of the State of New York - from its organization to 1895. New York: Dayton, 1896.
  10. ^ "The National Guard."The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, Volume 8. Army and Navy Journal Incorporated, 1871.
  11. ^ Arps, Wlater E. Maryland Mortalities, 1876-1915, from the (Baltimore) Sun Almanac. Heritage Books, 2009.
  12. ^ "Civil War Music : Bruce & Emmett -- the Drummers' & Fifers' Guide". Archived from the original on 2009-09-28. Retrieved 2009-07-28. Bruce and Emmett's The Drummers' and Fifers' Guide
  13. ^ Moeller, Sanford A. The Art of Snare Drumming. Chicago: Ludwig, 1925.
  14. ^ "Fife & Drum Online".
  15. ^ https://historyoftheancients.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/p1010037.jpg [bare URL image file]
  16. ^ "Bruce and Emmett, the Drummers' and Fifers' Guide (1862, 1865, 1880, and 1885)". 22 September 2012.
  17. ^ Jones, Patrick. "Bruce." PDF, 2023.
  18. ^ "7th Regiment, New York National Guard :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center".
  19. ^ Meyers, Augustus. Ten Years in the Ranks: U. S. Army. The Stirling Press, 1914.
  20. ^ https://nationalcivilwarfieldmusicschool.com/music_resources.html
  21. ^ "The U.S. Army Field Music School - Governors Island National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)".
  22. ^ http://www.npshistory.com/publications/gois/hrs.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  23. ^ "Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty – Page 2 – Legends of America".
  24. ^ Maryland Mortalities, 1876-1915, from the (Baltimore) Sun Almanac: By Walter E. Arps

External links

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