No "Cheaters" here!

[Claude Bauer]

Here's a great article from "Military Images Digital" with lots of pictures of Civil War fifers, note those with mouthpieces on their instruments! The article also points out that, "Other terms commonly used to describe the mouthpiece, fipple and cheater, were not part of the 1860s vocabulary."

https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/.../...

 

[JOHN42768]

Great photos, thanks

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

A determined looking group of men!

 

[H. J. Durgin]

Such great photographs. Thanks a lot for sharing.

 

[R. Porter]

Really nice group of photos! Not a single musician's sword can be identified with certainty in the bunch! Everything that can be accurately identified as a Model 1840 musician or NCO sword is an NCO sword. There is an infantry officer's sword carried by what is tentatively identified as a Lieutenant based on his uniform. There is a knight's head militia sword. There is something that reminds me of a French gendarmerie sword that I would need to investigate. If I only knew which were props and which were the soldier's own equipment.

Thanks for a thought provoking selection of photos!

 

[7thWisconsin]

How are those guys in the first photo keeping the swords on their belts? Velcro? Or did they turn the scabbard around and jam the frog holder over their belts? The second one has an odd round beltplate. You see something like that in the 4th Michigan bandsmen photos. The fifer in the 5th photo is wearing his sword with the guard up, rather than down. If you carry it like this, when you draw it the guard ends up over the back of your knuckles really nicely. IDK if he knew that, but it save you a second getting ready to fight for your life.

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

What is often disturbing with those pics is the way soldiers carry their hand guns, on the belly, slipped (?) in their belts, or even into their pockets...it's dangerous, specially with cap and balls guns.
The 6th chamber kept empty -with the hammer reposing on it- was the minimum safety.

 

[Claude Bauer]

What is often disturbing with those pics is the way soldiers carry their hand guns, on the belly, slipped (?) in their belts, or even into their pockets...it's dangerous, specially with cap and balls guns.
The 6th chamber kept empty -with the hammer reposing on it- was the minimum safety.

I never put much stock in the way soldiers are shown with muskets, pistols, swords, knives, etc. in staged pictures since they might have been placed as props by photographers, whose intent was to convey the image of a fearsome warrior for the folks back home, not a soldier in formation responsibly handling firearms and wearing accoutrements according to the manual. There are so many pictures of soldiers with multiple assorted pistols in their belts, huge knives, swords that look out of place, etc., I can't help but imagine a photographer pulling them out of a box and placing them strategically for maximum effect. I'm sure there were exceptions, but I just don't picture the soldiers in staged photos walking around armed to the teeth with pistols and knives in their belts--isn't getting a picture taken something they'd do while off duty with their issued arms and kits left back in camp? Soldiers in the field are a completely different matter as far as I'm concerned, as they are shown armed and equipped as they really were.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I can't get back to looking at the pictures in the OP now without a subscription evidently, but I have a question about one of them. It shows a company standing in the street and a flag identified as the Stars and Stripes is flying from an upper porch on the right.

The soldiers are identified as Union, but the stars on that flag look like they are placed in a circle and those soldiers (maybe because of the hats?) look more like Confederates to me. Would anyone agree? Could that be some early version of the many flags used by the Confederacy? Or just a bunch of Union soldiers in slouch hats?

 

[R. Porter]

I can't get back to looking at the pictures in the OP now without a subscription evidently, but I have a question about one of them. It shows a company standing in the street and a flag identified as the Stars and Stripes is flying from an upper porch on the right.

The soldiers are identified as Union, but the stars on that flag look like they are placed in a circle and those soldiers (maybe because of the hats?) look more like Confederates to me. Would anyone agree? Could that be some early version of the many flags used by the Confederacy? Or just a bunch of Union soldiers in slouch hats?

The flag is being moved to some degree by wind but is folded upon itself so you don't have a view of the entire flag. The stars to me look like they are in columns with the fabric folded. Besides, look at all the stripes. Did Confederates have a flag with stars in the corner that had, at the very least, four red stripes?

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

The flag is being moved to some degree by wind but is folded upon itself so you don't have a view of the entire flag. The stars to me look like they are in columns with the fabric folded. Besides, look at all the stripes. Did Confederates have a flag with stars in the corner that had, at the very least, four red stripes?

The stripes were what were making me hesitate - I was thinking it could be a very early photo of a Confederate unit with a new flag. But I agree - the stripes on that flag are the most Union looking thing in the photo. Still not sure the stars are arranged in lines, but I certainly am not sure about that either.

 

[Claude Bauer]

Check out these interesting photos of WWI fife and drum musicians! Notice the fifer on the far left in the top photo has a mouthpiece on his instrument. The U.S. Marine Manual for Field Musics [sic] recommended the use of a mouthpiece for a fife until 1935.

Although mostly replaced by the bugle, fifes and drums apparently were still used by the Army and Marines for field music well into the 20th century.

There's more about these photos in an interesting post by bugler Jari Villanueva on Facebook.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Check out these interesting photos of WWI fife and drum musicians! Notice the fifer on the far left in the top photo has a mouthpiece on his instrument. The U.S. Marine Manual for Field Musics [sic] recommended the use of a mouthpiece for a fife until 1935.

