Provides the context of how and why military music was coordinated in the period immediately before the outbreak of the Great War. It will briefly trace the beginnings of Royal Marines Divisional Bands in the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth century, as well as the founding of the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, and the Royal Naval School of Music at Eastney Barracks, explaining how bandsmen were recruited, trained and deployed, and why music was a vital element of the services’ daily, ceremonial and wartime operations. This chapter will also engage with pre-war concerns expressed about the lack of music in Britain’s armed forces, and the wider debates about the quality and direction of British music in the Edwardian period.

Examines the use of music in recruitment and fundraising. It will show how military musicians were mobilised in the early days of war, and the ways in which commanders had to cater for the newly expanded forces. It will look at how the civilian music industry responded to the start of the conflict, and the ways in which bands, concerts and other musical events were used for the purposes of supporting the war effort. This chapter will also provide a survey of the work of various committees established to support both the music industry, all of whom sought to both protect and maximise performers’ employment opportunities during the early years of the war.

Moves with the military bands, pipes, drums and buglers to the fighting fronts. It will show the practical uses of music in the field and on board ships as an important marker for servicemen’s daily schedules. This section will also outline musicians’ roles in battle. It will show that while Bandsmen in regular infantry units often acted as stretcher bearers, those who enlisted from August 1914 and served in Territorial battalions did a great many other jobs. It will also show that the formation of bands was driven largely by the men themselves.