Civil War Drumming

Tom Law, 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry The following is from the Winter issue Skirmish line of 1999

Historical Background

The fife and drum music you may hear at a Civil War Skirmishes may well be the same music heard by the Union and Confederate soldiers during the war itself. The origin of this peculiar kind of music has been lost in time, but it’s hundreds of years old, and may go all the way back to the 1200’s and the Crusades. The Swiss like to lay claim that they started it since they can document that they played it in the 1500s, but it is the Turks who were first to mass their colors and play martial music on the battlefield as they fought the invading Christians. The Swiss very likely spread fife and drum music throughout Europe with their mercenary armies. Later, in the Colonial, period, the English, and the French brought it to this continent. Fife and drum were a standard during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. It was used not only by the military, but also for dancing and even church music. After the Civil War, it went into decline as brass horns replaced the fife, and the marching tempo increased. By World War 1, the fife and drum music were rarely heard in the military. But it was being preserved in near obscurity by a group of die-hards who called themselves the “National Association of Rudimental Drummers.” In the 1950s it experienced a vigorous revitalization, and today it is very popular in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states with some interest in the Midwest and California. It is referred to as “the music of the ancients.”

Civil War Drumming

In addition to the officers and men who comprised and Infantry company during the Civil War, there were also support personnel, teamsters, cooks, and one fifer and one drummer. It was the musician’s job to call the routines of everyday camp life, to keep the tempo on the march, to signal over the din of battle, and to perform for the inevitable funeral duty. It is the very high frequency (pitch) of the fife, and the low range of the drum that makes it possible for these instruments to be heard on the battlefield when voice commands are lost in the confusion. “Music Boys” of 12 to 16 years of age were recruited and taught to play both instruments. The routine was called the “Camp Duty”, and had a special call for practically everything, from the time to get up in the morning, when to eat, call for the NCOs, announcing of the General to when to go to bed at night. Incidental playing was not allowed since it could be mistaken for a signal. Fifers and drummers, therefore, had to practice out of earshot, and silently for the fife and on the knee for the drummers. An accomplished music boy could play a hundred or more pieces by memory- quite a feat by any standard. The youngest known music boy was nine years old, and the oldest was 72! Learning the Rudiments Learning the drum was handed down from teacher to student by rote for centuries because there was no formal way of writing it until about 1812. Even today it Is better to be taught than to learn by reading, because the written note may be interpreted differently. “Note” is the wrong word since there is no scale. The “note” symbol is used, but always on the same line, no ups and downs. You read the rudiments, time, and dynamics. Many contemporary drummers like to trace their teacher-like linage back in time to lend a reverence to the “Ancient” style.

Field Music

When companies formed into regiments, the fifers and drummers were massed together into a Regimental Band. This was “field music” and is not the same as that of a brass band. There were many brass bands at the time, but they were mostly ceremonial, and they did not accompany the troops in movement as the field music did. The inclusion of big brass drums in field music as we see it today, for example, is a mistake in interpretation. Bass drums were rare in field music if no other reason than mobility. Fifers and drummers were required to play continuously during a march, so they devised many ways to keep from being repetitious. There is nothing more boring than a constant rat-a-tat-tat, for the drummers as well as the troops. Lot of different of difficulty were played. Sergeants would lead by playing a part solo, then the others would play the repeats while he rested. Fancy stick beats could break the monotony. A good drummer can spin and throw his sticks and strike the drumhead right on the beat. Drum Construction and Tempo Civil War drums were typically 16 or 17 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep. They were worn slung around the neck, the body, or shell. Were made either of a single piece of wood or of laminations, bent round and overlapped, held together with tacks. The better grades of drums had large tacks made into fancy design in addition to those that held them together. The shells were also frequently painted with regimental names and emblems. The eagle was a popular design in the North. Some original imported drum shells, which were all metal, still survive today. Civil war type drums are referred to as rope drums, snare drums and field drums. Their heads are tensioned with ropes rather than the modern-day threaded metal rods. The heads were made of animal hides, any type available, but calf and sheep skin were preferred, the thinner the better. The head that’s played on is the “batter” head. It is sometimes cushioned on the underside with a cloth strip to take out the resonance called a “ring.” The bottom head is the “snare” head. It gets the name from the rawhide or gut snares that are stretched across it to produce a distinctive sound. Wide rope-tensioned skin heads are hard to play on since they are slow to respond, and when the weather is damp, they get loose – making them even more difficult to play on. The slow response of drumheads may be one reason for the slow march tempo of the 18th and 19th centuries. During the Revolutionary War the march tempo was 80 to 90 beats per minute. In the Civil War it had increased to 90 to 110, and a modern-day drum and bugle corps play at 120 beats per minute. In a departure from strict authenticity, today we use drums that are 16 or so inches deep, slung around the shoulder rather than the neck, and have heads made of a plastic that resembles real skin. All of this