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BANDS OF MUSIC. 63 |
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some other instrument. Even an independent organisation like the Honourable Artillery Company could only boast of a band (1783) of four clarinets, two horns, one trumpet and two bassoons.9 A good illustration of an arrangement for military bands of the period may be seen above.10
The first notable additions to the military band were the serpent and trombone. The former was the natural bass of the ancient cornet family, which with this exception, had fallen into disuse. The bassoon had long been found insufficient to sustain the bass in the military band, and this now became the function of the serpent,1 whilst the bassoon was pushed into its rightful sphere as a tenor instrument. The trombone was much later in making its appearance, not until the last decade of the century. Why this instrument,, the true bass of the trumpet, should have lain idle so long, can hardly be explained, unless it was thought that the instrument would prove difficult to manipulate on the |
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horns like post-boys. There are also documents in existence which show that bugle-horns were used by the Grenadier Guards band in 1772 (Marr, "Music for the People"). In Hinde's "Discipline of the Light Horse" (1778) there is not only a list of the sounds allotted to the bugle-horn, but the instrument itself is delineated. Lastly, in the "Lives of the Lindsays," there is an account of an action at St. Lucia in 1778, where we are told that the "parley" was sounded on the bugle-horn instead of the drum, and the French not understanding the novelty, fired on a flag of truce.
"Raikes, "History of the Honourable Artillery Company." " Grieg, " Musical Educator."
1 Kastner, "Manuel General de Musique Militaire," 1848. |
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