Martial music

Bagpiper leads an advance during Operation 'Epsom', 26 June 1944.

A.M. Willard, 1857, showing fife and drums

Martial music or military music is a specific genre of music intended for use in military settings performed by professional soldiers called field musicians. Much of the military music has been composed to announce military events as with

taught by ear

, such as bugle calls or drum cadences, relying on group memory to coordinate the sounds.

Types

March music

The notion of march music began to be borrowed from the

classical music, with such composers as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven all writing compositions

inspired by or designed to imitate the Ottoman music.

Marching songs

Marching songs, typically with patriotic and sometimes nostalgic lyrics, are often sung by soldiers as they march. The songs invariably feature a rhythm timed to the

Dadao March" was a patriotic song sung in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. "White Army, Black Baron" was written as a combat hymn for the Red Army of Russia in 1920, while "Erika

" was sung by the German army during World War II.

Bugle calls

The

The Last Post", and "Reveille", and also El Degüello

.

Ruffles and flourishes

Ruffles and flourishes are

fanfares

for ceremonial music for distinguished people or groups. Ruffles are typically played on drums, and flourishes are played on bugles.

Recorded music

The

rap music) has been used by some soldiers as they travel, prepare for and engage in battle.^[2] Performers such as Eminem have written songs with specific reference to the current wars including "Bagpipes From Baghdad", and Mark Knopfler, whose Brothers in Arms (song) was written during the Falklands War (1982).^[3] Also see: "Soundtrack to War

".

Instruments

Russian Infantry musicians, leading an attack during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904

Historically,

military bands

.

Drum

Chinese troops used

traditional grip). Similarly, during the English Civil War rope-tension drums would be carried by junior officers as a means to relay commands from senior officers over the noise of battle. These were also hung over the shoulder of the drummer and typically played with two drum sticks. Different regiments

and companies would have distinctive and unique drum beats which only they would recognize.

Trumpet

The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes and the modern bugle continues this signaling tradition.

Officers in command gave orders via sound from the trumpet because it had a piercing tone and high volume, which meant it could be heard in the midst of combat. Cavalry trumpets had a different timbre, so their calls would not be mistaken for other sounds meant for the infantry.

Bagpipe

An instrument with a piercing sound and graceful melody which is meant to be played outdoors, its main goal is to inspire men and women in the midst of conflict. It is also used in mourning the fallen and celebrating victory. Music was played in the build up to battle, but not during.^[4]

Textual evidence for the use of Scottish bagpipes in battle dates from in 1396, when records of the

Battle of the North Inch of Perth reference "warpipes" being carried into battle, though it is believed that bagpipes were originally intended for peaceful music.^[5] The Irish were also inspired by bagpipes, as witness in this 1586 account: "This sort of instrument is held among the Irish to be a whetstone for martial courage: for just as other soldiers are stirred by the sound of trumpets, so they are hotly stimulated to battle by the noise of this affair.^[6] In World War I German soldiers referred to Scottish pipers as Die Damen aus der Hölle [Ladies from Hell].^[7]

Also see:

Great Irish Warpipes

.

Shawm

One of several woodwind instruments used in battle as early as the 12th century. This instrument rose in popularity during the Renaissance period and is believed to be a successor of an instrument called the zurna. It was mostly used as a military instrument. The overpowering noise coming from this instrument was used as a psychological weapon. The shawm found its way to Europe during the Crusades. ^[8]

References

^ White, William (1944). A History of Military Music in America. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 50.
^ Jonathan Pieslak, Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, published by Indiana University Press, 2009.
^ Beviglia, Jim (29 June 2015). "Lyric of the Week: Dire Straits, "Brothers in Arms"". Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
^ Manson, William (1977). The Highland Bagpipe, Its History, Literature, and Music. EP Publishing. p. 115.
^ Francis Collinson, The Bagpipe, London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975, pp. 126, 135.
^ De Rebus Hibernicis by Richard Stanihurst, quoted in Sean Donnelly, "The Warpipes in Ireland: iii", Ceol: A Journal of Irish Music, April 19, 1983, pp. 19-23.
^ Claire Barrett (6/12/2023) ‘Ladies from Hell’: Bagpipers Led the Charge During WWI. HistoryNet Retrieved from https://www.historynet.com/ladies-from-hell-bagpipers-led-the-charge-during-wwi/.
^ Baines, Anthony (1963). Woodwind instruments and their history. New York: W.W. Norton.