Directors of Music of the British Army

 Originally bandmasters became commissioned  with their appointment of director of music  through Queen Victoria    As part of the Jubilee honours, Dan Godfrey, Bandmaster of the Grenadier Guards, was commissioned as Honorary 2nd Lieutenant on 20 June 1887, his commission being signed personally by Queen Victoria. He had been appointed on 2 July 1856 and was to hold that position for a remarkable period of 40 years.His commission was a unique honour for a bandmaster, being very much a personal gift bestowed by the Queen, and so when he retired in 1896 his successor was appointed in the rank of Warrant Officer. Perhaps Dan Godfrey’s greatest memorial is his arrangement of themes from Meyerbeer’s opera  Huguenots which has become part of the traditional music for the Queen’s Birthday Parade .The Royal Military School of Music was established at Kneller Hall in 1857 and was headed by a Commandant, with the musical side initially being headed by a civilian as Director of Music, a title first appearing in the Army List in 1882. When Charles Cousins died suddenly in May 1890 the post was temporarily filled by a student bandmaster, Manuel Bilton, until a successor was appointed. On 24 December 1890 Samuel Griffiths became the first soldier to be appointed as Director of Music at Kneller Hall, and was commissioned as Honorary Lieutenant. Lt Griffiths had previously served as Bandmaster of 2nd Battalion The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (1874), and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (1890).

Like his predecessor, Griffiths also died in harness and the post was again temporarily filled by students until the appointment of Arthur John Stretton on 25 March 1896. Lieutenant Stretton, formerly Bandmaster of 2nd Battalion The Cheshire Regiment (1893), attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 3 June 1918, the first director of music to do so. He retired on 22 September 1921. 1898. Bandmasters had held the rank of Warrant Officer since 1 July 1881 but outside of Kneller Hall, Dan Godfrey, now retired, had been the only bandmaster to be commissioned and this was purely an honorary rank.”His Majesty decided that the post should be filled by Kneller Hall, and His Majesty considers that Mr. Stretton, Director of Music to the Naval School of Music, a military bandmaster trained at Kneller Hall, a suitable candidate.” Thus, more or less by Royal command, Warrant Officer Charles Edward Stretton was appointed Bandmaster of the Royal Artillery Band.Three more Bandmasters were to be commissioned before the outbreak of the First World War, the first of these being John Mackenzie Rogan of the Coldstream Guards on 27 February 1904, apparently following a recommendation by King Edward VII. Born in 1852, he was appointed Bandmaster of 2nd Battalion The Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment 1882, transferring to the Coldstream Guards in 1896. He went on to attain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

On 25 January 1905, Charles William Hemphill Hall, Bandmaster of the 2nd Life Guards, was commissioned, being the senior Bandmaster of the Household Cavalry following the retirement of Charles Godfrey the previous year. Charles Hall was born in 1858 and was appointed Bandmaster of The Royal Dragoons in] 884, moving to the 2nd Life Guards in 1896. Hall died in 1922 in the rank of Major.

Albert Edward Williams was appointed Bandmaster of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own) in 1888 and transferred to the Royal Marine Artillery in 1892. He succeeded Lt Dan Godfrey as Bandmaster of the Grenadier Guards in 1896 and achieved the degree of Doctor of Music in 1902. He was commissioned on 2 January 1907 with subsequent promotion to Captain.

Thus in 1914, outside of Kneller Hall, there were three Army Bandmasters holding commissioned rank, John Mackenzie Rogan, Charles Hall and Albert Williams, and it was felt that there should be a different title to distinguish them from Warrant Officer Bandmasters. Following a suggestion from Mackenzie Rogan, the title of Director of Music, used at Kneller Hall since at least 1882, was taken into use, taking effect from 6 June 1914.

