MILITARY MUSIC

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2544, 19 August 1915, Page 6

MILITARY MUSIC

A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION THE BEST RECRUITING AGENT Much has been written about the emotional uplift which affects people "when the band begins to play," and though ifc may be applied generally to tho elfect wrought on tho senses by good music, however produced, there is no more stirring element in the wholo gamut of music than a military or brass band playing at the head of a column of troops. There is presented to the ear that something which is needed to enhance the spectacle to the eye, and both together there is an exhilaration that appeals to tho physical body as well as one's mentality. R-udyard Kipling, who has exploited the soul of the "Tommy" witli wonderful force aud skill, has been sounding 5 the military band tocsin in England, dci ploring tho little use mado of the regi- ■ mental bands, and deprecating the blind- ' ness of those who cannot sec what a I curiously wonderful agent they could bo made in the recruiting campaign. It is perhaps unfortunate that modern ■ warfare prohibits the presence of bands on the battlefield. 'At one time thoy used to accompany the regiments to tho theatre of ivar; they played their regiments into the battlefield, and players wero also employed in hospital and other duties, but never too far away to miss the "assemble" w'lien required for musical purposes. With tho fighting on both sides of Europe in which our troops are employed, confined to fighting trench against trench, sometimes only a few yards apart, the glamour and romance of war have been destroyed, and in tho process the military or brass band has had to be jettisoned. • Many an expert had, prior to the war of all wars, declared that futuro conflicts would be decided by the power of destruction of long-range artillery, and j tho bayonet was a weapon of the past. What a fallacy this has proved! I Never was there such a close-rango ' war; never, probably, has there i been so much deadly bayonet melees, j A few days ago a letter from an exI Wellington College master stated that 1 tho trencli in which ho was fighting was only fifteen yards away from the Turkish trench—the width of Willis Street. Under such circumstances tho ear plays as big a part as the eye in detecting tho enemy's movements, and the very thought of a brass band blaring away in or even near tho fighting lino is too ridiculous to contemplate. Kipling and the Bands. But the brass band has its uses away from tho area of sudden death. Kipling recently protested against troops marching milo after mile about London and its environs without military music i of any kind, and from a purely utilitarian point of view has recorded that soldiers will inarch bettor and farther when accompanied by a band than they would without, precisely as peoplo will waltz for half an hour or more to alluring music when they would tiro in ten minutes without it. ,• Military music is a physical pick-me-up. Not only docs it straighten tho backs and perfect tho "swing" of tho soldiers on the march, but it fires the imagination of tho spectator. The impression made was neatly hit off in tho musical comedy song "The Soldiers in tho l'ark," one lino of which funs— "There's magic in tho music Of a military band!" Its brave flambuoyant tone peno--1 trates tho crust of our common under- " standing, and gets at something that disturbs us pleasurably. Who is there . that does not feel a- sense of delightful • exhilaration as a good brass band 1 marches down the street? Its proper value as a 'recruiting agent has not been " urgently needed in Wellington, one takes 1 prido in noting, but when that need 3 does arise, tho bands of our city will 3 not fail to show that there is a good 1 deal in the contention. ® qaui[ spircq sswq ,mo jo ontos tißroijj, ; suffered considerably by the depletion of their numbefs through the' response to the nation's bugle call, yet not an ~ occasion has passed when their services j were needed that they have not been over ready to respond. A notablo instance of their responsiveness was evident on Saturday last, when five bands turned out to lighten tho march of tho J "Sixth" through the City. What a dull drab affair it would have been without the enlivening influence of tho stirring marches that wero played., Such aid is absolutely necessary to lend tone colour to the function. What Sousa Says. Writing on this subject recently Sousa the American "March King" said to an interviewer:— g "Of coin-so this lack of music in tho s wars .'to come and those of to-day, des priving war of its glorious and enchantc ing fascinations, will and can result ;- oitly in war becoming an uninteresting, unronrantic, and undesirable thing f on the part of soldiers, which in turn e will result in a quick growth of its unf popularity with • the people generally, ;- and that will mako war almost imgpssible, for people will not cry for ir so I quickly, and Governments will hesitate i. in. declaring it. . >• "My observations as - head l of the t Marine Band of Washington for twelve •• years proved to me that- tho music ex- - cited and thrilled more people than did - the displays of the troops, for where f there -was no music there was extremely II little interest. This fact is true, as it r is carried throughout any of the thou--1 sands of situations and conditions of r warfare."