H.C. Hart was an American
drum major in the
71st New York Infantry
The 71st New York Infantry Regiment is an organization of the New York State Guard. Formerly, the 71st Infantry was a regiment of the New York State Militia and then the Army National Guard from 1850 to 1993. The regiment was not renumbered dur ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
and an influential
fife and drum manual author.
Biography
Colonel H.C. Hart was educated as a military drummer at the military academy in
Middletown, Connecticut under Professor Partridge.
[Clark, James. ''Connecticut’s Fife and Drum Tradition.'' Wesleyan University Press, 2011.] Hart was later praised for his instruction of the 102nd Regiment by its Drum Major Levi Elmendorf.
Near the beginning of the Civil War (dates differ among sources) he was hired by Quartermaster George W. Rosevelt of the 71st Regiment of the New York State Militia
to form a regimental band. Hart then set out to hire the best musicians he could find. In Connecticut, he hired Henry Chatfield, who he made leader and instructor, and fifers Hezekiah and Leslie Todd from the Wolcott Drum Band along with several other drummers and fifers. The balance of the band was gathered from around the state and several further members came from New York City.
The 71st was then attached to the Army of the Potomac, where
General Grant saw them perform and reportedly commented: "Well boys, I never heard such a Hell of a racket from so few drums in my life."
In order to help with the training of new musicians, Hart wrote and published his book, ''Col. H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation'', in either 1861 or 1862 (again, sources differ on the date).
[Chandler, Eric Alan, "A History of Rudimental Drumming in America From the Revolutionary War to the Present." (1990). LSU
Historical Dissertations and Theses. 4901.] The book used a relatively obscure
rudimental
Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle.
They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and w ...
notation system that he learned from Wolcott Drum Band member Samuel Wilcox.
Wolcox's notation system is a unique code that appears in no other known publication of any era.
Despite the strange look of the notation, the book was well received by contemporary critics and colleagues,
[Hart, H. C., Colonel. ''Col. H.C. Hart's new and improved instructor for the drum : with original notation.'' New York : William Hall & son, 1862.] and continued to be used by the Wolcott Drum Band and the Moodus Fife and Drum Corps after the war.
Hart's Instructor also contained standard instruction for the fife, bugle, and uniquely for its era, bass drum,
plus a number of popular tunes outside of the pure camp duty calls. The book was notable for its wide range of
drum rudiments
In ''rudimental drumming'', a form of percussion music, a drum rudiment is one of a number of relatively small patterns which form the foundation for more extended and complex drumming patterns. The term "drum rudiment" is most closely assoc ...
, some of which were unique to Hart, and its attention to the details necessary for complete beginners and students of otherwise low initial skill level.
Publications
* ''Col. H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation''
References
{{Rudimental Percussion
19th-century male musicians