Emmett's Standard Drummer

[mbdrums]

Greetings Friends!

Does anybody have a full copy (PDF) of "Emmett's Standard Drummer" by chance? I do have the "In the Gildiroy" excerpt PDF.

Also ... being that the Bruce & Emmett "Drummers' & Fifers' Guide was first published in 1862 (a year after the Civil War began) - is there any record of Dan Emmett teaching fifing or drumming as a support to the publishing of his manual? It would make sense that he and Bruce would have certainly used it for their own teaching purposes after spending all that time putting the book together. Emmett would have only been 42 years old at the time.

Many thanks in advance for any help on the subjects!

God Bless.

~ Mark

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Emmett's Standard Drummer

Wow, people still post here? This forum used to be great resource. I never got on the social media thing that everyone else has apparently moved onto. Anyway, I was just looking for some stuff I posted here years ago and saw this thread. There used to be some lively discussion about Bruce and Emmett when reenactors began relying less and less on B&E and incorporating more from Howe, Klinehanse, Nevins, and other manuals into their repertoire.

I have a few pages from Emmett’s Standard Drummer, or maybe just the cover and the page you mentioned with “In the Gilderoy.” I don’t think it was ever really published—Emmett just put together a draft. I’ll see what I have and report back.

Regarding the Drummers’ and Fifers’ Guide, I believe the main author was George Barrett Bruce, and Emmett made some contributions. Bruce mainly wanted Emmett’s name on the cover to boost sales given Emmett’s notoriety associated with minstrel music. Emmett did enlist in the army at a young age as a musician (fifer) but was discharged for being underage. However I have no doubt he was a fine fifer and drummer given his musical ability. Many people think Bruce did the drum parts and Emmett the fife parts, but like Emmett, Bruce played both fife and drum. At a minimum, he is credited with the “composition” of Empty Pockets fife tune found in the “Guide.”

Based on Sue Cifaldi’s research, Bruce’s his real name was actually George Bruce Barrett, and changed his name because he was a bounty jumper. He lied in the introduction to the “guide” about being “principal instructor” at Governor’s Island. The main instructors there were Charles Henke and Michael Moore. M&M also put a manuscript together. I believe the original is at Carlisle— they have a photocopy at least. If you search for the national field music school you should find a PDF.

The music school at Fort Columbus on Governor’s Island would have been for regular army musicians only— there were a lot of orphans in the NYC area who would enlist. I learned recently about one such drummer who went on to be chief musician in the 13th Virginia. Trying to remember his name. Will post more later. I digress...there is much interesting history about gov island, but nope...Bruce never taught there despite his claims. I found an old NY Times article from 1869 that mentioned Moore’s retirement. He and Henke taught there for DECADES, and the manuscript music they were asked to contribute for Sylvester Churchill’s work-in-progress tactics manual was the old school camp duty, not the fancier versions from B&E.

In short, to answer your questions, I don’t think anymore than 2 or 3 pages of Emmett’s Standard Drummer is extant. And Bruce and Emmett weren’t well known as instructors, although Bruce did do some drum majoring in the NYSM. Emmett was likely too busy being a famous performer to be bothered with teaching fife or drum.

Will Chappell
Liberty Hall Drum and Fife Corps

Greetings Friends!

Does anybody have a full copy (PDF) of "Emmett's Standard Drummer" by chance? I do have the "In the Gildiroy" excerpt PDF.

Also ... being that the Bruce & Emmett "Drummers' & Fifers' Guide was first published in 1862 (a year after the Civil War began) - is there any record of Dan Emmett teaching fifing or drumming as a support to the publishing of his manual? It would make sense that he and Bruce would have certainly used it for their own teaching purposes after spending all that time putting the book together. Emmett would have only been 42 years old at the time.

Many thanks in advance for any help on the subjects!

God Bless.

~ Mark