The next Bandmaster to be commissioned was Charles Edward Stretton, as Director of Music of the Royal Artillery Band on 22 February 1917. He was born in 1871, the younger brother of Lt-Col Arthur Stretton, Director of Music, Kneller Hall, and enlisted into the Royal Artillery in 1886. He subsequently served as Bandmaster of lst Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment and as the first Musical Director of the newly formed Royal Naval School of Music, returning to the Royal Artillery in January 1907 as we have seen.

Other than Kneller Hall, appointments as director of music were still very much personal honours, seemingly following the personal intervention of the Sovereign. This is supported by the fact that all of these gentlemen were appointed Members of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) by the Sovereign, Mackenzie Rogan being promoted to CVO just prior to his retirement.

This situation changed in 1919 when it was decided that the bands of the Household Cavalry, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and Foot Guards should all, in future, be led by directors of music, making a total of eleven such posts in the Army, including Kneller Hall.

The following were appointed as Lieutenant, director of music

Lieutenant George’ John Miller, 1 st Life Guards (son of George Miller commissioned in 1898)

Bandmaster 1 st Battalion The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (1898), Royal Artillery (Portsmouth)

(1903), lst Life Guards (1907). He transferred to the Grenadier Guards in 1921, retiring in 1942 as Lieutenant Colonel MVO MBE.

Lieutenant Joseph Manual Bilton, Royal Horse Guards, Bandmaster 17th Lancers (1890) and Royal Horse Guards (1904) retiring as Captain in 1927

Lieutenant Robert Neville Flux, Royal Engineers – appointed direct from civilian life in 1904, retired as Major in 1932.

Lieutenant Frederick William Wood, Scots Guards, Bandmaster lst Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment (1890), Scots Guards (1900), retiring as Captain, MVO, in 1929.

Lieutenant Charles Hazard Hassell, Irish Guards, Bandmaster 4th Battalion The King’s Royal Rifle Corps (1892), first Bandmaster of the Irish Guards (1900), retired as Captain, OBE, in 1928. Lieutenant Andrew Harris, Welsh Guards, Bandmaster 2nd Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment (1900), Royal Artillery (Gibraltar) (1910), first Bandmaster of the Welsh Guards (1915), retired as Major, MVO, in 1938.

The number of directors of music was reduced to ten in 1922 on the amalgamation of the 1 st and 2nd Life Guards and was to remain at that number for the next 25 years. In 1929 the advanced certificate of music (psm) was introduced and this became a necessary qualification for promotion to director of music.

The next significant date in the evolution of this post was 1 August 1947 when nine bands were granted the status of Minor Staff Bands and the respective bandmasters were commissioned as directors of music to bring the total to seventeen:

Lieutenant David McBain, Royal Artillery (Mounted)

Lieutenant Bruce Salmon, Royal Artillery (Portsmouth)

Lieutenant Victor Hays, Royal Artillery (Plymouth)

Lieutenant John Judd, Royal Corps of Signals

Lieutenant James Dean, Royal Army Service Corps

Lieutenant Lewis Brown, Royal Army Medical Corps

Lieutenant Henry Jarman, Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Lieutenant Denis Plater, Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers* Lieutenant Leslie Statham, Royal Military College

* Denis Plater transferred to REME from the Royal Tank Regiment.

The Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers (Aldershot) was formed in 1949 with the twentieth director of music post going to Captain Lawrence Dunn, and on  9 January 1950 the three bands of the Royal Tank Regiment were raised to the status of Minor Staff Bands and consequently the respective bandmasters were commissioned as directors of music: Lieutenant Thomas Davies, Lieutenant William Lemon and Lieutenant Albert Jarvis. The Royal Tank Regiments reverted to the status of regimental bands led by bandmasters in 1984.The first Director of Music of the Gurkhas was Lieutenant ‘Bill’ Bailey, appointed on 7 January 1951 to the Band of 2nd King Edward VIPs Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles). Lieutenant Harry Burge became the first and only Director of Music of the Staff Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas on 24 June 1957, commissioned into the 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles. The two bands amalgamated in 1970.

