The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) trains musicians for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

's fourteen regular bands, as part of the

Royal Corps of Army Music The Royal Corps of Army Music (RCAM, widely known by its former acronym CAMUS) is a Corps of the British Army dedicated to the provision and promotion of military music. History The formation of the Corps of Army Music was triggered by a defen ...

. Until August 2021, the school was based at Kneller Hall in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boro ...

, however it moved to HMS Nelson in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

following closure of Kneller.

History

The RMSM was established in 1857 at the instigation of

Prince George, Duke of Cambridge Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (George William Frederick Charles; 26 March 1819 – 17 March 1904) was a member of the British royal family, a grandson of King George III and cousin of Queen Victoria. The Duke was an army officer by professio ...

, who was

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's cousin and commander-in-chief of the army. In 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, he attended a parade in Scutari,

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to celebrate the Queen's birthday, where approximately 20 British Army bands on parade were required to combine in a performance of the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

. The custom at this time was for regiments to hire civilian bandmasters, each of whom had free rein in their band's instrumentation and arrangements. With each band playing ''

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

'' simultaneously in different instrumentations, pitches, arrangements and

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef a ...

s, the result was an embarrassing and humiliating cacophony. The Duke decided there should be some standardisation in army music, and so formed the RMSM, with Henry Schallehn (who also became the first director of music at the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

) as commandant. For several years in the late 19th century, the commandant was Colonel

T. B. Shaw-Hellier Colonel Thomas Bradney Shaw-Hellier (1836–1910), 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, of The Wodehouse near Wombourne, Staffordshire, and of Villa San Giorgio (now Hotel Ashby) in Taormina, Sicily, was Director of the Royal Military School of Music. ...

, owner of the Hellier Stradivarius. In 1937 the school commissioned a new set of custom-made

fanfare trumpet A fanfare trumpet, also called a herald trumpet, is a brass instrument similar to but longer than a trumpet, capable of playing specially composed fanfares. Its extra length can also accommodate a small ceremonial banner that can be mounted on it. ...

s, designed by Lt-Col. Hector Adkins (Director of Music 1923-1941), along with a matching set of valved trombones. First appearing at the

Coronation of King George VI The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May ...

that year, the Kneller Hall Trumpeters went on to be a regular feature of state occasions and national celebrations throughout the twentieth century. A distinctive banner, designed for the School by Kruger Gray, was hung from each instrument and made the trumpeters very recognisable: it consisted of a shield displaying three clarions beneath a crown.

Present day

The RMSM spent a century and a half at Kneller Hall, which was the

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peop ...

of the

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

Sir

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from ...

and was rebuilt after a fire in 1848. The school is open to men and women whose commitment to the army is for a minimum of four years. The Royal Corps of Army Music, the largest employer of musicians in the United Kingdom, promotes itself to potential recruits as an opportunity to earn a salary as a musician. The school's curriculum is not limited to martial music, but includes jazz, swing, middle-of-the-road, popular, baroque, mainstream symphonic and operatic music. In August 2021 the Headquarters of the

moved to Gibraltar Barracks in Minley and shortly later the school itself moved to

Museum of Army Music

The Museum of Army Music, which was at Kneller Hall for several decades, had a collection of instruments, music, banners, medals, model bands, documents, prints, manuscripts, paintings and uniforms illustrating the history of military music. It is presently, Oct 2021, in storage pending a new location.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Royal Military School of Music
– on British Army official website
Museum of Army Music
{{Authority control Training establishments of the British Army Performing arts education in London Music schools in London Educational institutions established in 1857 History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 1857 establishments in England Twickenham Military training establishments of the United Kingdom Royal Corps of Army Music Music in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames