Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-07-07

money while everybody else was
spending it, he has worked just as
hard for his 81 or S. as he could
have done had he been brick laying or
farming OF clerking or b~arbering.
The band which has become so ia
miliar to us that we regard it as a
necessity, is an institution Of ancient
origin. Our own army and navy have
had bands for more than a century
and civilian bands in this country date
back almost as ar. The band as an
organized body of musicians could not,
Of course, come into existence until a
variety Of different musical instru-
ment had been invented and the de-
velOpment along this line proceeded
somewhat slowly a few centuries back.
IRON the outset, however, the most
unc1vtlized nations recognized the
three chief factors of band music
rhythm, melody and harmony, as
manifested by the three basic instru-
ments, the drum, the fife and the
bugle or cornet. In this connection it
Is interesting to note that the drum,
which is closer to the heart of young
America than any other unit in the
OdAOI I'D oil AASl1 uL1SuI Nu4Cu CcuQ0
to us from the Orient.
The bugles and comets, which are
Q much in evidence on the Fourth of
July, have been developed from the
@.ngle tubes Of antiquity. Originally
-1e range Of these instruments was
limited to two notes, but in time the
,-bes were bent and finally the in
"trument was made in everaI coils,
18th the result that the musical range
was ~brOadened prOpOrtionately. The
Wh1stltng instruments such as flies,
flutes and clarinets, are the outcome
Of a somewhat similar development.
1t is worthy Of note that it is seldom
nowadays that anybody attempts to
introduce a new instrument or a rad
ical adaptation Of an old design for
use in bands. Every now and then
some composer or orchestra conductor
will come forward with some new or
chestra instrument (many Of them
short-llved in popularity, it must be
ADMITTEDLY, but it Is seldom tina !nven-
tors attempt to introduce new band
instruments. Indeed, with the excep-
ton Of some ~new-fangled drums, there
has been almost nothing new in this
field in many years.
1t cannot be said that there is any
standard membership for a band.
Many an American village that has
a band of ten or twelve pieces plumes
itself on the possession, whereas the
small city is rare than can boast a
band of more than sixteen to twenty
members. Yet even this latter num-
Der appears small when compared
with the membership of our great con-
cert, military and naval bands. Such
a band usually has in the neighbor-
hood of fifty members, and some OF
them, with a fife, drum and bugle
corps added. muster nearly one hun
dred men ON parade. In Germany and
Italy the regulation military band is
mad up Of forty-fve musicians, while
the most famous band In France mum
bers seventy musicians.
The United States has always held
a high place in the world of band
music, thanks not only to our great
governmental bands, such as the noted
United States Marine band-the
presidents own" which plays at the
White House-but also to the famous
private bands, such as those OF Sousa
and the late Patrick Gilmore. Incl
IDENTIFY 1T may be mentioned that
American band music has the call all
! over the world. The lively, character
istic, inspiring marches, such as those
composed by the March King" John
Philip Sousa, have been translated"
into the band renditions of every civil
ICED nation, and whereas an American
sometimes has diff Guilty In recognizing
the foreign versions of these dashing
airs, they are, at worst so much better