General Washington knew how a brisk, rhythmical tune helped hungry, poorly-clad soldiers on the march and also inspired them to fight bravely in battle. He felt that music was so important that he ordered forty to sixty fifers and drummers in each regiment of his army. The bands were chosen from the troops. These “musics”, as Benjamin Franklin called them, were untrained and each man played in his own fashion, but their music gave the Revolutionists heart. The influence of band music on the fighting man’s morale has been recognized since historians began to write. A band, especially a military band, may inspire courage, a wish to fight or a will to win. It beats the rhythm for marching feet and gives a tune for whistling. Lively, tuneful marches send the troops quick-stepping off to the battlefront. Grand, triumphal strains herald the return of the victorious army. Troops will step faster and march for a longer time to the rhythm of a drum than to any other way of keeping time. What is more stirring than the heavy, measured boom-boom-boom of the bass drum, the rhythmic clatter of the snare drum and the great blasts of tone from the huge, wide-mouthed horns? In the beginning American military band music mainly consisted of the shrill tones of the fife paced by the rattle of the snare drums with their vibrating snares. The famous picture “The Spirit of Seventy-six” shows a revolutionary “fife and drum” band of this type. They were often called the “Drum and Foof” bands. Since those early days of military bands there has been notable change in instrumentation. Gradually more mellow-sounding instruments such as the oboes, trumpets and clarinets came into use. Present day bands are superior to our ears not only because the modern instruments are more perfectly manufactured but because of this new tonal balance. _The Marine Band_ “Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom!” The drums beat loud, the fifes tooted shrilly, and the Marines tramped steadily down the dusty road. The offices of the U. S. Capitol had been moved from Philadelphia to the new Federal City on the Potomac early in June, 1800. Now late in July, on a hot muggy day, the Marine Corps and their band were on their way to Washington, 136 miles away. And they were marching on foot. Since the organization of a Marine Corps in 1775, drums and fifes had furnished the music. The fife’s piercing tones carried the melody while the drums beat the rhythm and gave the signals for the officers’ orders. These drums were wondrous things. Their tall, double-headed cylinders were capable of great vibrations caused by the gut strings across the lower head. The drums had red bodies and blue heads, painted to match the colors of the band uniforms. A coiled rattlesnake, with raised head ready to strike, was painted on the side of each drum, over the warning motto, “Don’t tread on me.”