Military bands of the United Kingdom
The military bands of the United Kingdom are musical units that serve for protocol and ceremonial duties as part of the British Armed Forces. They have been the basis and inspiration for many military bands in the former British Empire and the larger Commonwealth of Nations as well as musical organizations in other countries. Military musical units with British influence include United States military bands, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Music Corps and the Military Band of Athens. British military bands are controlled by the military music departments of the three services that compose the armed forces. These include the Royal Marines Band Service, the Royal Corps of Army Music, and the Royal Air Force Music Services. British style brass bands and carnival bands were then and are currently inspired by the British Armed Forces and its brass bands, especially of the Army's regular and reserve formations, as they follow a similar format as it relates to brass and percussion instruments.
History
Early development, medieval era and 17th century
British military music was unsophisticated until the Crusades. Trumpeters and drummers in the field sufficed as a medium for communication, as did pipers, and later fifers, whose further remit was to frighten the enemy. Casualty clearance and first aid became their dual roll. The oldest military band in the British military is the Royal Artillery Band, which traces its origins back to 1557 at the Battle of St. Quentin. King Charles II of England studied French Army music during the reign of King Louis XIV of France. Upon regaining the throne, he began implementing French musical traditions. 1678 saw the introduction of six hautbois instruments in the Band of the Horse Grenadier Guards. Most British regiments of the line adopted this new instrumentation by 1690.18th and 19th centuries
During the 17th and 18th centuries, soldiers marched to the beat of the drum from the day they were recruited in their localities. Drummers, many of them teenagers by the time they were recruited, were also responsible for punishing soldiers who were sentenced to be flogged with whips. The average age of the 304 drummers at Waterloo was 25, with about 10% being boys under 16. The Artillery Band, which were mere "drumme and phifes" for close to 200 years until 1762, was made 'official' that year. Regimental bands in the Foot Guards were first formed between 1783 and 1785. The 1st Foot Guards Band was known as the Duke of York's Band and the 3rd Foot Guards band was known as the Duke of Gloucester's Band. In 1854, during the Crimean War, a parade in Scutari, to celebrate the Queen Victoria's birthday was held, during which twenty British Army bands performed the national anthem. As a result of the bands playing God Save the Queen in different instrumentations and key signatures, the Royal Military School of Music was established that year as the primary training school for all musicians of the army's military bands. In the corps of drums of the line infantry units, while fifes and drums had been played for centuries, beginning in the 1850s bugles began to be adopted in such formations. Until 1837, Army bands sported the Turkish crescent as part of the band percussion section, a tradition introduced from the Ottoman Empire and its military bands in the 18th century.While the Army's band tradition blossomed, this was also the case for the Royal Navy and through it, the Royal Marines, whose bands were present in almost every naval engagement since the first bands were established in 1664-65 under Army control, these would later be transferred to the RN in 1755. By the 18th century, Royal Marines bands were established in Deal, Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth, each providing musical support to RM units, as well as to all naval servicemen, stationed in these areas. In 1805, with the establishment of yet another division in Woolwich came the raising of yet another band.
It would only be in the late 19th century that the tradition of bands and bugles would arrive in the rifle regiments of the Army, as well as in the Gurkha units. The bugle sections replaced the regular corps of drums of these units due to the use of the bugle instead of the drum as a signalling instrument for the rifle regiments due to their skirmishing role. It would only be in the 1960s when the tradition of bugle sections would be adopted by the light infantry regiments within the UK.
20th century
By the early 20th Century, regimental infantry and cavalry bands in the British Army, were well-balanced, highly versatile groups of musicians. Their battlefield role dwindled with the advancement of technology and modern warfare. At the time, bugle and trumpet calls were still used to signal on the battlefield, with all other aspects remaining unused except for ceremonial events. During both the First and Second World Wars bandsmen would act as stretcher bearers, dispatch riders, and serve in other non-combatant roles, while the field musicians remained in the heavy weapons or combat support role. With the reduction in size of the army, the need for battalion and event to an extent, regimental bands became obsolete and were seen as a strain in the national economy rather than a cultural symbol. The same case happened to bands of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, even as both services began to follow the lead of the army with the formation of their schools of music in 1902 and 1918, respectively.During the Second World War, aware of the growing need of women in service in the armed forces each service branch would create all-women's military bands. None of such bands exist today, but since 1991, when the RAF Music Services began including regular women musicians, all the branches of the British Armed Forces have bands made up of experienced musicians of both genders.
In 1947, the Royal Artillery Mounted, Portsmouth and Salisbury Plain bands, along with the bands of six of the larger Corps, were granted the status of staff bands, most of which were based at permanent locations. In 1984, four staff bands were disbanded and the remaining bands were reduced considerably. This hit regimental and battalion bands particularly hard, reducing their size to just 21 bandsmen. Most of the infantry regiments which then had three battalions instead opted for two bands with 35 bandsmen each.
Impact of Options for Change and present day
A series of army reviews were given in 1994, resulting in the reduction of the number of army military bands from 69 to 22 bands and with that, the number of personnel decreased from 2,000 to 1,100. At the time of the changes, bands in regiments/corps of the British Army usually had four bands. Unit bands were being merged and branch bands began to be created, and in order to create a uniform administration for these formations the Royal Corps of Army Music was created. Similarly, the Royal Marines went through a reorganization of its bands. This officially brought an end to the long history of regular regimental bands. The Government of the United Kingdom justified this action by saying that it will see money in the budget. The year prior music critic Richard Morrison of The Times noted: "One of the oddest statistics about British cultural life is that the Defence Ministry spends more to maintain military bands than the government spends on all the professional orchestras and opera companies in the country."Classifications
British Army
State bands in London
A "state band" refers to a military band based in London, the national capital, and has particular public duties in serving the British royal family and representing the British Armed Forces.Bands of the Household Division and the Household Cavalry
The Bands of the Household Division are the amalgamated five military bands of the Foot Guards regiments in London. It performs during public duties events in the capital, particularly those that involve the British royal family. It consists of the following regimental bands:- Band of the Coldstream Guards
- Band of the Grenadier Guards
- Band of the Irish Guards
- Band of the Scots Guards
- Band of the Welsh Guards
Similarly, both the Household Cavalry regiments have a unified mounted band, the Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry and also their own regimental quick and slow marches. It also reports to RCAM, and it represents the whole of the Household Cavalry.
The Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry and the Massed Bands of the Household Division perform at Trooping the Colour, an annual ceremony held every June on Horse Guards Parade to mark the official King's Birthday celebrations. The Massed Bands and the Mounted Band play a central role in this ceremony. The term "Massed Bands" denotes the formation of more than one separate band performing together, whether belonging to one or more regiments, or indeed countries.