page_title: Military band
section_title: Singapore
hierarchical_section_title: Military band / Military bands in Asia / Singapore
caption_attribution_description: The Singapore Armed Forces Band's Drumline looks on as its competition, U.S. Marines from Quantico, take their turn. A Drumline battle takes place before each Virginia International Tattoo show.
context_page_description: A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching bands in the world, dating from the 13th century.
  The military band is capable of playing ceremonial and marching music, including the national anthems and patriotic songs of not only their own nation but others as well, both while stationary and as a marching band. Military bands also play a part in military funeral ceremonies.
  There are two types of historical traditions in military bands. The first is military field music. This type of music includes bugles, bagpipes, or fifes and almost always drums. This type of music was used to control troops on the battlefield as well as for entertainment. Following the development of instruments such as the keyed trumpet or the saxhorn family of brass instruments, a second tradition of the brass and woodwind military band was formed.
context_section_description: Until the 1990s the Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Police Force band formations were similar to the Royal Marines Band Service, and Malaysian military bands. In the beginning of the 21st century this was changed to a format similar to British Army and Royal Air Force military bands. The Singapore Armed Forces Band form the Singapore Armed Forces musical arm, which plays a vital role in parades and ceremonies such as the Singapore National Day Parade. Before the 1994 unification of SAF Bands under one unit, the different service arms of the SAF fielded their own bands, which would make up the combined inter-service massed bands for the NDP from 1987-1997. Since 1986, all the three bands of the SAF, as well as the Band Training Wing, are manned by both male and female bandsmen reflecting the country's diverse ethnicities.
  The band service traces their origins to the beginning of Singapore's self-governance. The Singapore Infantry Regiment Band (current Ceremonial Band A and formerly the Staff Band of the Singapore Military Forces) was raised in 1958 alongside its then parent unit, and was briefly rebadged as the Singapore Army Band in the 1980s. In 1972, the current form of three bands was finalized when what are now the SAF Central Band and Ceremonial Band B were made operational, and both moved to other branches in the 70s and 80s, becoming the Republic of Singapore Navy Band in 1977 and the Republic of Singapore Air Force Band in 1982.  Their first appearance together in the NDP was in 1987's edition in the Padang conducted by the SAF's first Senior Director of Music MAJ Erwin Dragon, with another joint performance in 1990. 1988 saw the rebirth of the SAF Music Board and the formation of the SAF Symphonic Wind Band.
caption: The Singapore Armed Forces Band's drumline at the Virginia International Tattoo in 2017.
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