The Staff Band of the Women’s Royal Army Corps was formed in 1949, their first Bandmaster, Lieutenant Frederick Goddard being commissioned as Director of Music on 5 January 1953. The first of the four ladies to direct the Band was Captain Jean MacDowall who was appointed on 3 January 1955. This was a unique appointment as Captain MacDowall had been a WRAC officer prior to her selection as a student bandmaster, thus making her the first director of music for several decades who had not served in a band. The Band’s last director of music was Major Ena Forster

   At Kneller Hall. Lieutenant Colonel Hector Adkins who  had succeeded Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Stretton in 1921  relinquished his post of director of music in 1942, when according to the  War Office  “the post was offered to and rejected by every Director of Music in the Army as the appointment carried no extra rank or prestige and Directors of Music of Staff Bands were not prepared to forego their share of profits from paid engagements which acceptance of the posts involved. “The appointment eventually went to Bandmaster Meredith Roberts, who retired in 1954 as a local Lieutenant Colonel.  Captain David McBain of the Royal Horse Guards was appointed to succeed him and there was much concern in the War Office that this post should be recognized as the senior in the Army and carry the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as of right, t

The incumbent not only had duties at Kneller Hall itself, but was required to assist in the inspecting of bands and his advice on military music would be sought from around the world, so there was general agreement that the rank was justified. However, there were already two Lieutenant-Colonel Directors of Music and it was felt that increasing the quota would be unfair to other Quartermaster officers. A further problem was that Quartermaster posts could not be designated to carry a specific rank as this was granted to the individual officer, not the appointment.A solution was eventually found in that by changing the title from ‘Director of Music’ to Chief Instructor and Advisor to the Inspector of Army Bands, it could become a regimental appointment rather than a Quartermaster appointment, and therefore could be designated as a Lieutenant Colonel’s post. There would be 25 directors of music with only 24 director of music appointments

On 1 September 1959, Lieutenant Rodney Bashford was commissioned as Director of Music, Junior Leaders Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps (Bovington), the first of the teaching Director of Music posts outside Kneller Hall.

The number of appointments further expanded in the early 1970s with the creation of divisional directors of music for the Infantry, to oversee the recruitment and training for the regimental bands within their division. The first of these to be appointed was Captain Terry Kenny of the Queen’s Divison, commissioned on 24 August 1970, and the first for the other divisions were: Captain Brian Smith, Scottish Division, 15 January 1974

Captain Roy Fitch, Light Division, 1 February 1974

Captain Gordon Turner, Prince of Wales’s Division, 4 February 1974 Captain Brian Hicks, Parachute Regiment, 14 March 1974

Captain Donald Carson, King’s Division, 20 February 1975

Since 1963 the post of Director of Music, Junior Musicians Wing, Guards Depot (Pirbright) had been a retired officer appointment, held by Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Pope OBE, and Major Jackson MBE, but when the latter retired for the second time in 1981, the post went to a serving director of music, Major Tom Griffiths MBE, who transferred to the Grenadier Guards from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Prior to the cutbacks in 1984, there were directors of music at Kneller Hall, Household Division (7), Royal Tank Regiment (3), Royal Artillery (3). Royal Engineers (2) other staff bands (8) and divisional training posts (8), a total of 32 posts_Since 1984 the many reorganisations. particularly with regard to junior training, have resulted in numerous changes, with the phasing out of divisional posts and the creation of directors of music for the Royal Armoured Corps, Infantry (South). Infantry (North) and HQ BAOR, as well as at the Army Junior Schools of Music at Bovington and Pirbright. The post of Deputy Chief Instructor at the Royal Military School of Music was created in January 1986, the first incumbent being Captain Ray Maycock, and Captain Kevin Lamb set up the Training and Development Team in September 1991.

At the head of Army music today is the Principal Director of Music (Army), Lieutenant Colonel  with a further five director of music posts at Kneller Hall; the Senior Instructor, Courses Director, Officer Commanding Training and Development Team, Project Officer and an Officer to administer the Bursaries Scheme. The Army’s 30 bands are all now led by directors of music, assisted by a Warrant Officer Class One Bandmaster/Training Officer (except the Brigade of Gurkhas who have a Queen’s Gurkha Officer as Assistant Director of Music).

