The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-11-13
TROOPS and MUSIC
Military Bands Are a Big Fea-
ture In the Russian Army.
0UTDO ALL OTHER NATIONS.
Besides a Brass Band Each Regiment
Has a String and Wood Orchestra
and a Drum Corps-Even Posts With
Only a Battalion Have Full Bands.

Only Battalion Have Full Bands.
One feature of the Russian army
which from time to time has been
brought to the attention of the world
outside of Russia, chiefly by publica
tions concerning themselves with mat
ters appertaining to music, is the un
usual size and number OF bands in the
military forces of the ear. The Rus
sian soldier has more martial music
than any other soldier in the world
| There is no regiment in the Russian
| yervice without its own band, and at
posts where not a regiment but only a
| battalion is quartered that battalion
has its band And these Russian mill
| tary bands are big and impressive mu-
steal organizations. Within each is
| brass band and an orchestra Of string
and wood instruments with, OF course.
| the necessary touch OF brass and sheep
skin. The result is that, while these
military bands play primarily military
music they also adapt themselves to
| the performance Of such music as the
+ American hears at a symphony concert.
The regimental band in the United
] States army consists of thirty-six
| pieces. and bands ON aagships of the
navy are smaller The average Rus
| sian army band, or orchestra, has from
| forty to fifty musicians, and the or
chestras of certain guard regiments
contain sixty. There are more than
| LOCO Russian regiments, and there are
in the army about 10000 bandsmen.
Then in the naval and military schools
and in the navy there are bands, and
! if to these are added the twenty to
| forty musical pupils Of a regimental
orchestral school ana the musical com
| panies of batteships and various ca
/ Diet schools the number Of military mu
! sicians in the armed service of Russia
mounts to the surprising total of ap-
proXimately 100000 men, number
greater than the whole enlisted and
commissioned personnel in the Ameri-
can army.
Russia takes a commendabe pride
in its military bands, and the musi-
clans are all competent The bands
men are trained in the regimental band
y SIuOOlN VI III OliN ~ A4lI 4ltllAAAA IL
steal conservatorieS maintained by the
government. and each musical com
pany has conductor and his assist
ant both being graduates OF one OF
the national Conservatives OF music
The Russian designation Of these
military and naval bands is musykal-
maya kammanda. and they constitute
an important factor in the life of the
civil population. the government using
them for the entertainment Of the pub
lie as well as for the musical educa
ton Of the masses yert much as the
United States uses its military bands
at WASHINGTON that is. in providing
free concerts for the people. Open air
concerts are common in the parks of
the larger towns and smaller cities
throughout russia during the summer,
and in winter free recitals are given in
the barracks and public halls. On
Sundays. fete days and national holi-
days band concerts and orchestral per
formances are usual in the well set
tied regions of vast Russia
The Russian military band is con-
siderably more than an army institu-
ton. The cost of maintaining SO
many bands is considerable even for
so rich a country as Russia, but the
government considers them as a prof
table investment The Russian sol
dier has come to require music and he
demands IT. and these bands entertain
the masses and the classes. These
bands cater to the highest musical
taste. and the average Russian in the
cities knows when music is good and
he will have no other. The bands play
the new and popular music by COM
posers like Ivanotf. but on all the band
programs You viii see such names as
List. Schumann Chopin, Tschaikow-
sky, Glinka. Strauss and Debussy.
The army band spreads its musical
influence over Russia In another way,
After passing through the regimental
band school the bandsnan serves three
years Then he passes ont Of the army,
usually returning to his native village
The custom is for him to carry back
into civil life with him the instrument
he played in the government band. His
musical training and accomplishment
make of him in his home town a more
prominent and important man than he
otherwise would be. He often takes
up the teaching of music and almost
invariably keeps up the practice of his
art Very likely he organizes a vii
Iage band or orchestra and into this
come amateur musicians and other
military bandsmen whose army serv-
ice has expired. About $1,000 Russian
army musicians annually leave the
army and return home to their fami-
les Washington Star