Although mostly replaced by the bugle, fifes and drums apparently were still used by the Army and Marines for field music well into the 20th century.

There's more about these photos in an interesting post by bugler Jari Villanueva on Facebook.

View attachment 560170

View attachment 560167

And their drums are rope tension! I bet this band was put together for a special, maybe one-off event or parade. I'm pretty sure rope tension percussion was gone in standard marching bands by 1917.
I've never played a fife with a mouthpiece. Is there really any advantage for an experienced player? Does it really just make it easier for a beginner to make the sound, and thereby shortening the practice time needed before you can actually play something? (I learned to play when I was twelve, which was more than a minute ago. Took me an entire Sunday afternoon to make a toot. After that it was easy. Six holes, limited finger combinations and pretty limited practical keys.)

 

[Claude Bauer]

And their drums are rope tension! I bet this band was put together for a special, maybe one-off event or parade. I'm pretty sure rope tension percussion was gone in standard marching bands by 1917. I've never played a fife with a mouthpiece. Is there really any advantage for an experienced player? Does it really just make it easier for a beginner to make the sound, and thereby shortening the practice time needed before you can actually play something? (I learned to play when I was twelve, which was more than a minute ago. Took me an entire Sunday afternoon to make a toot. After that it was easy. Six holes, limited finger combinations and pretty limited practical keys.)

>I bet this band was put together for a special, maybe one-off event or parade. I'm pretty sure rope tension percussion was gone in standard marching bands by 1917.<

It's possible they were a one-off corps like the Fessenden Fifes who were a fife and drum corps attached to the 4th US Marines while they were stationed in Shanghai during the 1920s. The regiment, dubbed the "China Marines," performed garrison duty in the city from 1927 until 1941.

• The Fessenden Fifes were a unique feature of the regiment, as it was the only fife and drum corps in the entire Marine Corps.
• The fife and drum corps was established in November 1927. The Shanghai municipal council, an international body that governed the city's International Settlement, provided the musical instruments.
• The corps was named in honor of Stirling Fessenden, the American chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
• The 4th Marines were inspired by a British Army fife and drum corps belonging to the 1st Battalion of the Green Howards, who were also stationed in Shanghai. The British bandmaster taught the Marines how to play the instruments.
• The Fessenden Fifes became a regular sight in Shanghai, performing in weekly parades through the city.

However, I also have the Marine Corp's 1935 Manual for Field Musics [sic] which has a whole section on the fife, including a recommendation for using a mouthpiece, as in this picture:

So, without some more digging, it's difficult to say to what extent they were still used in the 20th century and for what, since I also have a picture of a Marine Corps Field Music unit from 1935 looking pretty spiffy (below). Beside the drums, it's hard to tell what the instruments are, they look long for fifes. It could have been a ceremonial unit, like today's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Hard to say...

According to Joe Whitney, a fellow fifer in my corps (and former member of the 2nd South Carolina String Band), "When I was doing a research project on the use of field music within the US Marine Corps for the USS Constitution Museum, I found that the Marine Corps still had fifers up until the start of WW2. In the late 19th century, they had moved to make the bugle the replacement for the fife, but wound up obligating fifers to learn the bugle. The use of fifes, bugles, and drums in the armed forces are what created the imitation by public corps in the NY, NJ area, &c. In my collection, for instance, I have a fife tune book issued by the US Navy in 1820, and I've seen the accompanying books for drums and bugle with the Company of Military Historians library when it was in Westbrook, CT. They also had a large photo of a US Army Unit, recently returned from WW1, playing fifes, drums, bugles."

>I've never played a fife with a mouthpiece. Is there really any advantage for an experienced player?<

I can play with or without one, but for parades, I prefer the mouthpiece--it takes less air because it's so well directed. You can also play longer and stronger because you don't lose your embrochure. It's different for everyone and depends on what works for you and what level you play at.

>Does it really just make it easier for a beginner to make the sound, and thereby shortening the practice time needed before you can actually play something?<

Yes, it does, you can make it sound immediately, just like a recorder. I've sold mouthpieces to a private school for their music program, someone who served as a volunteer instructor for the Civil War Music School, other private instructors who use them for students, as well as many individuals who use them to help get started, or even resume playing after a hiatus. I've also sold to people with medical conditions that were them preventing from playing. For example, one lady in a corps had come down with COPD and her grand daughter had just started playing fife. With the mouthpiece, she was able to march and play in a parade with her grand daughter. She sent me a picture of the two of them in the parade. Made my day.

 

[Claude Bauer]

Finally, a quote from John Philip Sousa on the historical importance of fifes and drums to US Marine Corps field music:

"There is no question of the importance the role of the fife in the early years of the Marine Corps as well as the establishment of the US Marine Band. The band can trace its origins back to those original 32 fifers and drummers which were authorized in the Act of Congress dated July 7, 1798.

While members of the band were proficient on many instruments, fifes and drums were essential to recruiting and ceremonial duties of the band. Apprentices to the band were required to learn either the fife or drum so they could be posted as musicians on various ships and at Marine Corps posts world-wide.

While the rank of fifer was discontinued after 1881 in favor of trumpeter, this rank was still used on Muster Rolls of the Marine Corps and Apprentices were still assigned the rank of Fifer until 1900."