 

Drums

The earliest known drum-like instrument is from Mezhirich, near Kiev, Ukraine, and dates back to approximately 15,000 years ago. The instrument was found at the site of the oldest known house, constructed of mammoth bones. They were found in 1965 by a farmer digging a new basement six feet below the ground. The drum-like instrument is a hollow mammoth skull with signs of wear from being hit by mammoth bones decorated with red paint.

In the past drums have been used not only for their musical qualities, but also as a means of communication, especially through signals. The talking drums of Africa can imitate the inflections and pitch variations of a spoken language and are used for communicating over great distances. Throughout Sri Lankan history drums have been used for communication between the state and the community, and Sri Lankan drums have a history stretching back over 2500 years. Japanese troops used Taiko drums to motivate troops, to help set a marching pace, and to call out orders or announcements. Fife-and-drum corps of Swiss mercenary foot soldiers also used drums. They used an early version of the snare drum carried over the player’s right shoulder, suspended by a strap (typically played with one hand using traditional grip). It is to this instrument that English word “drum” was first used.

Drum Major of the US Navy

The Drum-Major of the United States Navy band stationed in Washington DC is the premier drum-major of the United States Navy . He waers the full dress whites or Blues of th Navy and his mace is topped the symbol of the US Navy with an Eagle and Lyre.

 Dunn Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Vivian

 Dunn Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Vivian KCVO OBE FRSA (24 Dec 1908 - 3 April 1995) was the Director of Music, Portsmouth Division, Royal Marines1931-53 and Principal Director of Music, Royal Marines, from 1953 to 1968. He was the first military musician to be knighted.

Francis Vivian Dunn was born in Jabalpur, India. Vivian’s father, William James Dunn, was bandmaster of the Second Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps and later director of music of the Royal Horse Guards. He studied piano with his mother, Beatrice Maud, and choral studies at Winchester. In 1923 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and two years later he attended the Royal Academy of Music. He studied conducting with Henry Wood and composition with Walton O’Donnell. As a violinist, he performed in the Queen’s Hall Promenade Orchestra under Henry Wood, and in 1930 was a founder member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra under several famous conductors.Dunn was released from his contract with the BBC and on September 3, 1931 at age 22 commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Marines to be director of music for Portsmouth Division of the Corps. This post included directing the Royal Marines Band on the Royal Yacht. He took part in the royal tour of South America in 1947 aboard HMS Vanguard and in a Royal Marines band tour of the U.S. and Canada in 1949.

His promotion to lieutenant-colonel and principal director of music, Royal Marines, came in 1953. Vivian and the Royal Marines Band then accompanied Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the SS Gothic for the post-coronation Commonwealth Tour. Upon completing the tour, the Queen appointed Dunn CVO, and in 1960 appointed him OBE.

In 1955, Dunn was asked by Euan Lloyd of Warwick Films to compose the theme music for The Cockleshell Heroes (which was otherwise scored by John Addison).Upon retiring from his military career in December 1968, Dunn became a guest conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He also recorded with the Light Music Society Orchestra. In 1969, he received an EMI Golden Disc for sales of over one million Royal Marines Band records. In that year he was also elected as an honorary member of the American Bandmasters Association. In 1987 he received the Sudler Medal of the Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

In 1988, after serving as the Senior Warden, Dunn became the first military musician installed as the Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.Dunn composed and arranged over sixty pieces of music. Several are marches, many with Royal Marines connections. These include The Globe and Laurel (1935, rev. 1945), The Captain General (1949), Cockleshell Heroes (1955) andMountbatten March (1972). He arranged numerous others including The Preobrajensky March attributed to Donajowsky (later to become the official slow march of the Royal Marines) and A Life on the Ocean Wave (the official quick march of the Royal Marines).

