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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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military bands
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Term used of any band, almost invariably from a branch of the armed forces, which uses brass, woodwind and drums. (It was by dropping the woodwind that *brass bands emerged in the 19C.) Standards were much improved after the establishment in 1857 of the Royal Military College of Music at Kneller Hall, a large 18C house in Twickenham built for himself by *Kneller. The navy formed its own school of music in 1903, and the air force in 1949. Instead of a military band, Scottish regiments use a massed band of bagpipes and drums, as seen in the Military Tattoo at *Edinburgh Castle. Such groups are for public display. On less formal occasions the army still marches to the intimate sound of fife and drum (a small flute and a side drum), first used for this purpose by Swiss mercenaries in the 16C.
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