United States military music customs
"[2] Some U.S. cavalry units adopted bugle horns during the war, however, a shortage of brass in the Thirteen Colonies largely limited use of the instrument to the opposing British and German forces, with U.S. troops continuing to rely heavily on fifes, drums, and even - at the Battle of Saratoga - turkey calls.
Aided by the large body of work being created by prolific U.S. composers such as John Philip Sousa, Henry Filmore and Edwin Eugene Bagley, U.S. military and military-like bands became known for performing a unique style of quick-tempo marches with thundering brass and heavy percussion.
One music critic, writing about the Boston Jubilee of 1872, contrasted the "velvety smoothness" of the invited Band of the Grenadier Guards to the follow-up performance orchestrated by U.S. Army bandmaster general Patrick Gilmore which involved "a heterogeneous choir of nearly twenty thousand, an orchestra of about a thousand instrumentalists of decidedly mixed abilities, an organ blown by steam power ... a drum of the most preposterous magnitude, and a few batteries of artillery.
"[5] Today, United States military bands employ music at various times as provided for in armed forces regulations, statute law, and customary practice.
"It can readily be seen what a price has to be paid for keeping up a custom which is rather old, it is true, but is practically a useless one save for the purpose of military display," the newspaper opined.
