PBS Civil War soundtrack

[wvtinwhistler]

I borrowed the soundtrack to the PBS documentary, "The Civil War", from my local library today. I was listening to it and heard a recorder in several of the songs and was just wondering... should that have been a tinwhistle instead? Surely, they must have made a mistake. I don't think they played recorders during the Civil War. But I am certain that today there are many bluegrass and folk bands in the Appalachian region that have tinwhistles in their band. (woot)

[Flogging Jason]

Recorders were very appropriate for the time. Heck, people have been playing recorders for centuries. Tin whistles are not quite as old. I know they were avaliable during the civil war.....their use probably wasn't as widespread.

I seriously agree that tin whistle would have sounded ALOT better on that soundtrack though! You may be hearing fife on some of those tracks as well.

[fearfaoin]

You may be hearing fife on some of those tracks as well.

Yeah, I think fife was the the woodwind most commonly associated
with the military at that time. I don't think tinwhistles would've
been common, yet, as Clarke didn't start the mass-produced whistle
game until 1882, 20 years after the American Civil War started.

[crookedtune]

I still believe (though documentation is sparse) that fife was a common "folk" instrument in pre-Revolutionary America. Now it's almost exclusively played in military reenactments.

Why it died out is something of a mystery. Could it have been related to our penchant for using our children as cannon-fodder, and putting boy-fifers in the thick of it? Those lucky enough to make it home might have little affection left for the instrument. Anyway, that's my uninformed opinion. There's probably nothing to it.

[fearfaoin]

Could it have been related to our penchant for using our children as cannon-fodder, and putting boy-fifers in the thick of it?

What was the point of that? Did they have fife calls for
the commands, just like bugle calls and drum cadences?
I guess I could see the sound of a fife cutting through a
battle.

[crookedtune]

Could it have been related to our penchant for using our children as cannon-fodder, and putting boy-fifers in the thick of it?

What was the point of that? Did they have fife calls for
the commands, just like bugle calls and drum cadences?
I guess I could see the sound of a fife cutting through a
battle.

Yeah, I was just being mouthy. That's exactly what it was about. The fife is loud and shrill, and cuts through the deeper pitched sounds of battle. The boys played 'em so the men could fight. The Sweets are experts in the history and repertoire of fife & drum, and have produced some good instructional materials.

I was serious about my questions, though: How many of those boys likely took pleasure in the fife after playing it in battle? Does that help explain why it fell from favor in civilian colonial society? In fact, the fife makes a great and very portable instrument for such folk music as American fiddle tunes. (Particularly if it's kept below the 3rd octave!)

[fearfaoin]

I was serious about my questions, though: How many of those boys likely took pleasure in the fife after playing it in battle? Does that help explain why it fell from favor in civilian colonial society?

Yeah, it's a very good question. If that is the case, why did the bugle
and drum escape the same fate? Well... I guess the reason you don't
see bugles much outside of the military is that we have the trumpet
now. Maybe the fife just got replaced with the more versitile flute
and piccolo. I mean, you don't see the crumhorn anymore because
we have the oboe...

</speculation>

[crookedtune]

Well... I guess the reason you don't
see bugles much outside of the military is that we have the trumpet
now. Maybe the fife just got replaced with the more versitile flute
and piccolo. I mean, you don't see the crumhorn anymore because
we have the oboe...

</speculation>

That's true. No doubt the main reason for the fife's decline was that, while simple to construct and play, it lacked the versatility and overall sonic attractiveness of competing instruments. (i.e. It's obnoxious).

Fife is to flute as police-whistle is to pennywhistle. (Sorry, Fyffer!)

[awildman]

why did the bugle and drum escape the same fate? Well... I guess the reason you don't
see bugles much outside of the military is that we have the trumpet
now.

I suspect the reason the bugle is obsolete outside of the military is the limited range of the instrument. I'm sure you're right about the trumpet taking over.

As for drums, I think they were given up in favor of other rhythm instruments. Or rather, drums didn't really move to the traditional world. I always thought that military-type snare drums were band instruments, and not folk/traditional oriented. Clogging, spoons, etc. are much more portable. Plus guitars and other strummed instruments are rhythm and accompaniment in one. More bang for the buck.

Another thing to look at is the evolution of the military. No more are there large bodies of soldiers meeting in open fields. The need for marches and such are far less prevalent than they were. Fife and drums were great for marching, formations, etc. Bugles were good for directing basic commands under fire. Not only has warfare changed, but technology as well. Radios, satellite, and whatnot have changed the face of war, eliminating much of the need for bugle calls. To top it off, our percentage of population that is affiliated with the military has gone way down. Back in the 17-1800s nearly every able-bodied man was in the military. This has decreased over time. Hence the military influence on our music has gone down as well.

And that's all 100% true. Either that or I'm just whistlin' Dixie.

[MTGuru]

Recorders were very appropriate for the time. Heck, people have been playing recorders for centuries.

Actually, as I understand the history, it's very unlikely that many people in the Civil War era US even knew what a recorder was, much less played one, except as a historical curiosity. Arnold Dolmetsch is known, fairly or not, as the father of the recorder revival for a reason, because it needed to be revived. By 1780 or so, the transverse flute had supplanted the recorder in art music, and its use remained moribund throughout the 19th century.

The Recorder Home Page has this to say:

Although the recorder was physical present in North America from the early seventeenth century onwards, little is known of the music used by early American recorder players. Not one publication or concert notice specifically mentions the recorder, English flute or common flute (Music 1983).

If anything, the fipple flute which might have been known in Civil War America is the flageolet, either English or French system. There's good info on the flageolet at www.flageolets.com, and the recording Early American Roots by the Hesperus ensemble suggests that the flageolet was played in colonial America. But the flageolet was a parlor instrument, and it's unclear what role, if any, it might have had in the folk and popular music traditions usually associated with Civil War soundtracks.