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of one of my favourite marches.

And then the 4 highly efficient tubas in the front row.

The drums look small, which is a German trait, and the bass drum is way to high in pitch. Very efficient player, though. Sign bearer should be shot, when out of step.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIKNkrnepA

Klaus

Sadly the trio is missing. In the military band version the trio melody has a mixed setting of its 3 parts with euph on the lead and woodwinds alone on the 3rd part. There the brass band version excels with euphs and baritones playing in 3 parts.

When I was in England over the summer of 1964, I stayed with a family where the son was the oboe/tenor sax of the 2nd battalion Parachuters. There were supposed to be different band styles between the services. The Marines were known to have very fine euphers, and the RAF were strong in trombones. I tried digging in that tradition some 15 years ago via Kneller Hall. They were very informative, but not about the variants in traditions of the services.

Here is a longer set of excerpts with the fine marine staff band. The tubas lay out the foundation, but to my great liking the bass trombone puts the icing on the basses.

Army of the Nile is in the 2nd half.

Klaus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUTz1IUSrC4

Just to add a different style, which here is German, even if there are bands from Poland and possibly also from Hungary. The close up at 0.15 is the tiny Danish regimental band from Skive, where a new concert hall was built shortly before the regiment was cut from the budget. So now the band the only military representation in that town. In the overview shots it is the far left band.

The music is called a parade march, but with its slow tempo and melodic lifts on the off-beat I think it rather is a cavalry march.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2sr8GOtQSc

Klaus

Wade, if you look carefully at the drum major right before the first narrowing, he makes a single twirl of the mace, then raises the bulb end maximally and drops it at the beat the movement starts. And they execute it differently down the band. Most have the wings folding in behind the centers, but the two tubas fold in in front of the trombones.

Our navy drill band (drums, brasses, and piccolos) have an amazingly fast pattern for shifting from 4 abreast to 3 abreast with no open spots in the formation. Looks like they do it in only two paces.

With the British bands the drums at front usually ordinary soldiers from the fighting troops.

As for tiger pelts, the Germans used leopards. As I get it a few regiments still have original pelts from before the ban on trade in wild animals. Others use artificial furs.

Klaus

One text on pelts and drummers:

http://www.epspipeband.ca/Wolfskins.htm