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Thanks to all the musicians who made it down to Gettysburg this weekend for Remembrance Day, and the jam session at O’Rourke’s. To me, the jam seems to get better every year...and longer. This year, it seemed to get a second wind that took it late into the evening.
As for the music itself, there was something about the quality of the playing and the acoustics of the setting that combined to create some of the best martial music I’ve ever heard in my 35 years of playing. Tourists and reenactors would walk up and watch transfixed, and their response as the last note would fade into silence showed they realized they were hearing something rare and exceptional.
Being sandwiched between two walls with the both ends open and the ceiling open to the sky, the sound was fuller and louder than open field playing, but never became too deafening, as it does at some indoor jams.
The ratio of fifers to drummers was balanced enough that you could actually hear most of the fife playing on some of the hardest pieces ever written.
The tempo of the playing was excellent, with quicksteps actually played pretty quick. There also seemed to be a much better blend of authentic period music and some modern muster gems, with little of the confusion from differing drum beats as is typically found whenever reenactors and Ancients come together to play.
It was also nice to see so many young musicians present, and hear some of them playing as proficiently as the old timers. With new blood like that, one need not worry about the demise of the hobby any time soon, or that interest in the old martial tunes the troops marched to might fade away like the old soldiers themselves.
Can’t wait for next year!
Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md. Line Field Music
As for the music itself, there was something about the quality of the playing and the acoustics of the setting that combined to create some of the best martial music I’ve ever heard in my 35 years of playing. Tourists and reenactors would walk up and watch transfixed, and their response as the last note would fade into silence showed they realized they were hearing something rare and exceptional.
Being sandwiched between two walls with the both ends open and the ceiling open to the sky, the sound was fuller and louder than open field playing, but never became too deafening, as it does at some indoor jams.
The ratio of fifers to drummers was balanced enough that you could actually hear most of the fife playing on some of the hardest pieces ever written.
The tempo of the playing was excellent, with quicksteps actually played pretty quick. There also seemed to be a much better blend of authentic period music and some modern muster gems, with little of the confusion from differing drum beats as is typically found whenever reenactors and Ancients come together to play.
It was also nice to see so many young musicians present, and hear some of them playing as proficiently as the old timers. With new blood like that, one need not worry about the demise of the hobby any time soon, or that interest in the old martial tunes the troops marched to might fade away like the old soldiers themselves.
Can’t wait for next year!
Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md. Line Field Music
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