Dunn married Margery Halliday in 1938. They had one son (Patrick) and two daughters (Leonie and Rosemary). Vivian Dunn died from lung cancer in Haywards Heath, Sussex on April 3, 1995. Marjery, Lady Dunn, died on June 26, 1998.

 

Edinburgh Tattoo

Officially first held in 1950 but previous piping and dancing displays predated the show to 1947. The first overseas contingent came from Canada in 1951. The original stands were erected in 1950 and provided seating for 7,000. The stands were replaced in 2008. The Castle backdrop provides a dramatic effect for the tattoo which continues to entertain thousands each year in August with thrilling marching displays, bands and military displays. Over 30 countries have sent units to the tattoo.

Fanfara dei Bersaglieri

The Beraglieri was formed  as a a Light Infantry Infantry Regiment and is regarded as a an Elite unit of the Italian Army. The band was formed in 1848. The featuer of this band is the rapid pace of the music for which they actually run and the jaunty flower hats which are worn with their forest green uniforms. They are known for the power of their brass and trumpet players.

Fanfares

A fanfare is a short piece of music played by trumpets and other brass instruments, frequently accompanied by percussion, usually for ceremonial purposes. The term is also used symbolically, for instance of occasions for which there is much publicity, even when no music is involved.Fanfares originated in the Middle Ages; although popular depictions of ancient Rome frequently include fanfares, the evidence is slight. In 18th century France the fanfare was a movement with energy and repetition of notes, and fanfares of the modern description date from the 19th century, when they were composed for British coronations (such as Hubert Parry’s I was glad for Edward VII) and other important occasions

Fanfare Trumpets

The instruments can be described as elongated trumpets  and valve trombones. The instruments that form this hybrid sub-family of instruments are known as fanfare trumpets. The family consists of the Eb Soprano trumpet which is an elongated soprano cornet but it is rarely used except in solo capacity. The Bb trumpet is the main workhorse of the family , the Bb trombone, and the G trombone which has some difficult vlave fingerings. The instruments are usually divided into at least 3 trumpets and 2 trombones as well as 1 G trombone. Herald trumpets as they were referred to became the norm following the Second world war especially in Britain. Very soon many nations began equipping their bands with sets of fanfare trumpets and the United States services bands in Washington employed them for VIP arrivals. In Canada they were not provided for  by the military but  purchased through regimental funds. Thy have been used effectivelywith both large and small groups and a number of European nations have been seen to have fanfare trumpets on numerous occasions. 

Farmer,Henry

One of Britain’s most notable military Historians

Finnish Military Music

Military music and bands began with the organization of tactical units in the Finish military in 1555. The units each had two pipers and 2 drummers. By 1632 there was the addition of cavalry trumpets and kettle drummers to squadrons . With the end of Swedish rule in 1809 enlisted battalions were formed and gradually the number of musicians increased to 20 for each battalion. A balanced instrumentation for military band was introduced in 1820 . Finish military music suffered a setback in the early 1900’s but following t the great war wherein Finland gained its autonomy the White Guards band of Finland was resurrected and  remains a living part of the fabric of military bands

French Foreign Legion Bands

The French Foreign Legion was created in 1831 by King Louis-Philippe. The principal characteristic of this elite corps is that it consists of non-French soldiers. Since its creation, the Foreign Legion has participated in many famous battles and campaigns: North-Africa, World War I and II, Indo China,Algeria and more recently the Gulf War and Yugoslavia. Their most famous battle honour is Camerone, Mexico. On 30 April 1863, 3 officers and 62 soldiers resisted for a whole day against 2,000 Mexican revolutionaries. At the end of the day, only five survivors were taken alive. The Legion commemorates this battle every year at their Headquarters at Aubagne (near Marseilles).

