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| There’s More Than ‘Yankee Doodle’ |
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“Military justice is to justice as military music is to music.” Or so said the French statesman, Georges Clemenceau. On Patriots’ Day weekend in the town of Lincoln’s Pierce Park each year, the Fifes and Drums of the Lincoln Minute Men respond to the insult, by hosting a “The Lincoln Salute: A Concert of 18th Century Fife and Drum Music,” featuring some of New England’s finest colonial music groups, playing the great variety of fife and drum music from the era of the American Revolution. The concert is free and open to the public. If military music earned a bad reputation during the Revolution, it certainly was not the fault of the musicians. When the Massachusetts Provincial Congress commanded all towns to form companies of minute men in 1774, it also required each minute company to have at least one fifer and one drummer. This was common practice in every European army, and George Washington later adopted the same rule for his Continental troops. But the purpose of the musicians was not entertainment — it was communication. In the field of battle, musicians stood alongside officers and translated the commands into distinctive drum beats and fife tunes. The shrill sound of the fifes and the snap of the snare drums could penetrate through the noise and dust on the march and the smoke and thunder of the muskets and cannon in battle, and each soldier was compelled to memorize and react to the distinctive signals the musicians played. To avoid confusion and complications, most of this field music was simple, short, and not necessarily very imaginative or entertaining. That was not its purpose. Because the fifes and drums signaled everything from when soldiers were to awaken in the morning to when they were to load their muskets and fire, musicians were prohibited from playing their instruments in camp except when ordered by an officer. They could be flogged if they did. Boring field signals, not much practice in camp — no wonder military music got a bad reputation. Fortunately, there were occasions when the musicians had greater freedom to show what they could do. Evening inspections of the troops, ceremonial visits by dignitaries, even burial details provided opportunities for some innovation. And there was a wide variety of music from which to choose. Every major European composer of the era wrote music for the fife and drum. Even the French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, composed some military tunes. (His decision to make a living as a philosopher was a wise choice, however.) The American army contained soldiers from every corner of Europe, and they brought along their own favorite songs and dance tunes, which proved in many cases to be fine marching tunes as well. English, Scotch, Welsh, German, Irish, French — they all got mingled together and played. Musicians get bored easily, and they love to try new music. We have a good example from the time of the Revolution. Thomas Nixon of Framingham joined the militia in 1775, and like many fifers, Nixon made his own copybook of tunes, carefully writing out the notes so he would have a record of tunes he had played or hoped to learn. Thomas Nixon served for only three years, but his copybook survives, and in it we find 104 separate tunes. An impressive repertoire in just three years, and we know from other surviving copybooks that if Nixon had served longer, he could have acquired hundreds more. Was any of it worth listening to? Those who come to “The Lincoln Salute” in Lincoln’s Pierce Park during Patriots’ Day weekend will be able to judge for themselves. Donald L. Hafner is a fifer and Drum Major with the Lincoln Minute Men, and a professor of Political Science at Boston College. |