Pomp, pagentry and pipes take the stage
Adorned in full dress uniform, complete with kilt and bearskin cap, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and The Band of the Coldstream Guards will bring the music, pomp and pageantry of the Scottish Highlands to the IU Auditorium on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m.
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guard will appear at IU Auditorium on Jan. 31.
As one of the oldest military bands in the world, the Coldstream Guards has been keeping British tradition alive for more than 200 years. Whether recording classic military anthems or keeping up their country's morale during World War II, the Coldstream Guards has been a mainstay of the Empire.
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is Scotland's senior regiment and her only regular cavalry. The regiment was formed in 1971 from the union of two famous regiments, the 3rd Carabiniers and the Royal Scots Greys. The 3rd Carabiniers had themselves been constituted in 1922 from the amalgamation of the old 3rd Dragoon Guards and the Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards).
The history of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is, therefore, the record of three ancient regiments, and through the Royal Scots Greys, they can claim to be the oldest surviving Cavalry of the Line in the British Army. With the other cavalry regiments, they now form part of the Royal Armored Corps, but though horses have been replaced by tanks and armored cars, it is the cavalry spirit of the past which provides the inspiration for the future, whatever it may hold.
The Coldstream Regiment was formed in 1650 by George Monck, a general in Oliver Cromwell's "New Model Army" and can therefore claim to be one of the oldest regiments in the world. In 1661, shortly after the restoration of the monarchy, they were re-commissioned by King Charles II as Household Troops.
From the earliest days, the Regiment had drummers and a "Band of Music" from 1742. This was in fact eight civilian musicians who were hired by the month by officers of the regiment to provide music for the changing of the guard at St. James' Palace. When the musicians were asked to perform at an aquatic excursion to Greenwich in 1785, they declined on the grounds that the performance was "incompatible with their several respectable and private engagements."
This was too much for the officers who asked the Duke of York, colonel of the regiment, for a regular attested band. He agreed and from Hanover in Germany sent 12 musicians under the direction of Music Major C.F. Eley. The instrumentation consisted of two oboes, four clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet and a serpent. The date of the band's formation was May 16, 1785.
In 1815, the year of the regiment's distinction at Waterloo, the total strength of the band was increased to 22 by the addition of flutes, key bugles and trombones. In the same year, the band went abroad for the first time when it was ordered to Paris for duty with the Allied Army of Occupation. As was usual in the British Army at the time, the regiment's early bandmasters were of German extraction, and it wasn't until 1835 that the first truly British bandmaster, Charles Godfrey, took over. This event anticipated the general replacement of foreign bandmasters in the army by British musicians by about 35 years, and it was under his baton that the foundation of the musical and military expertise of today was started.
By 1900, the size of the band had grown to 51 musicians and during the years before World War I, the band reached new heights of excellence in concert and on record. In fact, the band was one of the first British Army bands to make a recording. The Coldstream Guards Band became the first band to visit North America when it traveled to Canada in 1903, one of two western tours around that time.
Throughout the 1920s the band continued to take part in state, ceremonial and a hectic round of public engagements all over the country, and as recording techniques improved, more fine records were produced. In 1926, the band again toured Canada, and on one occasion while in Calgary, they were transported in a fleet of Studebaker limousines.
It was on Sunday, June 18, 1944, that the greatest tragedy in the history of the band occurred. The band was playing in the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, when it was struck by a German VI flying bomb. More than 120 people were killed including Director of Music Major Windram and five musicians. Despite this disaster, the band continued to function until Captain Douglas Arthur Pope was appointed the new director of music. One of his first duties was to follow the Allied forces to Europe after D-Day.
After the war, the band continued as it had done before with the usual round of state, court and ceremonial duties, plus the many varied private engagements both at home and abroad. It was in 1960 that the band went to North America for a three-month, coast-to-coast tour. This was the first in what became a regular event.
Today, the band is scaled for 49 musicians who -- apart from "doubling" on other instruments such as strings and keyboards -- are medical assistants, and in the event of a full-scale conflict, would be called upon to be stretcher bearers and field hospital assistants.
The last 10 years has seen the band involved with what is probably the most intense period of international travel in its entire history. Not only has the band undertaken many duty trips, visiting either of two battalions stationed abroad, but has gone on many private and commercial tours "Flying the Flag" around the world.
In 1984, the band moved into the newly completed Wellington Barracks, and for the first time since the band was formed, it has official accommodation. The accommodation comprises full changing and official facilities, and a practice room. Before this, the band had no permanent residences, and at one stage rehearsed in a room above a public house in Chelsea.
Tickets to this event may be purchased at IUauditorium.com or at the IU Auditorium Box Office, 1211 E. Seventh St. Tickets for the event are $25-$33 for the general public and $13-$23 for IU Bloomington students.