  The Bands

  • La Musique Principale de la Legion Etrangere: Aubagne (France)• Band of the 3rd Foreign Regiment: Guyana Consists of two NCOs and about nineteen musicians. The Band is also the mortar-platoon of the Regiment.Band of the 5th Foreign Regiment: Tahiti.the Regiment and also have military duties• Band of the 13th Foreign Brigade: Djibouti Consists of between seven and fifteen musicians. They only play traditional calls and few marches.• Band of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment: Orange (France)Consists of two sergeants and sixteen musicians. They perform at military ceremonies in Consists of a director and about fifteen musicians. They are also responsible for the Anti-Aircraft Platoon of the Regiment.

• Band of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment: Calvi (Corsica) Consists of around 22 musicians. They only perform at Regimental functions.

  La Musique Principale de la Legion Etrangere

  La Musique Principale de la Legion Etrangere (The Principal Band of the French Foreign Legion) was formed 9 March 1831. The Band consisted of a director and 27 musicians but by 1860 had grown to a strength of around 40 musicians. The conductor in that era was Monsieur Wilhelm composer of the music of the famous French Foreign Legion marching song ‘Le Boudin’ (literal translation being ‘blood sausage’). The origin of the song is unknown.A string orchestra was formed in 1887 and by the turn of the century had built up a fine reputation. Today the band consists of 100 musicians  

Fucik Julius

The Czechoslovakian composer Julius Fucik was born in Prague un 1872 and studied both bassoon and and percussion. He entered the military service in 1891 serving with the 49th Austria-Hungarian Regimental band at Krems on the Danube west of Vienna. He left military service in 1895 and returned to Prague as the 2nd Bassoonist with the New German Theater Orchestra. During this period he wrote numerous composition fora woodwind group comprised of 2 clarinets and bassoon. In 1896 he was appointed the conductor of the Prague city orchestra and the Danica choir in the Croatian town of Siask.

 

Fucik began his career as a military bandmaster in 1897 with the 86th infantry regimental band in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. During this period he wrote the superb march Entry of the Gladiators which will  celebrate  its hundred  and ten year anniversary in 1997 and has still maintained its popularity as both circus and concert march.

In 1900 Fucik was transferred with his band to Budapest, where there were nine regimental bands. The competition for public approval was enormous as well as a challenge to produce new and worthwhile music. Fucik was a master of band arrangements and with his band of fifty musicians he was able to provide symphonic scores which increased the popularity of his band. In 1909 he returned to Czechoslovakia and became director of the 92nd Regiment band one of most superb bands of that era. He appeared in concert many times in Prague and eventually performed in Berlin to crowds estimated to over 10,000 people. This was the beginning of the Golden Age of military bands and he became renown for his compositions and arrangements.

 

He left the Army in 1913 and formed a music publishing firm known as Tempo-Verlag, publishing both band journals and orchestral works. He also published music for small salon groups, which are still in existence today.

His success became short lived as in 1916 with the dark shadow of the war hanging over all of Europe , he became ill and died at the early age of forty-four.

He wrote over 400 compositions. His output was amazing considering his short lifespan. The marches he wrote are among the finest ever written. His music has been recorded by numerous bands and orchestras around the world.

 

The march Entry of the Gladiators (Thunder and Blazes) was arranged for  military band by Canadian Louis-Phillipe Laurendeau in 1910. The Entry of the Gladiators had as it’s original title “Grande Marche Chromatique” but Fucik was so fascinated by the culture of Roman Gladiators entering an amphitheatre that he changed the name . Because of its tempo and the ability to create in one’s mind a circus atmosphere, it became a theme for the circus and rodeo world wide. It is an American circus term a “SCREAMER” and the march appears on numerous circus collections including the Mercury label Eastman Wind Ensemble under Frederick Fennel called “Screamers”. Some of his other popular works include the beautiful Marinarella Overture, Donausagen Waltz, the bassoon solo, Old Bear with a Sore Head, Winter Storms Waltz, Herzogewina March, The above appear on an old recording from the Teldac Album 14714 and are on a tape(CD?) Stereo Quiontessence P4C 7038.Although not as well known in North America, Fucik certainly earned his place as one of the most well known and beloved military musicians of Europe.

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