We’ve given you the history of Broadway and classical music. Now, thanks to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the research of many historians, the Frederick Symphony Orchestra gives you a complete guide to the history of music and militaries worldwide:

• 1100s: The shawm, a woodwind instrument used in battle, rises in popularity as a military instrument and psychological weapon during the Renaissance Period. It’s used during the Latin Church’s Crusades.
• 1200s: The Ottoman Empire introduces the first military bands called mehter or Janissary bands. This type of music eventually inspires composers Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
• 1396: Scottish bagpipes are used during the Battle of the North Inch of Perch.
• 1544: A woodcut (a print type made from a block of wood, formerly used for book illustrations) by Hans Sebald Beham of Nuremberg, Germany, pairs a drummer with a standard bearer.
• 1557: The Royal Artillery Band of Britain is originated at the Battle of St. Quentin.
• 1586: The Irish write an account on battle bagpipes: “This sort of instrument is held among the Irish to be a whetstone for martial courage: for just as other soliders are stirred by the sound of trumpets, so they are hotly stimulated to battle by the noise of this affair.”
• 1600s: France’s military bands, including the Republican Guard, the Foreign Legion, the Army Armored Cavalry, Paratroopers, and the Troupes de Marine, provide the Western World with a collection of French marches.
• 1645: Artist David Teniers the Younger depicts a drum with other discarded military equipment in his oil painting “Guardroom with the Deliverance of Saint Peter.”
• 1749: Military bands are no longer comprised of civilians hired at the expense of the colonel commanding a regiment. They become regular enlisted men.
• 1781: American military bands begin marching to the fast tempo of French military bands, compared to the slow pace of the British.
• 1805: During the Napoleonic Wars, French troops used the battle cry “Vive I’ Empereur” (“For the King and France”).
• 1810: John Halliday invents a keyed bugle, a brass instrument characterized by conical bore tubing, that plays all of the chromatic notes that previously were played on an oboe or clarinet.
• 1812: The military bugle is introduced to the United States. It’s adopted for field signals, and later replaces more traditional drummers and fifers for infantry use.
• 1840s: The U.S. Army attempts to standardize drums with the decoration of an eagle, which becomes an increasingly popular design with the Union during the Civil War.
• 1861: During the Civil War, each company has its own field musicians, one fifer and one drummer, to provide daily signals telling soldiers when to wake up, eat, and go to bed. Popular Union marching songs include “Marching Song of the First Arkansas” and “John Brown’s Body,” while Confederate soldiers used the rebel yell.
• 1870: “P’tit quinquin” is a popular tune during the Franco Prussian War.
• 1896: During the Philippine Revolution, the national army uses “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”) as a battle cry.
• 1914: “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” and “Colonel Bogey March” are popular marching songs of World War I.
• 1920: “White Army, Black Baron” is a popular combat hymn for the Red Army of Russia.
• 1927: The Central Band of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union is founded.
• 1939: “Erika” is a song for the German Army during World War II, and music therapy develops as a profession due to the research directly backed by the U.S. Army and Office of the Surgeon General.
• 1950: The Royal Marines Band Service is the only remaining musical wing of the Royal Navy of Britain in service.
• 1960s: The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces uses war music based on Russian tradition with a mix of former American and Caribbean influence.
• 1966: “Ballad of the Green Berets” is a martial rhythm song of the Vietnam War.
• 1982: The Swedish Army Band is set up.
• 2012: 75 percent of New Zealand military bands are disbanded due to the economy. A single full-time band is now retained for each of the three armed services.

It’s clear that music plays a huge part in encouraging and unifying our armed forces around the world, and the Frederick Symphony Orchestra is proud to stand by our military bands in their fight on and off the battlefield.