Field Music and Camp Duty

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

Will,

Thanks for the input, I appreciate the help. I'll plan on investing in Howe's Manual and the AVF as a start.

I do have an ulterior motive regarding my qestions about Ashworth, as my drummer and I are planning on getting into the post-1812 war era as well.

Thanks again!

James

George Carroll's (www.ropedrum.com) editions include interpretations of the old drum notation. For early 19th century, I recommend Rumrille and Holton. It has some really nice drumming. Jim Krause recently put out his own edition of Ashworth, but I have found errors in some of his drum parts. You might also check out The Marching Drummer's Companion by George Kusel, but it is out of print. It contains all of the early 19th century marches and quicksteps in modern notation. His interpretations differ from Carroll's in some places. I agree with Kusel on some and Carroll on others. Alibris has a used copy right now.

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/0960447601

So does Amazon, but much cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0960447601/ref=dp_olp_2/105-7624347-8073236

Ray Hauley also sells cheap photocopies of additional titles such as Robbins, Hazeltine, Robinson, Rumrille-Holton, etc.

[joewhitney]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

“I understand that fifers learned the music by rote” Yes, but there were quite a few manuals around, and this was the first fairly literate generation. The manuals also did a good job of explaining how to read music, and drum music isn’t that complicated to learn. Just one key and one note!

As to when to play the beats/calls, the various manuals differed, but as RJ said, the commander (or your principle musician) was the ultimate authority. Many sources would simply say “In Summer, Reveille will be played at __ o’clock”, the blank to be filled in by the commander. A drum manual I’ve seen, ID’d to a young federal musician, had stuck inside it his handwritten list of beats with the times to play them, which differed from what was in his manual. The manuals are, however, good for learning the order of the beats/calls and procedures for their use.

“One downfall of B&E is that it was written by a master drummer and fifer, so as you get through the manual some of the music becomes quite difficult.” I’ve said before that it’s almost cruel to take a kid and try to teach him the difficult versions from B&E or even Hart, Howe or KBC. For every one of those manuals, there were 30 US and CS tactics manuals in circulation with the simple song snippet examples. Ashworth may have been the basis for Civil War manuals, but only in the way De Steuben’s blue book was the basis for Hardee’s. As B&E said, Ashworth was long out of print. For a Civil War reenactor, it’s not very useful.

“I would much rather hear the simpler versions played well than fifers and drummers attempting to play the more complicated versions (B&E) poorly.”

Amen! Wouldn’t we all rather hear any music played well rather than something else played poorly? Instead of learning the hard versions and eventually getting good enough to play them up to speed, students should be taught simple skeleton version of the beats as close to the correct tempos as possible, and eventually improve on the rudiments used. Start with 4 stroke rolls instead of 5, taps instead of flams, paradiddles instead of flamadiddles, etc. This will allow the drummer to play a beat fast enough to keep up with a marching column, which naturally tends to march and route step at around 106 beats a minute. This will also keep experienced musicians from getting annoyed at the beginner who might drag the tempo down beacuse they can't keep up.

If you’re looking for a standardized system of drum beating, one didn’t exist then, and doesn’t exist now. Most teachers tend to go the easy and popular route and teach B&E, or inject their own personal version preferences, or simply teach modern drumming, which can have unintended consequences when modern styles (and beats) make their way into period drumming.

The best you can do is look at enough sources, start with the easiest, and eventually learn the harder versions as you progress. If you want to go with one source, I agree Howe’s manuals were probably the most commonly available. Plenty survive today. Surviving examples of B&E and KBC generally are from the 1880’s when they were “rediscovered” and adopted by the veteran and civilian fife and drum world, which is why B&E is still so popular today.

“Going back to Scott's manual…is he indicating that he wants those types of songs played but is leaving the actual song up to the individual?” Generally, yes. It was a centuries old tradition to play a type of beat for a certain occasion. For the mini-concerts of Reveille and Tattoo, much flexibility in tune choice was allowed, although probably less so in regular army units.

The Doublings might have been skipped if not known, but as an integral part of the “ceremony”, learning it was probably a critical requirement. The biggest mistake most ddrummers make on the Doublings, even those playing for years, is starting the initial roll on the downbeat, instead of as a lead-in to the downbeat. The B&E version works if you realize this. The tip off is, if the ruffs and taps don’t line up well with the fife part, it’s off.

Both the double drag and single drag are seriously underrepresented in reenacting.

Will is dead on with regard to how compressed the rolls should be played. Dragging out the rolls is a particular New England “style” that has permeated reenacting drumming. Next time you’re at a reenactment and not beating, listen to a drum corps and tap along. Even today’s best tend to play their rolls loud, which drags out the beat, then try to catch up on the taps and flams. They can’t even tell they’re doing it. But if you’re tapping along, or trying to march to it, you can tell. We know this wasn't always the case, because we have sound and video footage of Civil War veteran drummers playing, and they played their rolls very very tight.

Beginner and advanced drummers would find it so much easier to play at the correct tempos if they didn’t play everything with the same force. Rolls (other than the Long Roll and Three Cheers) are adornments, and should be quieter and played as short as is possible on calfskin heads (practiced until beat “to a close” in the parlance of the old manuals). This also gives the music a crisp and professional sound. However, dynamics (playing louder then softer) is harder than playing everything loud. It takes more thought and practice. It’s not for lazy drummers.

The point of drumming, especially military drumming, was not to fill in every silent space with noise or fancy rudiments, but to provide a distinct, recognizable beat a) for soldiers to know when to put their feet down, and b) to be able to distinguish what specific duty signal was being beat. The more everything sounds like a long roll with accents, the harder it is for non-drummers to distinguish what it is.

