H.M. GRENADIER GUARDS BAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 17, 20 October 1939, Page 13

H.M. GRENADIER GUARDS BAND

HE Band of H.M. Grenadier Guards made wal its first American appearance in Boston in 1872, when it played to 200,000 people. At the end of the performance it played "God Save the Queen," accompanied by a chorus of twenty thousand voices, the big organ, the ringing of church bells, and the thundering of cannon. But its history goes back to the days of the Stuarts. The loyal English who-shared the ois of Charles the Second in Flanders in 1657 were formed into six regiments, the first of which was called the "Royal Regiment of Guards." The year 1685 was indeed an "annus mirabilis" for music, not only. because it saw the birth of Handel, Bach, Domenico Scarlatti: on January 3, King Charles authorised the. maintenance of twelve hautbois in: the King’s regiment of Foot Guards.

That was the genesis of what we know to-day as H.M. Grenadier Guards Band, ‘the title of "Grenadier Guards" having -been given to the first regiment of Foot Guards in 1815, recognition of their having defeated the French Grenadier Guards at Waterloo. The band was in Paris during the occupation in the same year. | Paying The Piper It was then in charge of its first bandmaster, James Blayney; a clarinet player. As far back as 1657 the regiment had’ two drummers to each company, but: five years later the position of drum-major. was-created with pay at eighteen pence a day. One solitary piper (fifer) at one shilling a day was also added to the strength of the regiment, and within two years Pete Vanhausen, a fife instructor, was made available to the regiment to-teach one man in each company how to play that instrument. |

From such modest beginnings has grown the magnificent organisation we now hear almost nightly on New Zealand radio. In 1934 we had the additional thrill of’ seeing the bandsmen in action in New Zealand. From 1815 to 1856 various successors to "James Blayney wielded the baton, and in the latter year the band came under the direction of its most famous bandmaster, Dan Godfrey, the son of the director of H.M. Coldstream Guards Band. The Grenadiets took a big step forward under his inspiring leadership of forty ‘years. . A Doctor of Music Dan Godfrey attracted the attention of Quéen Victoria so much that on the occasion of her Jubilee in 1887 she had him gazetted a Lieutenant. He was the first bandmaster in the British Army to receive a commission. On Godfrey’s retirement in 1896, he was sucteeded by Mr. Albert Williams, Mus. Bac.,; who later took the degree of Doctor of Music at Oxford, and was the first British bandmaster to possess that distinction. Lieutenant. (now Major) Miller succeeded Dr. Williams, and under him the band of seventy players has gone on from strength to strength. rr 3 The Grenadiers, being the First Regiment of Guards, take precedence at the annual ceremony of Trooping the Colour, and are stationed on the eee of the formation. Romantic Uniform There is romance, too, in the uniform of the.Grenadiers. The chevrons of woven silver wire, dipped in gold, cover the Grenadier’s breast, and as the men put it, they are the only regiment which is entitled to wear a "full breast of ribs.". In the..other regiments there are gaps in the series. Those’ ribs, according to tradition, are the survivals of the skeleton designs with which fighting savages were. painted. So are the scarlet seams on the blue trousefs. Is it any wonder. the Guardsman is -jealous of a uniform with ‘such a story? There. was ‘nearly a riot when the Geddes axe fell, about 1920, and it was announced that the moufning bands of the timebeaters would be abolished to make the uniforms less costly. The men.were almost mutinous about it, and ‘in the end they gained their. point. They could not save the bullion from the epaulettes, though. Now they wear "wings" decorated with a little gold braid, and the original function of epaulettes, to protect the shoulder from sword blows, is almost forgotten. It takes six years to make a passable ‘bandsman, ‘but a lot depends on the instrument. Even after twenty years on the French horn a man is* just be‘ginning to be able to play it. _ Under Major Miller, the son and. grandecal of mili‘tary bandmasters, it is easy to believe that the band has reached a degree of efficiency that warrants certain famous words set to the melody "The British ‘Grenadiers," which is the regimental marchBut of all the world’s great heroes, a There’s none that can compare With a tow row row row row row To the British Grenadiers. iy Sy