Band And Bugles Of The Rifles

The Band and Bugles of the Rifles is a military band serving as the regimental band for The Rifles, the sole rifle regiment and the largest in the British Army. It is the senior most of three bands in the regiment and is the only one that is part of the regular army. Uniquely, it employs bugles at its front, a tradition that goes back to the conflicts of the 18th century. Major Séan O’Neill is currently serving as the Director of Music (DOM) of the band and bugles. It is part of the Royal Corps of Army Music.

Origins of rifle bands

The Band and Bugles uphold traditions that date back to as far as 1665. In their early years, drums were abandoned by rifle regiments and were replaced with the silver bugle. The Rifles pioneered the use of the bugle as a way of communicating on the battlefields as well as giving orders. The use of bugles date back to the Napoleonic Wars as a result of the lessons learned during the American Revolutionary War.

The Light Infantry

The Light Infantry maintained the other half of the lineage of the Band and Bugles. In April 1985, the band was reduced from six to four regular bands. The final two bands consisted of the Corunna Band and the Salamanca Band.

RGJ Bands

Battalion Bands

When cuts were made to regimental bands in 1984, the Royal Green Jackets decided to have two medium-sized bands rather than three small ones.

1st Battalion

The 1st Battalion band dates its lineage from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Band and Bugles. The regiment is noted as having a "Band of Music" as early as 1768. An ensemble which was then part of the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot grew to 11 members by 1792. The ''Standing Orders of the 43rd Foot'' issued in 1795 make clear how the band was established. In 1958, the Regiment was redesignated the 1st Green Jackets, which was marked by a military parade in Cyprus with the band performing of the marches of all the constituent regiments. With its redesignation, it marked the first time that the Battalion and the band had been stationed at back home since it was sent to fight in the Second World War in 1939. The massed bands made their debut performance soon after at Wembley Stadium for an England-Italy football international, though unfortunately the wrong Italian national anthem was played, which must have caused some offence. Stationed in Berlin at the time of the regiment's amalgamation, the band continued its standard round of engagements such as the Queen's Birthday Parade in 1966 as well as foreign trips to locations throughout the world such as Hong Kong to Northern Ireland.

2nd Battalion

The King's Royal Rifle Corps Band dates back to 1783. It served in every war that has occurred since then including both World Wars. In 1958, the KRRC was officially redesignated the 2nd Green Jackets, though this had little immediate effect on the Band. Ted Jeanes continued as Bandmaster until 1961 when he was succeeded by Stewart Swanwick, formerly a musician in the 3rd King's African Rifles. In May 1969, was succeeded as Bandmaster by Jack Boden, who built on the legacy of his predecessors. In the 70s, the band served in Germany, all while alternating with the UK. Historical highlights include the Wembley Pageants of 1971 and 1973 and public duties at Buckingham Palace in 1972. In 1975, the Battalion was moved to Cyprus, where the Band played during Silver Jubilee Parade in 1977.

1985-1994

Between the disbandment of the battalion bands of the Royal Green Jackets in 1985 and the creation of the Band of the Light Division in 1994, the Royal Green Jackets had two regimental bands: the Normandy Band and the Peninsula Band.

Normandy Band of the RGJ

Bandmaster David Little, formerly a member of the 1st Green Jackets, was to remain for only just over a year before retiring, after which he was succeeded in December 1985 by trumpeter and percussionist Ian McElligott. Major events forte band took place in 1987 and 1988, during which the band took part in events, such as the Royal Bath and an inspection of Kneller Hall. 1989 saw the band being posted to Gibraltar, from which a tour was undertaken to Morocco to honour the 60th birthday of King Hassan II, performing a Sounding Retreat at Royal Palaces in Marrakesh and Fez. McElligott wa transferred to the Royal Military School of Music in 1992 and was replaced by Barry Wassell, who at the time of the formation of the Light Division, was moved to the newly formed Band of the Royal Lancers as Bandmaster as a training officer.

Peninsula Band of the RGJ

The Peninsula Band was first led by bandmaster Ian Harding on its formation, remaining on for 8 years. In 1988, it visited Canada as the official band for the exercise Medicine Man 3, as well as participate in the Calgary Stampede and conduct marching displays at the Olympic Plaza. After four years of being stationed in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine, which included tours of Sweden, Austria, Belgium, and France, the Band returned to its British barracks in 1989. They returned in 1989 for the 75th anniversary celebrations of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, an affiliated Canadian Army regiment. Harding retired in 1992 and was succeeded by Ian Macpherson.

Hyde Park bombings

Seven band members were killed on 20 July 1982 alongside four soldiers of the Blues and Royals by an improvised bomb by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) at a public concert in Hyde Park and Regent's Park. The RGJ concert in the latter featured music from ''Oliver!'' to 120 people at the bandstand in Regents Park. The bomb had been hidden under the stand some time before and seemed to be designed to cause minimal harm to bystanders.Chalk, Peter. ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism''. ABC-CLIO, 2012. pp.614–615.

The seven fatalities from the RGJ Band included the following:
*WO2 Graham Barker, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Bandsman John Heritage, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Corporal Robert Livingstone, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Corporal Robert McKnight, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Bandsman George Mesure, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Bandsman Keith Powell, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets
* Bandsman Laurence Smith, 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets

The band was regrouped five weeks later with just nine men under the direction of David Little. In 1983, a concert on a rebuilt bandstand was held by the band to commemorate the unveiling of a memorial plaque by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Light Division

In August 1994, the Band and Bugles of the Light Division was formed from a merger of the four regimental bands of the Light Division. The Band and Bugles was one of the various artists featured on '' Over the Hills & Far Away: The Music of Sharpe'', released in 1996 as a companion to the '' Sharpe'' television series. At the time of its existence, it was the only 49 piece Army band based outside London. It had recent overseas tours have included Jordan, Greece, Cyprus and much of continental Europe.

Modern day

On 1 February 2007, the Light Division was reformed into The Rifles. The traditional names of the regiments that formed the regiment were not retained, which resulted in the band being renamed.

The band performs in the musicians also perform in many varied combinations such as:

*Marching Band
*Concert Band
*Woodwind Quintet
*Brass Quintet
*Fanfare Trumpet Teams
*Barbershop Quartet
*String Ensemble
*Dixieland Jazz Band
*Dance Band

The band provides support for many famous military and civilian events including Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace and the former Royal Tournament as well as making regular television and radio appearances. The section of the band that performs with bugles are known collectively as the ''Bugle Platoon'', which is composed of 20 soldiers from the five regular battalions. Many bugler's complete an 18-week course at the Army School of Ceremonial in Catterick. In June 2016, the Band and Bugles was prohibited from marching in a Sounding Retreat Ceremony at the fields of Bodmin Town F.C.

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