Hope this helps.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md.. Line Field Music

[Smokey Toes]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

(Joe Whitney) "Both the double drag and single drag are seriously underrepresented in reenacting."

So true. I think it's because they are more difficult to play cleanly as a drum-line, which in turn throws off the tempo for everyone. Before you know it you have a train wreck on your hands. I think a combination of dedicated practice, and paying close attention to your principal drummer’s tempo while playing is the key to development…. (I used to get a lot of “Popeye” looks from mine while playing Merry Men….)

Double drags have always been my personal nemesis, and I still have to practice them endlessly so I can play them correctly…especially just before an event…

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

Does anybody know what would have been done for reveille and tattoo in the absence of a fifer?

[joewhitney]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

Easy! Just play the drum parts!

In reality, there were many corps that were just four to eight drummers. After all, the drum was the primary instrument, and the fife simply meant to accompany it.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md Line Field Music

[JKfifer119]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

[QUOTE=joewhitney;78111]Easy! Just play the drum parts!

It'll sure get the job done, which was alot more important than folks now realize. Remember field music was a tool, human clock radios, not artists in residence

[JimK]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

George Carroll's (www.ropedrum.com) editions include interpretations of the old drum notation. For early 19th century, I recommend Rumrille and Holton. It has some really nice drumming. Jim Krause recently put out his own edition of Ashworth, but I have found errors in some of his drum parts. You might also check out The Marching Drummer's Companion by George Kusel, but it is out of print. It contains all of the early 19th century marches and quicksteps in modern notation. His interpretations differ from Carroll's in some places. I agree with Kusel on some and Carroll on others. Alibris has a used copy right now.

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/0960447601

So does Amazon, but much cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0960447601/ref=dp_olp_2/105-7624347-8073236

Ray Hauley also sells cheap photocopies of additional titles such as Robbins, Hazeltine, Robinson, Rumrille-Holton, etc.

Hello
I think I've found all the errors, and corrected them. They were, alas, errors of a cut-and-paste nature; either too many measures of music, or some omitted. I should point out that I have some honest disagreements with Mr. Carroll.

Yours, Jim Krause

[Tertel]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

Jim,
I am very interested in seeing your translation of Ashworth's now that you have resolved issues. Our Field Music of the Fort McHenry Guard has started doing 1812 in the last few years. I was recommended to use George Kusels translations by my friend Randy Davis for 1812 and having been doing CIvil War Field Music for many years this was a very interesting transition in the tempo and style of music for us to take on. Now we are playing most of the beatings from Kusels such as Champlain QS, Roving Sailor, Tecumseh, Wapole QS, US March, Haymaker, GILBM, Yankee Doodle and played with the fife tunes in Hazeltines and Cushing & Appleton manuals it's an incredibly stately sound. A fella from the recreated 7th US has transcribed the Asworth duties for us and we have been working with that but I look forward to seeing what you have put together.

Tim Ertel,
Fort McHenry Guard Field Music,
1st Md. Field Music

[HangarFlying]

Re: Field Music and Camp Duty

“Amen! Wouldn’t we all rather hear any music played well rather than something else played poorly? Instead of learning the hard versions and eventually getting good enough to play them up to speed, students should be taught simple skeleton version of the beats as close to the correct tempos as possible, and eventually improve on the rudiments used. Start with 4 stroke rolls instead of 5, taps instead of flams, paradiddles instead of flamadiddles, etc. This will allow the drummer to play a beat fast enough to keep up with a marching column, which naturally tends to march and route step at around 106 beats a minute. This will also keep experienced musicians from getting annoyed at the beginner who might drag the tempo down beacuse they can't keep up.

...

Both the double drag and single drag are seriously underrepresented in reenacting.

Will is dead on with regard to how compressed the rolls should be played. Dragging out the rolls is a particular New England “style” that has permeated reenacting drumming. Next time you’re at a reenactment and not beating, listen to a drum corps and tap along. Even today’s best tend to play their rolls loud, which drags out the beat, then try to catch up on the taps and flams. They can’t even tell they’re doing it. But if you’re tapping along, or trying to march to it, you can tell. We know this wasn't always the case, because we have sound and video footage of Civil War veteran drummers playing, and they played their rolls very very tight.

Beginner and advanced drummers would find it so much easier to play at the correct tempos if they didn’t play everything with the same force. Rolls (other than the Long Roll and Three Cheers) are adornments, and should be quieter and played as short as is possible on calfskin heads (practiced until beat “to a close” in the parlance of the old manuals). This also gives the music a crisp and professional sound. However, dynamics (playing louder then softer) is harder than playing everything loud. It takes more thought and practice. It’s not for lazy drummers.

The point of drumming, especially military drumming, was not to fill in every silent space with noise or fancy rudiments, but to provide a distinct, recognizable beat a) for soldiers to know when to put their feet down, and b) to be able to distinguish what specific duty signal was being beat. The more everything sounds like a long roll with accents, the harder it is for non-drummers to distinguish what it is.

Hope this helps.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md.. Line Field Music

Joe, thanks for the input. I really appreciate it. One problem we are facing (my drummer and I) is that he does not know how to read music. He does much better watching and hearing someone play it. He learned what he knows when he was young, but didn't pick up that much, has alot of self-admitted bad habits, and is wanting to improve his abilities. Can any one recommend any good teaching aids (videos, CD, DVD, etc) that I can direct him to that can show properly played rudaments and music?