Stand up and fight!

The role of trumpeters and drummer boys in the army was far more important than one might think. They started to appear in the Middle Ages with an increasing number of regular units whose soldiers often used different languages and dialects. They had problems with understanding officers’ commands; consequently it was necessary to introduce some generally comprehensible sound signals. Trumpeters’ role became even more important in modern times when firearms were introduced and when automatic reaction was required from infantry units. There was nothing better than a piercing sound of trumpets and then also that of pipes and kettledrums to transmit an order in the noise of a battle. Keeping a line by the infantry and, as a result, density, regularity and effectiveness of fire depended on regular step, dictated by drum strokes. Noisy cavalry signals, made by high-pitched trumpets which originally did not have valves, were understood not only by cavalrymen but also by well-trained horses. It is where military music came from. Regular, rhythmical, noisy and often lively music had an important psychological impact by helping to control fear and muffling the sounds of guns and groans of the wounded. In the 18th century bands of most European armies were “infected” with janissary music of the Turkish army, taking over its bells and pipes which later became flutes. German military orchestras still use a glockenspiel which emits a high-pitched, metallic sound. The instruments are carried ceremoniously and decorated with the state emblem and putties in the bright colours of the regiment.