Showing posts with label drums. Show all posts

Saturday, 1 August 2026

French fifes and drums - Ordonnances de 1754 - a playlist

#Fifres et tambours: Ordonnance pour les tambours de 1754 - YouTube

Also see here Calaméo - L'Instruction pour les tambours de 1754, fondement de la céleustique

Saturday, 18 July 2026

Trompette et timbalier, vers 1695

March For Two Pairs of Kettledrums - Philidor

By Andre and Jacques Philidor, 1683

Performed by Adrian Ingles and Tracy Freeze

"The March for Two Pairs of Kettledrums was first performed by the brothers Philidor in the presence of King Louis XIV at Versailles in 1683. Andre Philidor, also librarian of the Royal Music Library, transcribed the March in 1705. It was first published in The Journal of the Galpin Society IX, June 1956 in an article by Caldwell Titcomb. The dynamics suggested in this edition were not contained in the source but were added by the editor."

Friday, 22 May 2026

English March

The drum march, pure and simple, was one of the main features of martial discipline, and every nation had its own particular national type. Gordon of Rothiemay records of 1637-1638 how Scottish drummers were teaching their soldiery to distinguish between "The marches of severall nationes . . . the Scottish Marche . . . the Irish Marche . . . the English Marche."1 This knowledge was a necessary item even in the economy of tactics. During the Thirty Years' War the Germans once used the Scots March so as to deceive the enemy.2 At Oudenarde the Allied drummers beat the French Retraite,which even a Vendôme could not stem.8

Warlike directions: ... 1644

Warlike directions, or, The sovldiers practice set forth for the benefit of all such as are, or will be, scholars of martiall discipline, but especially for all such officers as are not yet setled or rightly grounded in the arte of warre, by a practitioner in the same art, T.F.

also here Warlike directions, or, The sovldiers practice set forth for the benefit of all such as are, or will be, scholars of martiall discipline, but especially for all such officers as are not yet setled or rightly grounded in the arte of warre, by a practitioner in the same art, T.F. | Early English Books Online | University of Michigan Library Digital Collections

The exercise of the English, in the militia of the kingdome of England 1642

The exercise of the English, in the militia of the kingdome of England. | Early English Books Online 2 | University of Michigan Library Digital Collections

What the Souldier ought to know by the Drumme. 1. A Call. 2. A March. 3. A Troope. 4. A Charge. 5. A Retreate. 6. A Battalia. 7. A Battery. 8. A Reliefe.

Saturday, 25 April 2026

French school 18th century

Extract of an article on drumming

Trom en trommelstokken, anoniem, ca. 1600 - ca. 1699 - Rijksmuseum

16th-l7th-CENTURY MILITARY MARCHES

By Henry George Farmer, Ph.D., D.Litt., Mus. Doc

''The drum march, pure and simple, was one of the main features of martial discipline, and every nation had its own particular national type. Gordon of Rothiemay records of 1637-1638 how Scottish drummers were teaching their soldiery
to distinguish between "The marches of severall nationes . . . the Scottish Marche
. . . the Irish Marche . . . the English Marche."1 This knowledge was a necessary
item even in the economy of tactics. During the Thirty Years' War the Germans once used the Scots March so as to deceive the enemy.2 At Oudenarde the Allied
drummers beat the French Retraite,which even a Vendôme could not stem.8''

Friday, 24 April 2026

J Callot Drummers 1635

Left-handed? Apparently there was no hard and fast rule as to what way round you play 'em.

Thursday, 23 April 2026

The English March · The Guild of Ancient Fifes and Drums

For St. George's Day. yorkshirecorpsofdrums.com/Notes to The English March.html

The English March was officially documented in 1610 and was commanded to be preserved by a Royal Warrant in 1632. Despite its historical significance, the march's rhythm and sound have been largely lost, despite the availability of music from the 17th and 18th centuries. The English March defined the sound of the nation for four centuries, but its rhythm and sound have been almost entirely lost, despite the availability of music from the 17th and 18th centuries. The English March and Early Drum Notation on JSTOR

Sunday, 19 April 2026

Drummer 1615

Ein Trommler, Blatt 3 aus der Folge „Newes Soldaten Büchlein“, herausgegeben von P. Ouverradt 1615

https://sammlung.mak.at/.../ein-trommler-blatt-3-aus-der...

Henry Hexham 1642 on drums and drum majors

from Wars of Louis Quatorze: Carved figures from the staircase of Cromwell House, from the Survey of London

http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A43479.0001.001

Of a Drumme Majour. Every Regiment ought to have a Drumme-Majour, to whom when it is watch time, the other Drummes are to repaire, there to beat a call, and to march with his Company that is appointed for the guard. A Drum-ma∣jour ought to be a grave man, able to instruct the other Drums to beat a true march, and other points of warre, to see the Drummes that beat upon a march to be duely relieved, and also to speake divers tongues, and to bee wise, and cautelous what he shall speake to an Enemy.

Of the Drummers. Every company also ought to have two good Drummers, that knoweth how to beate a call, a slow, or a swift march well, a charge, a retreat, and a Reveille: He should also be a linguist, because oftentimes he may be sent unto the enemy, for the ransoming of prisoners, his duty is comming to the campe, or garison of an enemy, hau∣ing his Generalls passe in his hat, to beat a call, till he is fetcht in, and because he shall not discover the weaknesse of guards, workes, or trenches, he is led blindfold, and so carried to the Commander, and place where his prison∣ers are, with whom after he hath ransommed them, he is to returne to the camp, or garison.