The Sound of Fife & Drum…by Dominick Cuccia
“The sound of the fife and drum marks the beginning of every New England summer, as it has since colonial times.” (from The Ancient Mariners first album)
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard it put better than this. I’ve been listening to the Ancient Mariners first album for a good 25 years. It is funny how today these are more than words. I feel like they help mark the change in seasons for me. Most of us in the fife and drum world begin the new season each year with a parade for St. Patricks Day. Then we may attend a muster or contest, or march a parade in April or May. But it really isn’t until we hit the month of June and get to that first muster or firemans parade that you feel it…summer is here!
I wasn’t able to attend the National Muster this month, so for me I think the Hudson Valley Fireman’s Convention Parade in Ellenville, NY will be where it hits me. This is usually the biggest parade of the year and there is a great mix of drums corps, bands, pipes and fife & drum. There will probably be 15 or so fife & drum corps there. That will be the first time I get that sound ringing in my head.
I’ll start looking forward to The Patriot Muster and Deep River. I’ll anticipate that moment when the Rhine River Rebels from Switzerland take the field, or the sound of The Old Guard. That chant of “Black River Rocks” & “Conferate,” and the power of “Thunder in the Valley”, I just can’t wait. Those legendary corps like Lancraft & Stoney Creek, my alma mater The Young Colonials, the Mariner canon, Grand Republics “new sound”, and my favorite corps The Connecticut Blues…man-o-man, I can’t wait! (And everybody I left out I can’t wait to see you too!)
And my corps, The Civil War Trooper. Summer fun with a drum…there is nothing like it! And the Regulators, the Billy the Kid, butt kickin’ cowboys! They both keep me kicking!!!!!
Terry Hennesey is an old friend from Germantown who moved to Florida. A couple of years ago he came back up for the Westbrook Muster. He said he wanted to hear the sound again, see old friends and “smell it one more time.” He totally put it in perspective for me. Fife and drum is about the sound, it is about the friendship, and if you are a part of it, you understand the smell!
The smell? Combine gunpowder, an assortment of foods, stale beer, leather, a hint of sweat (it is summer after all) and a barbaque or campfire…that is my recipe. If you are at Westbrook, add whatever comes with an ocean breeze. Again, you may not realize it, but there is a smell. An incredibly wonderful smell accompanied by the passionate sounds of fife and drum. I CAN’T WAIT!!!
The traditional music, the contemporary tunes, Bruce & Emmett, George Carroll, Roy Watrous, Bill Krug, John McDonagh, Gus Moeller, Earl Sturtze, J. Burns Moore, Les Parks, Duke Terreri, Bill Westhall, and all of the other legends, THE MASTERS. I can’t wait for the hours and hours of that music. That awesome music that lives in my soul.
And we’ll all be thinking of our dear friend Sean Egan this summer. It won’t be the same without him, but every time I play Drums & Guns he’ll come to my mind!
“The sound of the fife and drum marks the beginning of every New England summer, as it has since colonial times.”
Summer, summer summer…ready or not, here I come!!!!!
DC
