Shane Mason, Historic Interpreter and Tryon Palace Fife & Drum Coordinator
If you could listen to the sounds of history, what would you hear in the 18th century? Perhaps you would hear billowing sails and waves breaking on the prows of merchant ships. Or you may hear the rhythmic clip-clop of hoof beats on cobblestone and the creaking of carriage wheels. Later in the 18th century, you may have heard the roar of steam engines and machines in the first factories as they began production.
Certainly, the sounds of war would have been present. In both the New World and the Old, the colonial powers of Europe were in a near constant struggle for supremacy. The snaps of musket fire and the bellow of the cannons felt in your chest would have alerted you to a nearby battle. Most prominently, you would have heard the fife and the drum.
It is easy for people today to forget how closely the fife and drum were tied to military life. These musicians were considered soldiers just as much as their armed comrades were. The Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps represents musicians of the First North Carolina Continental Line that fought in the Revolutionary War, from Charleston, South Carolina to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Fife and drum signals served as the primary means of communication in this age before radio. While in residence as the Palace, Governor Tryon ordered drums from England when he was preparing to fight a rebellion here in North Carolina because fifers and drummers were indispensable to a well-run military.
When these martial musicians were not performing their duties, they sometimes entertained themselves by writing new tunes, or new lyrics to old tunes. Other times they adapted songs from operas or musicals to their instruments. Join us on Sunday, August 14th at 3:30 p.m., for a lecture and discussion in the Debnam-Hunt Board Room at the North Carolina History Center for a musical journey through the martial history of the 18th century Anglosphere. We will cover the origins of fife and drum and examine some of the wars and battles of the 18th century with a focus on the American Revolution. We will even glimpse at the music of the French Revolution through an American perspective. Throughout the program, music recorded by the Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps will be featured.
I hope you can join us on August 14, at 3:30 pm, to learn more about the history and music of the fife and drum. For more information, please call 252-639-3500, or go to www.tryonpalace.org.